At the core of the Ukraine crisis is a puzzle: Why would Russian President Vladimir Putin push Europe to the brink of war to demand the West not do something that it has no plan to do anyway? Russia says NATO, the American-led alliance that has on its hands the biggest European crisis in decades, must never offer membership to Ukraine, which gained independence as the Soviet Union broke apart about 30 years ago. Ukraine has long aspired to join NATO, but the alliance is not about to offer an invitation, due in part to Ukraine’s official corruption, shortcomings in its defense establishment and lack of control over its international borders.
Putin’s demands go beyond the question of Ukraine’s association with NATO, but that link is central to his complaint that the West has pushed him to the limits of his patience by edging closer to Russian borders. He asserts that NATO expansion years ago has enhanced its security at the expense of Russia’s.
Why is Putin worried about Ukraine joining NATO? The stated reason is that a further eastward expansion of NATO would pose a security threat to Russia. Washington and its allies deny this is a valid worry, since no NATO country is threatening to use force against Russia.
Photo: Reuters 照片：路透
More broadly, Putin wants NATO to pull back its existing military presence in Eastern Europe, which includes a regularly rotating series of exercises in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all former Soviet states.
Putin also opposes NATO’s missile defense presence in Romania, a former Soviet satellite state, and a similar base under development in Poland, saying they could be converted to offensive weapons capable of threatening Russia.
Ukraine has deep historical and cultural ties to Russia, and Putin has repeatedly asserted that Russians and Ukrainians are “one people.” He has said that large chunks of Ukrainian territory are historical parts of Russia that were arbitrarily granted to Ukraine by communist leaders under the Soviet Union.
Photo: AP 照片：美聯社
Putin’s own actions, however, have served to strengthen Ukrainians’ sense of national identity. After Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula and instigated a rebellion in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Ukraine’s desire to align itself with the West and join NATO only grew.
(AP)
烏克蘭危機的核心是這樣一個謎團：對一件西方原本就沒打算要做的事，俄羅斯總統弗拉迪米爾‧普亭為何還要西方別做，且不惜將歐洲推向戰爭邊緣？俄羅斯表示，以美國為首、正面臨幾十年來歐洲最大危機的聯盟北大西洋公約組織，絕不能讓烏克蘭加入。烏克蘭是在約三十年前蘇聯解體時獨立。烏克蘭長久以來一直渴望加入北約，但北約並未邀請烏克蘭加入，部分原因是烏克蘭官員腐敗、國防建設不足，以及對國界缺乏控管。
普亭的要求超出了烏克蘭與北約交往之問題，但這成為他不滿的主要理由，說西方向俄羅斯邊境推進，將他的耐心逼到了極限。普亭斷言，北約多年前的擴張，是以犧牲俄羅斯為代價來鞏固其安全。
普亭為何擔心烏克蘭加入北約？其理由是，北約進一步東擴將對俄羅斯的安全構成威脅。華盛頓及其盟友認為此擔憂並無根據，因為沒有北約國家威脅要對俄羅斯使用武力。
更廣義地說，普亭希望北約將已在東歐部署的兵力撤回，其中包括在立陶宛、拉脫維亞及愛沙尼亞這些前蘇聯國家定期輪流舉行的一系列演習。
普亭還反對北約在前蘇聯衛星國羅馬尼亞部署防禦導彈，以及北約正於波蘭發展的類似基地，說這些設施可轉變為足以威脅俄羅斯的進攻型武器。
烏克蘭與俄羅斯有深厚的歷史及文化淵源，普亭一再聲稱俄羅斯人和烏克蘭人是「同一個民族」。他說，烏克蘭的大部分領土在歷史上是俄羅斯的一部分，是蘇聯的共產黨領導人任意將領土授予烏克蘭。
然而，普亭的所作所為卻強化了烏克蘭人的民族認同感。二○一四年，俄羅斯佔領克里米亞半島，並在烏克蘭東部煽動叛亂後，烏克蘭與西方結盟並加入北約的願望更形強烈。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
On blazing hot summer days, fresh ingredients and cool refreshments straight from a refrigerator feel like nothing short of a miracle. However, chilled foods didn’t begin with modern refrigerators. In fact, the origin of refrigeration precedes the invention of this now-indispensable appliance by centuries. Initially, the quest for refrigeration was motivated more by the desire to cool beverages than to preserve food. The ancient Greeks and Romans, for instance, used snow stored in insulated pits to chill wine. Around the fourth century BC, the Persians made a significant stride in refrigeration techniques when they devised the yakhchal. Fashioned from
Continued from yesterday（延續自昨日） https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後，文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上，需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說，像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的，造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此，許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋，但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及，確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過，在未來的許多年裡，左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of
對話 Dialogue 清清：時間過得真快，又是中秋節了！ Qīngqing: Shíjiān guò de zhēn kuài, yòu shì Zhōngqiū jié le! 華華：俗話說得好：「一年容易又中秋」，就是這個意思。而且還有一句：「年怕中秋月怕半，星期就怕禮拜三。」每到中秋，新年就又不遠了。 Huáhua: Súhuà shuō de hǎo: “Yì nián róngyì yòu Zhōngqiū”, jiùshì zhèige yìsi. Érqiě háiyǒu yí jù: “Nián pà Zhōngqiū yuè pà bàn, xīngqí jiù pà lǐbài sān.” Měi dào Zhōngqiū, xīnnián jiù yòu bù yuǎn le. 清清：我是不怕禮拜三啦！眼看著週末就要到了，高興都來不及。只是過年又要老一歲了，這倒真是令人害怕。 Qīngqing: Wǒ shì búpà lǐbài sān la! Yǎnkànzhe zhōumò jiù yào dàole, gāoxìng dōu láibùjí. Zhǐshì guònián yòu yào lǎo yí suì le, zhè dào zhēnshì lìng rén hàipà. 華華：怕也沒用，該來的總會來的。看看嫦娥得有多老了，還不是代代相傳，直到今天我們還在「慶祝」她奔月去了呢！ Huáhua: Pà yě méiyòng, gāi lái de zǒng huì lái de. Kànkan Cháng’é děi yǒu duō lǎo le, hái búshì dàidài xiāngchuán, zhídào jīntiān
RSS