After a military coup ousted the country’s democratically-elected government in March, an insurgency in Mali’s vast north rapidly gained ground. The rebels have de facto control over more than half the country, including the historic cities of Timbuktu and Gao. Meanwhile, the chaos has fueled a growing humanitarian crisis, with hundreds of thousands displaced。
軍事政變在三月推翻了民主選舉產生的政府，馬里北部的武裝分子活動在這之后開始攻城掠地，反對派武裝已控制了馬里一半以上的領土，包括歷史名城廷巴克圖和加奧。與此同時，混亂加劇了人道主義危機，數百萬人流所失所。
4. Netanyahu’s Year of Living Dangerously 內塔尼亞胡的一年
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has scarcely been out of the headlines in 2012, whether for warning of a possible war with Iran, launching a military offensive to stop Palestinian rocket fire out of Gaza, or appearing to signal a preference for Republican candidate Mitt Romney to win the White House in November。
以色列總理內塔尼亞胡2012年多次出現在媒體頭條上，包括警告要對伊朗動武、對加沙發(fā)動攻勢以制止巴勒斯坦人的火箭彈攻擊、表態(tài)支持羅姆尼成為美國總統(tǒng)。
At the U.N. in September, Netanyahu warned that at current rates of progress, Iran would likely cross Israel’s “red line” for action by next summer. And as the year draws to a close, the Israeli leader’s response to the Palestinians’ quest for U.N. recognition — initiating planning on new settlement construction in the West Bank — has prompted a flurry of Western pressure on Netanyahu to back down. On one front or another, it’s a safe bet that the Israeli Prime Minister whose reelection appears likely this January will remain a key player in the international headlines next year。
9月在聯(lián)合國大會上，內塔尼亞胡警告稱，伊朗可能在明年夏季之前跨過以色列的“紅線”。以色列為了應對巴勒斯坦成功入聯(lián)而宣布將在約旦河西岸建設新的定居點，這使西方加大了對內塔尼亞胡作出讓步的壓力。內塔尼亞胡可能在明年1月的大選中獲得連任，將繼續(xù)出現在明年的國際新聞頭條上。
3. The Eurozone Crisis
歐元區(qū)危機
Debt-ridden Southern Europe continued to reel from the fiscal nightmare gripping the eurozone, and clouding the prospects of the global economic recovery. Mass protests and general strikes became routine in 2012 in Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal and elsewhere, as infuriated publics rallied against austerity measures imposed on their countries as the condition of bailouts from further north。
債務累累的歐洲南部國家繼續(xù)受到歐元區(qū)危機的重壓，這給全球經濟恢復的前景蒙上了陰影。大規(guī)�？棺h、罷工成為西班牙、希臘、意大利、葡萄牙和其它國家的家常便飯，憤怒的公眾舉行集會，反對強加的經濟緊縮措施。
Steep cuts in public spending have done little to promote the growth needed to right the listing ships of the Mediterranean economies. Instead, hardship and inequality have deepened, and unemployment has skyrocketed — nearly a quarter of Spain’s workforce is out of a job。
對公共支出的大幅削減無助于推動使地中海國家經濟轉好的增長。事實上，這些國家的困難和不平等加劇，失業(yè)率大幅增加，四分之一的西班牙勞動力沒有工作。
2. An Arab Winter
阿拉伯之冬
After the Year of the Protester, came the Year of the Politico. The next phase of revolutions in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia saw previously marginalized Islamist political forces make dramatic gains. Once banned or fringe parties now hold the levers of power: In Tunisia, Ennadha, a previously outlawed moderate Islamist movement, now commands a majority in the legislature and may set about overhauling the country’s relatively laissez-faire, secularist societal mores. In Libya, the Sept. 11 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi brought into stark relief both the security conundrum and growing radicalism。
在經過示威者的一年后，又迎來了政客的一年。在埃及、利比亞、突尼斯革命的下一階段，先前處于邊緣地位的伊斯蘭派政治勢力取得了重大進展，一度被取締或者處于邊緣地位的政黨現在掌握了權力。在突尼斯，一度被取締的持溫和立場的伊斯蘭復興運動已在議會上獲得了多數席位。在利比亞，美國駐班加西領事館9月11日遇襲事件說明了安全難題和不斷增長的極端主義。
1. Syria’s Bloody Stalemate
敘利亞的流血僵局
As 2012 draws to a close, Syrians approach the second anniversary of a bloody civil war with little immediate prospect of resolution. By some estimates, more than 40,000 people have been killed since a peaceful uprising against President Bashar Assad in February 2011 morphed rapidly into a bloodbath.
在2012年接近尾聲的時候，敘利亞正邁向血腥內戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)二周年的日子，這場內戰(zhàn)看不到任何立刻解決的希望。一些機構估計，自2011年2月針對阿薩德總統(tǒng)的抗議示威開始以來，已有4萬多人死于沖突，抗議示威快速轉變?yōu)榱餮录?/p>
Western powers are reluctant to be drawn into yet another conflagration in the Middle East in which an authoritarian secular state is being torn apart along lines of religious sect. The chaos is being further fueled by regional proxy-war agendas and has spilled over Syria’s borders into such tinderbox polities as Lebanon and Iraq。
西方國家不太愿意卷入另一場中東地區(qū)的沖突，作為獨裁統(tǒng)治的世俗國家敘利亞，因為不同的宗教派別而被四分五裂。地區(qū)代理人戰(zhàn)爭日程進一步加劇了動蕩，并蔓延至敘利亞邊境以外的黎巴嫩和伊拉克。
