Title:Trump envoy’s remarks ignite outrage in Germany

In an interview from his office in Berlin with the right-leaning Breitbart News, Richard Grenell made an acknowledgement unusual for a diplomat: he wanted to  "empower other conservatives throughout Europe."

在柏林他的办公室接受右翼网站布赖特巴特新闻的采访中，理查德·格勒内尔（Richard Grenell）作为一位外交官做了不同寻常的承认：他希望“在欧洲增强其他保守派的力量”。

"I absolutely want to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders. I think there is a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left,"  Grenell said, adding that it was  "an exciting time"  to be serving as ambassador.

“我绝对希望赋予欧洲其他保守派人士、其他领导人以权力。”格勒内尔说，“我认为由于左派的政策失败，保守政策已经接二连三地被阻止实施。”格勒内尔补充说，担任大使是“一个令人兴奋的时刻”。

The blowback in Germany was swift.

德国的风声很快.

The German Foreign Ministry requested that Grenell clarify his remarks; a top lawmaker with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives said he was at risk of becoming a  "highly ineffective"  envoy; and a cadre of left-leaning politicians demanded that Grenell's credentials be withdrawn.

德国外交部要求格勒内尔澄清他的言论；一位来自总理默克尔保守派的最高立法者说，他有可能成为一名“效率很高的”特使；还有一批左倾政客要求撤回格勒纳的全权证书。

"What this man is doing is unheard of in international diplomacy,"  Martin Schulz, the former leader of the Social Democratic Party, told Germany's DPA news agency.

社会民主党前领导人马丁·舒尔兹对德国新闻部新闻机构说：“这个人所做的事在国际外交方面是闻所未闻的。”

Sahra Wagenknecht, the leader of the left-wing Die Linke party, called on the German government to boot Grenell from the country, arguing that the ambassador's comments amounted to a threat to Germany's  "democratic sovereignty,"  according to Germany media.

根据德国媒体报道，左派迪林克党领导人Sahra Pagenknecht呼吁德国政府从该国接替格勒诺，称大使的评论是对德国"民主主权"的威胁。

Grenell's comments — expressing support for a political faction in Europe – were unusual.

格勒内尔发表言论表示支持欧洲的一个政治派别,这种说法不寻常.

While it's not uncommon for diplomats to be partisan back in their home countries, they rarely comment on the domestic politics of the countries in which they are posted.

虽然外交人员返回本国时往往有党派倾向，但他们很少评论派驻他们的国家的国内政治。

"It is pretty clear that this is not ambassadorial, but this is being understood as political interference rather than voicing someone's perspectives,"  Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, the vice president at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Berlin, told The Hill in an interview.  "That's how it was constructed and how it was understood."

显然，这不是大使级行动，而是被理解为政治干涉，而不是说出别人的观点，"Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff,美国柏林的德国马歇尔基金副总裁在接受采访时告诉Hill说："这是如何建立的，也是如何理解的"。

Grenell's remarks were also notable because they come as relations between the U.S. and allies in Western Europe grow increasingly strained.

格勒奈尔的言论也很引人注目，因为随着美国和西欧盟国之间的关系日益紧张。

Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, and his recent decision to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union, have sparked concerns that Washington is alienating some of its closest post-war allies.

特朗普决定退出伊朗核协议，以及最近决定对欧盟征收钢铁和铝关税，引发了人们担心，华盛顿将疏远其战后一些最亲密盟友。

Grenell's arrival in Germany did not come with a honeymoon phase.

格勒奈尔抵达德国时并没有出现蜜月期。

He angered many Germans last month when he tweeted that  "German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately."

上个月，当许多德国人发表推特“德国公司在伊朗做生意应立即停止业务”时，他激怒了许多德国人。

The comment, made the day he arrived in Berlin, followed on the heels of Trump's decision to back out of the Iran nuclear deal and impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic and those that do business in the country.

这一评论是他抵达柏林的一天，紧接着特朗普决定退出伊朗核协议，对伊朗伊斯兰共和国和在该国做生意的人实行制裁。

Grenell responded to criticism over that remark in an interview with KCRW Berlin, an English-language radio station, saying that it was not intended to be taken as an order to German companies. But he also stopped short of apologizing for the remark, and appeared to give companies a choice between doing business with the U.S. or doing business with Iran.

格勒内尔在接受英语电台KCRW Berlin的采访时回应了对这一言论的批评，他说，这不打算作为对德国公司的命令。但他也停止了对上述言论的歉意，并似乎给了公司在与美国做生意或与伊朗做生意之间做出选择。

"What I said is that you should wind down, or you should not do business with the mullahs. It's not a directive. Businesses get to choose,"  he said.  "But again — they get to choose. Either they're going to do business in a very small market of Iran or they're going to choose to do business in a very large market of the United States."

“我说的是你应该下车，或者你不应该跟毛拉做生意。这不是指令。企业要选择，”他说，“但是，他们选择吗？要么在伊朗的一个很小的市场做生意，要么他们选择在美国一个非常大的市场做生意。

The State Department defended Grenell's comments to Breitbart on Tuesday, telling reporters during a press briefing that the ambassador was  "merely highlighting that there are some parties and candidates in Europe who are doing well right now."

美国国务院星期二对新闻记者发表讲话时表示，这位大使只是“强调欧洲有一些政党和候选人现在表现良好”。

"We're not supporting any political party. That's not what we do,"  Heather Nauert, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said.  "We support democracy, we support countries figuring out for themselves who they want to vote in for office."

“我们不支持任何政党，我们不支持任何政党，这不支持我们的行动，”国务院发言人希瑟·瑙特说，“我们支持民主，我们支持那些为自己想竞选公职的人谋利的国家。”

Grenell himself denied that he was expressing support for a political party. But he also doubled down on his claim that President Trump had led a global movement rejecting  "the elites."

格勒内尔自己否认自己表示支持政党，但他也否认特朗普领导了一个反对精英阶层的全球运动的说法。

"The idea that I'd endorse candidates/parties is ridiculous,"  he wrote in a tweet last Sunday.  "I stand by my comments that we are experiencing an awakening from the silent majority - those who reject the elites & their bubble. Led by Trump."

“我赞成候选人/政党的想法是荒谬的，”他上周日发表在推特上写道，“我支持我的意见，即我们正在从沉默的大多数人中苏醒过来——那些反对精英们及其泡沫的人，由特朗普领导。

Absurd. I condemn those comments completely. Don't put words in my mouth. The idea that I'd endorse candidates/parties is ridiculous. I stand by my comments that we are experiencing an awakening from the silent majority - those who reject the elites & their bubble. Led by Trump. https://t.co/DjSX4SL3bf

Many Germans were taken aback by Grenell's comments — and the website that he made them to.

格勒尔的言论和他所登的网站令许多德国人感到震惊.

The right-wing news outlet began eyeing an expansion across Europe in late 2016 around the time that Trump was elected. Germany, which has grappled with an ascendant right-wing movement in recent years, was among the countries on that list.

2016年下半年，特朗普当选时，右翼新闻媒体开始关注整个欧洲的扩张，近年来，德国一直在与日益上升的右翼运动进行斗争，并成为了这一名单中的国家之一。

The company has not opened any new bureaus in Europe, and has failed to gain the same traction across the Atlantic. But Kleine-Brockhoff said that it was significant that Grenell chose to speak to Breitbart in the first place, and that the move is part of a wider pattern of behavior by the Trump administration.

该公司在欧洲尚未开设任何新的业务局，也未能在整个大西洋取得同样的效果。但Kleine-Brockhoff表示，重要的是，格林纳丁首先选择和布里特巴特谈话，特朗普政府的行为模式更加广泛。

"This all fits together into one composite picture,"  Kleine-Brockhoff said.  "It's not that some ambassador misjudged his role in some formal terms or went across some formal line in the Vienna Convention."

“ 这一切都符合一个全面的情况 , ” Kleine-Brockhoff 说 “ …… 不是某些大使用某种正式的方式对他的作用作出错误判断 , 或者跨越 《 维也纳公约 》 中的某种正式的界线 。 ”

"If that was the case it would all be — as the German saying goes — a storm in the water glass,"  he continued.  "But that's not the case here."

“果真如此的话，正如德国人所说的那样，就像水玻璃上的风暴一样，”他继续说，“但是这并不是这样。”

Grenell's comments may be a signal that Trump's own bombastic style may be  "infecting diplomacy in terms of what U.S. ambassadors believe is acceptable,"  said Stewart Patrick, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who served on former Secretary of State Colin Powell's policy planning staff.

格勒奈尔的评论可能表明特朗普自己的轰炸式可能影响美国外交努力。鲍威尔(Colin Powell)前国务卿的政策规划人员担任外交关系委员会高级研究员斯图尔特·帕特里克(Stewart Patrick)说：“大使们认为可以接受它。”

He said that deploying a strategy that so brazenly bends diplomatic norms — especially at a time when aspects of the transatlantic relationship appear somewhat frayed — would ultimately be counterproductive, and only inhibit Grenell's ability to be an effective ambassador to Berlin.

他说，采用如此厚颜无耻的外交准则，特别是在跨大西洋关系的各个方面似乎受到某些破坏的时候，最终会适得其反，而格勒奈尔担任驻柏林大使的能力却受到限制。

"It's highly counterproductive,"  Stewart said, adding that  "if the shoe were on the other foot, it would be seen as entirely unacceptable if the German ambassador was talking about the importance of empowering conservatives or nationalists in the United States."

斯图尔特说：“这样做会适得其反。”他补充道：“如果鞋在另一只脚上，如果德国大使在谈论美国保守派或国家主义分子赋权的重要性，那就会被认为是完全不能接受的。

"What it is showing is there's an estrangement with the United States under the Trump admin and its most enduring allies,"  he added.

他补充道：“在特朗普行政当局及其最持久的盟友下，美国与美国存在隔阂。”

The German government almost certainly will not revoke Grenell's credentials. Some German officials shrugged off his remarks as part of the cost of doing business with an American president known for bucking diplomatic and political norms.

德国政府几乎肯定不会取消格勒纳的全权证书，一些德国官员对格勒纳的讲话不屑一顾，认为这属于与一位以破坏外交和政治规范著称的美国总统做生意的代价。

Volker Kauder, the leader of Merkel's center-right Union faction in parliament, told reporters on Tuesday that how Grenell handles his job is  "up to him,"  adding that he would not comment on everything the ambassador does or says.

默克尔(Merkel)中右翼联盟派系领袖沃克·卡德尔(Volker Kauder)周二对记者表示，格勒维尔如何处理他的工作是“由他”，他补充道，他不会对大使所做或说的话发表任何评论。

"I assume that just as I've gotten to know the American president, and now the ambassador, there could be frequent occasion to comment, given what both of them are like,"  Kauder said, according to an Associated Press report.  "You have to take it how it is."

据美联社报道，"我认为，正如我已经了解美国总统，现在认识大使，可能经常有机会发表评论。"你得按它的方式行事。"

Jürgen Hardt, the foreign policy spokesman for the conservative bloc in parliament, similarly waved off Grenell's comments, saying that it's  "not my place to tell the new U.S. ambassador how to exercise his functions or which media outlets to speak to."

议会保守派集团外交政策发言人Jürgen Hardt同样置若罔闻，说格勒奈尔的言论是“我没有地方告诉新美国了”。大使如何行使他的职能或与哪家媒体联系。

It would not be the first time that the U.S. has weathered diplomatic spats in Europe, said James Carafano, the vice president for foreign policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation. He said that there is a lack of  "proportionality"  in the Germans' response to Grenell's comments, which he said were  "actually pretty innocuous."

保守传统基金会负责外交政策的副总裁詹姆斯·卡拉凡诺说，这不是美国第一次经受住了欧洲的外交纷争。他说，德国人对格勒奈尔评论的回应缺乏“相称性”，他说这实际上是“相当无害的”。

Carafano said that internal insecurities over the populist movement in Europe may be driving the backlash to Grenell's comments.

卡拉凡诺说，欧洲民粹主义运动的内部不安全可能正引起对格勒内尔评论的反抗。

"What he actually said was really incredibly mild. He clarified it, the State Department clarified it,"  he said.  "The Germans are not going to kick the American ambassador out of the country for this."

他说：“他其实说的相当温和，他解释说，国务院澄清了，”他说，“德国人不会为此将美国大使踢出国。”