普京面對麻煩的萬靈丹式迴應
It’s possible the US is behind it all,” claimed the head of the Russian Duma Sports Committee as the World Anti-Doping Agency found Kremlin state agencies guilty of concealing hundreds of Russian doping tests during the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.
“這一切可能是美國在背後主導。”——當世界反興奮劑機構(WADA)得出結論稱，俄羅斯政府機構在2014年索契冬奧會期間隱瞞了數百項俄羅斯運動員的興奮劑檢測陽性結果時，俄羅斯國家杜馬體育委員會(Duma Sports Committee)負責人作出了上述表示。
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, called the investigation “political”. This is “part of the policy of sanctions against Russia”, said the Soviet Sport newspaper. “It’s some sort of sporting Nazism,” argued boxer-turned-politician Nikolai Valuev, saying other teams could be trying to get rid of Russian competition. Vitaly Mutko, the sports minister, called doping “not just a Russian but a global problem”.
俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾•普京(Vladimir Putin)稱該調查帶有“政治”色彩。《蘇聯體育報》(Soviet Sport)表示這是“對俄羅斯制裁政策的一部分”。出身拳擊手的政界人士尼古拉•瓦盧耶夫(Nikolai Valuev)認爲“這有些像體育納粹主義”，並表示這可能是其他運動隊在企圖擺脫俄羅斯的競爭。俄羅斯體育部長維塔利•穆特科(Vitaly Mutko)稱興奮劑問題“並非俄羅斯獨有，而是一個全球性問題”。
As the Kremlin reacts to what the International Olympic Committee has called “a shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport and on the Olympic Games”, it falls back on tropes and techniques that are essential to Mr Putin’s hold on power.
國際奧委會( International Olympic Committee)稱此事“對體育運動的誠信和奧林匹克運動會都造成了令人震驚的、前所有未有的打擊”。俄羅斯政府在迴應時，再一次用上了對普京掌控權力至關重要的橋段和手法。
The first is to convince Russians there is no alternative to Mr Putin. The Soviet Union tried to claim superiority over the west. Putinism, by contrast, argues that everywhere is just as rotten as Russia. Over the past few months Russian television has been running stories about doping problems in the US. It is the same tactic that the Kremlin adopts when accused of propaganda or corruption: the west is as bad.
第一招是要讓俄羅斯人相信，沒人能替代普京。過去蘇聯努力宣傳自己相對西方有優越性。普京主義則相反，主張到處都像俄羅斯一樣糟糕。過去幾個月俄羅斯電視臺一直在播放關於美國興奮劑問題的報道。當克里姆林宮被指搞宣傳或腐敗時，也採用了這一應對戰術：西方也很糟。
As Ivan Krastev, the Bulgarian political scientist, has pointed out, when Mr Putin went on international TV in 2014 and insisted that there were no Russian soldiers in Crimea when anyone could see that there were, he was provoking western leaders to blurt out “hey, you’re lying”, so he could point back and say: “Well, you lie too!”
正如保加利亞政治學家伊萬•克勒斯特夫(Ivan Krastev)所指出，2014年當普京出現在國際電視轉播畫面上，堅稱沒有一名俄軍士兵在克里米亞（而所有人都能看到他們就在那兒）時，普京就是要激怒西方領導人脫口說出“嘿，你在撒謊”，這樣他就可以反脣相譏：“好吧，你也在撒謊！”
The second trope is conspiracy. Conspiracy is emotionally seductive, explaining away not only the Kremlin’s failures but also those of the public: if the whole world is a conspiracy then it is not your fault your business failed or your wife left you.
第二招是陰謀論。陰謀擁有情感誘惑力，它不僅爲俄政府的失敗作辯解，還爲大衆的失敗提供了理由：如果整個世界是一個陰謀，那麼無論是生意失敗，還是妻子離去，這都不是你的錯。
Simultaneously, it saps citizens’ sense that they could ever change anything in Russia: what could one little person possibly achieve in the face of vast conspiracies?
同時它還弱化民衆認爲自己有朝一日可能爲俄羅斯帶來些許改變的感覺——面對巨大的陰謀，一個小人物能做什麼呢 ？
Daily life in Russia is full of small humiliations inflicted by the state. On the way to work you get pulled over by traffic cops who demand bribes for fictitious parking misdemeanours. Then you sit in a jam while bureaucrats drive past you down the middle of the road. But when you return home and switch on the TV, it turns out it is not the Kremlin who has been humiliating you all day — it is the perfidious west.
俄羅斯的日常生活充滿了國家造成的小屈辱。上班途中你被交警攔下，以無中生有的停車不當罪名向你索賄。然後你堵在擁擠的道路上，看着官員們的座駕在道路中間從你旁邊駛過。但當你回家打開電視，就會發現原來整天羞辱你的不是克里姆林宮，而是背信棄義的西方。
The conspiratorial world view also legitimises the Kremlin’s methods. In a crooked world, the Kremlin has no choice but to use covert forces and disinformation to take Crimea or to feed its athletes steroids. Here Mr Putin is -subtly channelling a Russian’s daily experiences. In the Russian system, ordinary people often have to break the rules to survive. It is a badge of honour to find a way round the law. Mr Putin positions himself as doing the same in relation to international law.
這種陰謀論世界觀還爲克里姆林宮的行事方式提供了合法性。在一個扭曲的世界裏，克里姆林宮別無選擇，只能用祕密部隊、假消息來奪取克里米亞，以及只能給運動員服用類固醇。普京就這樣巧妙地借用俄羅斯的日常經驗。在俄羅斯的體制裏，普通人往往要打破規則才能生存，能找到辦法鑽法律空子是件光榮的事。普京向外界傳達出：自己正是在這樣對付國際法。
When the whole world is against you it is OK to lose your temper. Many countries have football hooligans, and usually officials are ashamed of them. But as Russian hooligans indulged in ultra-violence during the recent European Championships in France, Igor Lebedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian parliament, tweeted: “I don’t see anything wrong with the fans fighting. Quite the opposite: well done lads, keep it up!”
當整個世界都反對你，發個脾氣也是正常。許多國家都有足球流氓，官員們一般都爲本國的足球流氓感到羞愧。但最近在法國歐洲盃(European Championships)上，當俄羅斯足球流氓大肆進行極端暴力活動時，俄羅斯國家杜馬（即聯邦會議下議院）副議長伊戈爾•列別傑夫(Igor Lebedev)發推文表示：“我看不出球迷打架有什麼錯。恰恰相反，小夥子們幹得棒，繼續努力吧！”
Once violence is officially sanctioned, the audience can finally release all its viciousness. If, during the Putin boom years, the “contract” with Russia was the exchange of economic prosperity for the ceding of political power to the Kremlin, the new deal is far more emotionally manipulative.
暴力一旦獲得官方認可，觀衆就終於能釋放所有邪惡。如果在普京執政的經濟繁榮期，與俄羅斯的“契約”是向克里姆林宮讓出政治權利，以換取經濟繁榮，那麼現在的新契約則更容易在情感上進行操控。
