The US has been deliberately hyping up the risk of a war between Russia and Ukraine recently. Analysts pointed out that the US government's move has dual purposes. On the one hand, in the context of its own poor domestic affairs performance, the US uses diplomatic issues to divert the attention of the American people, and gives a huge build-up for the midterm elections in the second half of this year. On the other hand, the US aims to win over and bind European allies via suppressing Russia in a bid to maintain its influence in Europe.
近一段时间以来，美国不断刻意炒作俄罗斯与乌克兰爆发战争的风险。分析人士指出，美国政府此举有双重目的：一方面，在自身内政成绩不佳的背景下利用外交议题来转移美国民众的注意力，为下半年的中期选举造势；另一方面，借打压俄罗斯来拉拢和捆绑欧洲盟友，以维系美国对欧洲的影响力。
Based on the recent words and deeds of the US, we can see that the US government has mainly taken three moves on the Ukraine issue.
梳理近来美方言行，可以看出美国政府在乌克兰问题上主要采取三方面动作。
First, it has vigorously exaggerated the imminence of the so-called Russian "aggression" against Ukraine, including releasing the so-called "intelligence" obtained by the US and its allies, showing the so-called "evidence" that Russia continues to undermine Ukraine's domestic stability, and authorizing the staff of the US embassy in Ukraine to evacuate.
其一，极力渲染所谓的俄罗斯对乌克兰“侵略”迫在眉睫，包括公布美国及其盟友获取的所谓相关“情报”，展示所谓俄罗斯持续破坏乌克兰国内稳定的“证据”，授权美国驻乌克兰大使馆工作人员撤离等。
Second, it has continued to increase the threat of economic sanctions against Russia. The US aims to cut off Russia's connections with the Western financial system and plans to strengthen export controls on Russia to restrict Russia's access to advanced technologies in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, defense and aerospace.
其二，持续加大对俄罗斯经济制裁威胁力度，试图切断俄罗斯与西方金融体系的联系，并计划对俄罗斯强化出口管制，限制俄罗斯获得人工智能、量子计算、国防及航空航天等领域先进技术。
Third, the US has strengthened military deployment within the scope of NATO, and also transported several batches of weapons and equipment to Ukraine. Until now it has not directly sent troops to Ukraine to avoid direct military conflict with Russia.
其三，在北约范围内加强军事部署，同时将多批武器装备运抵乌克兰，但并不向乌克兰直接派兵，避免与俄罗斯发生直接军事冲突。
These moves of the US government have aroused strong dissatisfaction of Russia. Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary of the President of Russia, said on Monday that people should stay clear-headed as the US media released a lot of "unsubstantiated, distorted and provocative information" about the situation at the Ukrainian border in recent months.
美国政府这些做法引发俄方强烈不满。俄罗斯总统新闻秘书佩斯科夫本周一说，美国媒体近几个月围绕乌克兰边境局势公布大量“未经证实的、歪曲的和挑衅性的信息”，人们应对此保持清醒头脑。
Ukraine also opposes the moves of stirring up trouble by Western countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed dissatisfaction with Western rhetoric that "war is inevitable" last week, as he believed that this is not the case.
乌克兰也反对西方煽风点火，乌克兰总统泽连斯基上周对西方关于“战争不可避免”的言论表示不满，认为事实并非如此。
Analysts pointed out that the US government deliberately hyped up the risk of war because it clearly has dual purposes.
分析人士指出，美国政府刻意渲染战争风险，明显怀有双重图谋。
From the perspective of domestic affairs, the US will hold midterm elections in November 2022, and the Biden administration hopes that this strategy can resist attacks by Republicans on its foreign policy. In addition, Biden's approval rate is currently at a low point, and his belligerent attitude against Russia is likely to attract a lot of votes.
从内政方面看，美国将于2022年11月举行中期选举，拜登政府希望这一策略可以抵御共和党人对其外交政策的攻击；此外，拜登的支持率眼下正处在低谷，他对俄罗斯的好战态度很可能会吸引来不少选票。
From a diplomatic point of view, the Biden administration hopes to use this tactic to further clamp down on Putin, exacerbate Russia's strategic dilemma, and win over and bind European allies at the same time. The hasty withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in August 2021 has seriously damaged the "international image" of the US. The Biden administration hopes to use the Ukraine issue to show that the US can still unite Western countries.
从外交方面看，拜登政府希望利用这一策略进一步向普京施压，加剧俄罗斯战略困境，同时拉拢和捆绑欧洲盟友，美国2021年8月从阿富汗仓皇撤军，严重破坏了美国的“国际形象”，拜登政府希望借乌克兰问题表明，美国仍然能够把西方国家团结起来。
However, the effects of the "Ukraine card" is limited. Currently, diplomacy is not the top topic in the US election. In contrast, the American people focus more on topics that are more closely related to their lives, such as the economy and the pandemic. In addition, many European countries, especially Germany and other countries that are more dependent on Russian energy, do not want the tension in Ukraine to escalate.
不过，拜登政府打“乌克兰牌”的效果有限。现阶段，外交并非美国选举中的首要话题。相比之下，美国民众更关注经济、疫情等与个人生活关系更加紧密的话题。另外，不少欧洲国家，尤其是德国等在能源上比较依赖俄罗斯的国家，并不希望乌克兰紧张局势升级。
Editor's note: This article is originally published on www.news.cn, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
