裁判を通じて、トランプ前大統領は「私はあなたのために起訴された。あなたのために犠牲者になった」というメッセージをMAGA(Make America Great Again:「米国を再び偉大にする」運動に参加しているトランプ支持者)に送り、彼らの結束を図ることは確かだ。腐敗したバイデン政権と一族の犠牲になったというメッセージは、資金集めにも効果的である。トランプ前大統領は、裁判を選挙戦略に組み入れた戦略を実現するだろう。
ロシア外務省のザハロワ報道官は、「芝居がかった」記者会見で知られるそうである。 Spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry Maria Zakharova is known for "theatrical" press briefings この女性の登場以来、ロシアの外交は、西側とわたりあえる品格と思慮深さを失ったと、記事にかかれている。 つまり、本物の外交官がいなくなり、プーチンのイエスマンだけになっていたったとの実態が書かれている。
Her diplomatic colleagues were going the same way. Mr Bondarev, who used to work for Moscow's mission to the UN in Geneva, recalls one meeting where Russia blocked all proposed initiatives, prompting colleagues from Switzerland to complain.
"We said to them: 'Well, what's the problem? We are a great power, and you are just Switzerland!'
"That's [Russian] diplomacy for you," he says.
This approach was aimed at impressing Russians back home, says Mr Gabuev, the foreign policy analyst.
But an even more crucial target audience for diplomats is their own bosses, according to Mr Bondarev. Official telegrams sent to Moscow after foreign meetings are focussed on how passionately diplomats defended the country's interests, he explains.
A typical message, according to him, would be something like: "We really gave them a hard time! We heroically defended Russian interests, and the Westerners couldn't do anything and backed down!"
If everyone writes about "putting Westerners in their place" and you write that you "achieved consensus", you will be looked at with disdain, he says.
Mr Bondarev recalls a dinner in Geneva in January 2022 when Mr Ryabkov, from the foreign ministry, met US officials. US First Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman hoped to avert the invasion of Ukraine through 11th-hour negotiations.
"It was awful," says Mr Bondarev. "The Americans were like, 'Let's negotiate.' And instead Ryabkov starts shouting, 'We need Ukraine! We won't go anywhere without Ukraine! Take all your stuff and go back to the 1997 [Nato] borders!' Sherman is an iron lady, but I think even her jaw dropped at this.
"[Ryabkov] was always very polite and really nice to talk to. And now he's banging his fist on the table and talking nonsense."
Russia seems set on relying on its military machine, intelligence services and geo-economic power for influence - rather than diplomacy.
In these dispiriting circumstances, why aren't Russian diplomats simply voting with their feet and resigning from the foreign service altogether?
"It's a problem for everyone who's been stuck in their positions for 10 to 20 years," a former Kremlin employee told the BBC. "There's no other life for you. It's terrifying."
Mr Bondarev, the former diplomat, can relate to that. "If it hadn't been for the war, I probably would have stayed and put up with it," he says.
"The job isn't so bad. You sit, suffer a bit and in the evening you go out."
〇仮定法過去の決まった言い方で,If it were not for ... 「もし・・・がなかったら」
普通はbe動詞はwas,wereのどちらでもいいと習うのですが,この場合はどうなのでしょうか。 ・・・ 口語では If it was not for ~ も使えます。 ただ,この表現はどちらかといえば固い表現なので,どちらかといえば,If it were not for ~ の方が頻度は高いでしょう。
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