The pace of events in the Middle East has quickened once again. More than two years since the start of the Arab spring, the facts on the ground can still change so rapidly in the region that western governments struggle to keep pace. Last week Barack Obama had convened an emergency meeting to discuss the violent crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, only for the US president to find himself confronted with an even more dramatic challenge – a chemical weapon attack in Syria.
中東事態演變再次加速。在「阿拉伯之春」爆發兩年多後,中東地區仍然風雲變幻,西方政府的步伐難以跟上形勢的變化。上週巴拉克•歐巴馬(Barack Obama)召開了一場緊急會議,討論埃及武力鎮壓穆斯林兄弟會(Muslim Brotherhood)的事情,結果美國總統發現自己面對一個更嚴峻的挑戰——敘利亞動用了化學武器。