軍情六處前局長 恐怖威脅堪比冷戰
Turmoil and terrorism in the Middle East are as grave a security threat to Europe as that posed by the Soviet Union during the cold war, the former head of MI6, the British secret intelligence service, has warned.
英國祕密情報局(SIS)——亦稱軍情6處(MI6)——前局長約翰•索厄斯爵士(Sir John Sawers)警告稱，中東的動盪和恐怖主義對歐洲構成的安全威脅與冷戰時期的蘇聯所構成的威脅一樣嚴重。Violent attacks on European soil are both more difficult to interrupt than ever before and more likely to occur, Sir John Sawers told the Financial Times in his first interview since leaving office in November.
索厄斯在去年11月離任後接受的首次採訪中告訴英國《金融時報》，針對歐洲本土的暴力襲擊比以往任何時候都更難挫敗，而且發生機率更大。
The Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris and the spate of terror warnings and clampdown on Islamist extremists around Europe were a wake-up call to the “heightened threat”, the 59-year- old former spy chief said.
這位59歲的前情報局長表示，巴黎《查理週刊》(Charlie Hebdo)遇襲，歐洲各地大量恐怖襲擊警告和針對伊斯蘭主義極端分子的打擊都提醒人們，“威脅有所加大”。
“The rigidity we had on Europe’s doorstep for two or three decades posed a set of problems and now the turbulence we have got on Europe’s doorstep is posing another set of problems, in a sense more acute ones because the disorder in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen creates a whole series of challenges for us,” Sir John said.
索厄斯表示：“在（冷戰的）二、三十年期間，我們在歐洲家門口的剛性態度曾帶來一系列問題，如今我們在歐洲家門口所遭遇的動盪正帶來另一系列問題，在某種意義上這一次更爲嚴峻，因爲敘利亞、伊拉克、利比亞和也門的無序給我們帶來了種種挑戰。”Thousands of Europeans fighting with extremist organisations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) and al-Qaeda were “the vector for the transmission of that terrorist threat to Europe”, he added.
他補充稱，爲“伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯蘭國”(Isis)和基地組織(al-Qaeda)等極端組織作戰的數千名歐洲人是“向歐洲傳遞恐怖主義威脅的工具”。They represent a more serious terrorist threat than ever before because they are “a thousand miles closer to Europe than they were in Afghanistan [and because] they are learning from their own experience and adopting cruder tactics — mass casualty attacks rather than dramatic 9/11-style attacks”.
這些人代表着空前嚴重的恐怖主義威脅，因爲他們“與歐洲的距離比他們在阿富汗時近了1000英里，（而且）他們正從自己的經驗中學習，並採用更粗放的戰術——大規模殺傷性襲擊，而非9/11那種戲劇性的襲擊”。While he described Syria as the “centrepiece” of the problem, he added that the entire Middle East was at a critical juncture.
儘管他形容敘利亞是這個問題的“核心”，但他補充稱，整個中東正處於危急關頭。“We should be worried about the entirety of the region,” he said, citing the collapse of stable governments in many countries, the dramatic fall in the oil price, the policy uncertainty posed by the Saudi king’s failing health and the fraught international negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme.
他表示：“我們應擔心整個地區，”他列出了很多例子，包括很多國家穩定政府的倒臺、油價大幅下跌、沙特阿拉伯國王健康狀況惡化所帶來的政策不確定性，以及圍繞伊朗核計劃的棘手的國際談判。
