Britain rightly took credit for persuading Libya to give up its weapons programme. As a result, and not least because of its reserves of oil and gas, we forged a closer relationship to create opportunities for business. America did the same: Exxon’s interests played a part in removing sanctions on the regime. Now such actions look unfortunate, and there is a strong case for the west supping with a much longer spoon with regimes that deny their peoples freedom and individual rights.
英國(guó)勸說利比亞放棄其武器計(jì)劃，理應(yīng)記上一功。我們也因此結(jié)成了更為緊密的關(guān)系、以創(chuàng)造商機(jī)——利比亞的油氣儲(chǔ)備是一個(gè)重要原因。美國(guó)的作法也一樣：在美國(guó)政府取消對(duì)利比亞的制裁上，埃克森(Exxon)的利益起到了一定的作用。如今這些行動(dòng)看起來讓人頗為遺憾，并且有充足的理由證明：在與那些剝奪本國(guó)民眾自由和個(gè)人權(quán)利的政體打交道時(shí)，西方應(yīng)該更加小心謹(jǐn)慎。