中国新闻奖参评作品内容 文字稿
作品标题：Xinhua Commentary: Meltdown of “Shining City on a Hill”（新华评论：“山巅之城”的沦陷）
Xinhua Commentary: Meltdown of “Shining City on a Hill”
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- In his 1863 Gettysburg Address, the then U.S. President Abraham Lincoln expressed the hope that the government "of the people, by the people, for the people" shall not perish from the earth. However, the heroic figure in American history may not have expected that the United States today has fallen far short of his expectations.
"We lied, we cheated, we stole... It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment." This "famous saying" by the former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is perfect for describing American politicians who have been backpedaling and reneging on their promises.
The American-style democracy now has descended into a game of transferring interests and political donations almost seen as "legitimate bribery." Political polarization is becoming the U.S.'s new label, and "vetocracy" makes the country run into trouble. A Pew Research Center survey found that just 20 percent of Americans say they trust the federal government just about always, or most of the time, a sign of public disappointment.
DETERIORATING HUMAN RIGHTS
Domestically, the United States is witnessing a deteriorating human rights record. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the pandemic response in the country has been taken as a chip by the Republican and Democratic parties to attack each other, leaving people's health and lives unattended. As a result, the United States, as the country with the most developed medical system, has reported more than 80 million confirmed cases and a death toll of 986,019 as of Tuesday, said the U.S. Johns Hopkins University, ranking first globally.
Notorious for its double standard regarding human rights, the United States, on the one hand, often accuses other countries of arbitrary detention and forced labor on no solid ground. On the other hand, they never mention the abuses of prisoners in their own country. The "black sites" worldwide, including the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, have arbitrarily detained and tortured people without trials.
The wanton pressure upon other countries and interference in other countries' internal affairs by the United States have led to massive human rights disasters. Statistics show over the past nearly 20 years, the so-called anti-terror wars waged by the U.S. have cost more than 929,000 lives. The persisting warfare and turbulence in Afghanistan have made one-third of its population refugees, and 3.5 million Afghans have become displaced because of conflicts.
MOCKABLE DOUBLE STANDARD
Some U.S. politicians have constantly lowered their "bottom line of morality," as demonstrated by the U.S. decision to "make up for" victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and its inflaming Russia-Ukraine conflict for its military-industrial complex to reap from the warfare, among others.
Regarding the rules-based order, the United States has abided by it when its interests can be served and discarded it when they are not.
While claiming "the basic tenet that big countries cannot bully small countries" has been violated in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the United States seems to have forgotten what it has done. It waged attacks on Iraq without a mandate from the UN Security Council in 2003, resulting in casualties of several hundred thousand and more than a million displaced. The United States has wantonly imposed unilateral sanctions on Cuba over the years, despite UN resolutions calling for ending such economic blocks.
The world has seen all these illegal and cruel acts, and the United States attempts to whitewash them under the pretext of "maintaining the rules-based international order." What the U.S. politicians have done displays hypocrisy and double standards, making the country the biggest destabilizing element to world peace and stability. It is also the biggest threat to international order and the global rule of law.
HYPOCRISY, NOT DEMOCRACY
While U.S. politicians have been stuck in a quagmire of false democracy at home, they are still pointing fingers at other countries' political systems, exercising hegemony and bullying in the name of democracy. It has pushed for the neo-Monroe Doctrine in Latin America under the pretext of "promoting democracy," incited "color revolution" in Eurasia, and remotely controlled the "Arab Spring" in West Asia and North Africa.
In addition, under the "inspiration" of "the glory of the American experiment," the United States has arbitrarily set traps for or intimidated and coerced other countries, such as funding the White Helmets to fabricate evidence of Syria's chemical weapons.
The American politicians' dishonesty is rooted in their contempt for justice and disregard for faith to achieve short-term political goals by stealing concepts and confusing people. If the United States continues this way, it will only make itself an outcast by the international community and history. Enditem
中文译稿：
新华社北京4月15日电题：“山巅之城”的沦陷
新华社记者
1863年，时任美国总统亚伯拉罕·林肯在葛底斯堡演说中表达了“民有、民治、民享的政府永世长存”的期望。这位美国历史上英雄般的人物或许不曾想到，如今的美国已经与他的期望相行渐远到如此地步了。
“我们撒谎、我们欺骗、我们偷窃……这才是美国不断探索进取的荣耀。”美国前国务卿蓬佩奥的这句“名言”，用来概括美国政客的言而无信、出尔反尔，再合适不过。
长期以来，美式民主已经沦为利益输送游戏，政治献金等几乎成了“合法的贿赂”。政治极化、两党对立正在成为美国的新标签，“否决政治”甚至让国家运行陷入困境。皮尤研究中心的一项调查发现，只有20%的美国人表示他们一直或大多数时候信任联邦政府，美国民众显然失望透顶。
日益恶化的人权
在国内，美国的人权记录正在恶化。自新冠肺炎疫情在美国暴发以来，疫情防控成为共和党和民主党相互攻讦、否决的工具和筹码，而民众的生命健康却未得到应有的重视。正因为如此，美国作为全球医疗系统最发达的国家，其累计新冠肺炎确诊病例和累计死亡人数截至4月2日分别超过8000万例和98.6019万人，排在世界首位。
美方在人权领域的双重标准举世闻名。一方面经常毫无依据地指责别国任意拘押、强迫劳动，另一方面却对本国监狱里的虐待、压榨囚犯问题绝口不提。包括关塔那摩监狱在内的美国在全球各地的“黑狱”，未经审判就将人任意拘押并施加酷刑。
美方动辄对他国施压、干涉他国内政，给相关国家造成巨大的人权灾难。据统计，美国近20年发动的所谓“反恐”战争已经夺去超过92.9万人的生命。美国在阿富汗持续的战争与动荡导致阿富汗近三分之一人口沦为难民，350万阿富汗人因冲突而流离失所。
讽刺的双重标准
美国某些政客的种种作为不断拉低道德底线，比如决定把扣押的数十亿美元阿富汗资产用于“赔偿”“9·11”恐怖袭击事件受害者；不断给俄乌冲突火上浇油，让本国军工复合体趁机大发战争财。
合则用、不合则弃，这就是美国对待国际规则的态度。
在俄乌冲突中，美方声称“大国不能欺负小国”的国际秩序基本规则遭到破坏，似乎全然忘记自己的所作所为。
2003年，在没有联合国安理会授权的情况下，美国对伊拉克发起攻击，造成数十万人伤亡，100多万人无家可归；不顾联合国大会连续多年通过决议要求其终止对古巴的经济封锁，依然滥施单边制裁……
这些在世人眼中非法和残暴的行径，美国均以维护“基于规则的国际秩序”来粉饰。美国政客的所作所为显示出的虚伪和双标，使美国成为世界和平的最大不稳定因素，以及国际法治和秩序的最大威胁。
虚伪，而非民主
这边美国政客们的脚已经深陷国内虚假民主的泥潭中拔不出来，那边却在世界范围内对他国政治制度指指点点，借民主之名行霸权霸道霸凌之实。
美国借“推广民主”之名在拉美推行“新门罗主义”，在欧亚地区煽动“颜色革命”，在西亚北非国家遥控“阿拉伯之春”；在所谓“美国不断探索进取的荣耀”鼓动下，任意为其他国家设置陷阱或恐吓胁迫，比如资助“白头盔”组织捏造叙利亚拥有化武的证据等。
美国政客失信的根源在于其对公理的轻慢、对信义的漠视，企图通过混淆视听达到短期政治目的。若美国继续如此行事，最终只会将自己变成孤家寡人，被国际社会、被历史抛弃。
