Free exchange
自由交流
The false promise of friendshoring
友岸外包的虚假承诺
America, China and Europe appear to be trading less with their geopolitical rivals
美国、中国和欧洲似乎在减少与地缘对手的贸易
EACH YEAR the 193 member states of the United Nations General Assembly vote on dozens of resolutions, earnestly setting the world to rights. In December, for example, they voted in favour of reducing space threats, eradicating rural poverty and combating dust storms, among other things. The votes count for little. The assembly’s resolutions are not legally binding. Its budgetary powers are small. And it has as many military divisions as the pope.
每年，联合国大会的193个成员国都会对数十项决议投票，热切地要让世界走在正确的方向上。例如在去年12月，它们投票支持减少太空威胁、根除农村贫困和对抗沙尘暴等议题。但这些投票作用不大。联大的决议不具有法律约束力，它的预算权力很小，手里的军事力量也就与教皇相当。
- eradicate 表示“根除、杜绝、扫除”，多指彻底摧毁或消除疾病、腐败、贫穷、迷信等已经扎根或已经确立的不良事物，就像是杂草拔根一样完全去掉（参见：小词详解 | eradicate）
But for scholars of international relations, these votes have long provided a handy, quantitative measure of the geopolitical alignments between countries. More recently, economists have also turned to them. Owing to the trade war between America and China, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza and recent blockades in the Red Sea, geopolitics has become impossible for dismal scientists to ignore. Although their models of trade and investment typically give pride of place to the economic size of countries and the geographic distance between them, they are now considering “geopolitical distance” as well.
但对于国际关系学者来说，这些投票长期以来提供了衡量国家间地缘关系的一项便捷的定量指标。更近些时候，经济学家们也开始关注这些投票。由于美中贸易战、俄罗斯入侵乌克兰、加沙冲突以及近期红海航路被封锁，地缘态势已经成为经济学家无法忽视的问题。尽管他们的贸易和投资模型通常把国家的经济规模和彼此间的地理距离放在首位，他们现在也在考虑“地缘距离”的因素了。
- dismal 既可以形容物理环境或外观等“阴暗的、阴沉的、沉闷的”，也可以形容人或情绪“忧郁的、凄凉的、令人沮丧的”，多指令人彻底沮丧的阴郁，或则说极度忧郁，类似于倒了大霉或者发生了极其不幸的事情那般（参见：小词详解 | dismal）
