10. India’s Corruption Woes
印度發生多起腐敗丑聞
The ruling Congress Party-led government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has seen its popularity and credibility plummet following waves of corruption scandals implicating top politicians accused of exploiting their positions for financial gain。
在發生多起涉及高級官員以權謀私的腐敗丑聞后，由來自國大黨的印度總理曼莫漢·辛格領導政府的支持度和信譽大幅下降。
The reported incidents of graft have been both epic—a billion-dollar telecoms scandal—and petty, but all have fueled the fires of public anger. Foreign observers now warn that the Indian model for democracy and development could be derailed by the country’s venal bureaucracies and crony capitalism。
媒體報道的貪腐事件牽涉甚廣，有案值10億美元的電信案，也有多起案值不高的小案件，這些都引發了公眾的怒火。外國觀察家現在警告稱，印度的民主和發展模式可能被其貪腐的官僚政治和裙帶資本主義所葬送。
9. Afghanistan: Escaping the Quagmire
阿富汗：逃離泥潭
It’s no secret that the diminishing coalition of Western governments still involved in the 11-year war in Afghanistan are desperate to get out. Some, like the French, have already wound down their military operations ahead of schedule. Washington preaches staying the course through gritted teeth until the end of 2014, at which point Afghan government forces will ostensibly have the numbers, the training, the equipment and the will to take over the fight against the Taliban。
卷入阿富汗11年戰爭的西方國家政府聯盟急于脫身不是一個秘密。法國等一些國家已提前結束了軍事行動，美國將堅守至2014年年底，阿富汗政府軍到時候從名義上說擁有接管打擊塔利班任務的所需人員、訓練能力、裝備和意愿。
That narrative has been challenged by events in 2012, not least the steady toll of regular “green-on-blue” killings—when supposedly friendly Afghan personnel attack their NATO mentors. More than 60 coalition soldiers have died in such attacks this year alone. No surprise, then, that the Administration is currently in negotiations with Kabul over keeping a residual force in Afghanistan well after the departure date。
不過2012年發生的事件對這種說法提出了挑戰，其中包括一系列阿富汗政府軍攻擊北約教官的事件(被稱為綠對藍攻擊事件)，今年就有60多名聯軍士兵在此類襲擊事件中喪生。奧巴馬政府正在與阿富汗政府就在撤軍后在阿駐留部隊的問題進行會談。
8. Asia’s Troubled Waters
亞洲海洋領土問題
In a year Washington had announced would see a “pivot” of its strategic priorities away from the Middle East and toward the Asia-Pacific region, things heated up in the waters surrounding the continent’s budding hegemon, China.
就在美國宣布其戰略優先事務將從中東轉往亞太地區的今年，中國與其鄰國出現海洋領土問題。
Beijing has grown more and more assertive in its territorial claims, both to its east in contests with Japan and in the South China Sea, which the Chinese imagine as their sphere of influence. In the East China Sea, the Chinese locked horns with Japan over its control over the Senkaku Islands (known as the Diaoyu by the Chinese)。
中國政府對東海和南海的領土主權態度越來越強硬，中國漁船和海監船越來越頻繁地在南海與越南、菲律賓船只發生對抗。在東海，中國與日本就釣魚島主權問題發生對抗。
7. Latin America Seeks Reforms on Drugs
拉美試圖在打擊毒品方面進行改革
After decades of bloodshed and billions of dollars spent, there’s an emerging consensus in much of Latin America that the U.S.-authored war on drugs has caused more problems than it has solved, and ought to be ended. Some governments in the region now champion a move away from the longstanding focus on prohibition towards more practical and progressive measures。
在經過數十年的流血和數十億美元的投入，大部分拉美國家開始認為美國主導的掃毒戰爭弊大于利，應該結束了。一些地區國家的政府現在主張把重點從禁止轉向更為實際和前進的措施。
The greatest change has come in the small republic of Uruguay, whose center-left government pushed through legislation making the state the sole legal dispensary of marijuana. Elsewhere, a host of Latin American leaders such as Guatemala’s Otto Perez Molina have called for drug legalization, with the support of regional players such as Mexico and Colombia。
拉圭在這方面采取了最大的變化，它的中左政府推動立法，使本國成為大麻唯一合法發放者。其他拉美國家的領導人，如危地馬拉總統莫利納呼吁起草毒品法案，他的訴求也得到了墨西哥和哥倫比亞等國的支持。
6. Communist Leadership Changes
社會主義陣營領導層換屆
In 2012, two of the world’s remaining Communist regimes completed two very different leadership handovers. The isolated pariah regime in North Korea saw the ascension of Kim Jon Un, the well-fed third son of the deceased Dear Leader Kim Jong Il. Kim Jon Un appears to have consolidated his power and is steadily building his own cult of authority。
2012年社會主義陣營的兩個國家實現了領導層換屆。已故的朝鮮前領導人金正日的兒子金正恩成為朝鮮新領導人。金正恩看起來鞏固了自己的權力，正在穩步建立自己的權威。
In neighboring China a once-in-a-decade leadership transition took place. How these newly leaders navigate the domestic and international challenges of their decade at the top will be critically important in shaping global events。
中國也進行了十年一次的領導層換屆，新一代領導集體在未來十年如何應對國內和國際挑戰對于全球具有非常重要的意義。
5. Mali’s Crisis
馬里危機
In one of the gloomier stories of a gloomy international news year, Mali turned from being hailed as one of West Africa’s democratic success stories to various metaphors of doom: it was labeled the next Somalia, a dysfunctional, failed state; the next Afghanistan, overrun by extremist militias and terrorist groups; and the next Libya, facing civil war and Western-backed military intervention。
非洲國家馬里從西非的民主成功故事淪落為各種末日的隱喻，它被稱作是下一個索馬里、利比亞、阿富汗，被認為是一個失敗國家，被極端民兵武裝和恐怖團伙所控制，面臨內戰和西方支持的軍事干涉。
