By Nie Shuyi
聂舒翼
US Secretary of State Blinken met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy during his blitz visit to the country on September 6, where he announced Washington's plan to provide another US$1 billion worth of aid to Kyiv, of which US$175 million in military aid. According to the Pentagon's announcement on the same day, the military aid would include 120mm armor-piercing, depleted uranium munitions. The Ukraine crisis has dragged on for more than one year and a half without any sign of easing, and the US is still pouring oil on the flame by providing money and munitions in order to serve its self-interests.
9月6日，美国国务卿布林肯突访乌克兰并与乌克兰总统泽连斯基会面。布林肯在访问中宣布，美国将再向乌克兰提供超过10亿美元援助，包括1.75亿美元的军事援助。同一天，五角大楼宣布，作为新的1.75亿美元军事援助计划的一部分，美国将向乌克兰提供120毫米贫铀穿甲弹。乌克兰危机已经延续超过一年半仍看不到平息迹象，为实现一己私利，美国仍在用“给钱给枪”的方式给局势“火上浇油”。
This decision has drawn close attention from the international community. Depleted uranium bombs are strong armor-piercing munitions that contain radioactive substances that could leave enduring contamination on the environment and consequently damage human health. The International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW), an NGO, warned that the intake of depleted uranium fallout would cause health risks such as cancer and congenital defects. The US used this kind of weapon in the 1990 Gulf War and 2003 Iraqi War, and NATO used it in the 1999 Kosovo War, leaving Iraq and the Balkan region still exposed to radioactive radiation today.
美国这一决定引发国际社会高度关注。贫铀弹具有很强的穿甲能力，其中的放射性物质则会长期污染环境，损害人体健康。非政府组织“国际禁止铀武器联盟”称，摄入或吸入贫铀粉尘会带来健康风险，包括引发癌症和导致先天缺陷。美国在1990年的海湾战争和2003年的伊拉克战争中，以及北约在1999年科索沃战争中都使用过贫铀弹，令伊拉克和巴尔干地区至今蒙受放射性辐射危害。
This is not the first time that the US provided Ukraine with weapons that might cause grave consequences. In July this year, the White House announced its agreement to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, which met universal objection from the international community. The US has used cluster bombs in Southeast Asia, the Balkan region, the Middle East, and Afghanistan during the past few decades, and the undetonated bombs are still endangering and threatening local lives today. It's not hard to imagine what the Ukrainians would be forced to face if the weapon was actually used – the air contaminated by radioactive fallout, land strewn with undetonated cluster bombs and other munitions, and tens of thousands of destructive landmines.
这已经不是美国首次向乌克兰提供可能会带来严重后果的武器了。今年7月，白宫宣布同意向乌克兰提供集束弹药，就曾引发国际社会普遍反对。过去几十年间，美国在东南亚、巴尔干、中东和阿富汗都使用过集束弹药，直到今天那些未爆炸的弹药还在危害当地民众的生命。可以想见，未来乌克兰人民将面对怎样一片满目疮痍的土地——被放射性粉尘污染、潜藏着未爆炸的集束弹药和其他弹药，以及成千上万的杀伤性地雷。
This has ripped off the mask behind which the US has been claiming that what it's doing is good for the Ukrainians. The fact is that, as the culprit for the Ukraine crisis, the US has never for a minute cared about the country's independence and freedom. All it has ever thought about is how to make the best use of Ukraine as a chess piece and tool to geopolitically contain and defeat Russia, even if that means fighting till the last Ukrainian.
这彻底撕开了美国所谓“为乌克兰人好”的假面。事实上，作为乌克兰危机的始作俑者，美国关心的从来不是乌克兰的独立与自由，而是如何将乌克兰作为在地缘上遏制、甚至彻底“击败俄罗斯”的棋子与工具，甚至不惜为此“战斗到最后一个乌克兰人”。
Since the crisis broke out, Washington has kept fanning the flames and instigating sanctions in order to keep up the fire of war so it could fish in troubled waters – something that has become as clear as daylight. To prolong the war for as long as possible, it has been pumping assistance into Ukraine incessantly, with its sum of aid topping the Western world. Republican McConnell, the Senate minority leader, said point-blank on September 6 that providing assistance to Ukraine means they could cripple one of America's most important strategic rivals without firing a bullet.
乌克兰危机爆发以来，美国就不断拱火浇油，挑动制裁，唯恐战火熄灭，其“坐收渔利”之心早已昭然若揭。为了让战火延续，美国不断给乌克兰“输血”，其对乌克兰的援助金额在西方世界稳居第一。参议院少数党领袖、共和党人麦康奈尔6日露骨地表示，援助乌克兰意味着“不费一枪一弹就能削弱美国最重要的战略对手之一”。
As the US is sending more advanced weapons and equipment to Ukraine, American arms dealers are making a fortune. A report by America's Foundation for Defense of Democracies this January said that the country had raked in at least US$21.7 billion in direct fiscal revenues from the Ukraine conflict, while data from DoD's Defense Security Cooperation Agency showed that the approved weapon sales from the US to NATO allies almost doubled from 2021 to 2022 both in terms of quantity and value. As long as the war keeps on, the gigantic American military complexes will be able to keep making huge profits. Jimmy Dore, an anti-war activist and political commentator, hit the nail on the head at an anti-war rally in February by saying: Do you know that we can end the Russia-Ukraine conflict by diplomatic means? But American politicians want the arms dealers to make money and thus obtain an endless stream of political donations.
随着美国给乌克兰提供的武器装备不断升级，美国的军火商们赚得盆满钵满。美国“保卫民主基金会”今年1月的报告称，美国从乌克兰冲突中获取至少217亿美元直接财政收益。而根据美国国防部防务安全合作局的数据，2022年美国批准向北约盟国出售武器的数量和价值均比2021年增加了近一倍。对庞大的美国军工复合体来说，只要战争持续，他们就能从中攫取更多利益。美国反战人士和时政评论家吉米多尔今年2月在参加一场反战集会时就一阵见血指出：“你知道我们今天可以通过外交手段结束俄乌冲突吗？但美国政客想要军火商赚钱，以换取源源不断的政治献金。”
Financial Times wrote in an op-ed titled "The US will be the ultimate winner of Ukraine's crisis" that the US will benefit most from the consequences of the Ukraine crisis both in terms of economy and security policy. The crisis that has lasted more than 500 days has plunged the region into a miserable humanitarian disaster. If the US really wanted to "protect the Ukrainian people" as it claimed, it should have pushed for a peaceful solution rather than aggravate the tension out of selfish motives and throw the struggling people further down the abyss of suffering.
英国《金融时报》在题为《美国将成为乌克兰危机的最终赢家》的评论文章中写道，“无论是在经济上还是安全政策上，美国都将从乌克兰危机的后果中收益最多。”持续已超500天的乌克兰危机，已经给地区带来了深重人道主义灾难，美国如果真的要“保护乌克兰人民”，就该切实推动和平解决当前危机，而不是出于一己私利加剧紧张局势，令本就在危机中苦苦挣扎的民众陷入更可怕的梦魇之中。
Editor's note: Originally published on chinanews.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
