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For decades, "stability" was what the U.S. expected Saudi Arabia to provide in the Middle East.
几十年来，美国一直都希望沙特能在中东地区保持“稳定”。
But if anything the rapprochement with the White House has emboldened the new regime.
但如果说有什么不同的话，那就是与白宫的友好关系给新政权壮了胆。
Shortly after Trump departed Riyadh from his first foreign visit last May, the Saudis stunned the world by launching a blockade on Qatar.
去年5月，特朗普上任后首次出访就去了利雅得，访问结束后不久，沙特就封锁了卡塔尔，一举震惊了全世界。
In November, bin Salman appeared to make a hostage of Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri for more than two weeks,
去年11月，本·萨勒曼又疑似曾在黎巴嫩总理萨阿德·哈里里前往利雅得期间深夜发布视频，
after Hariri announced his resignation in a latenight video during a trip to Riyadh.
宣布自己辞职之后将其劫持并扣留了两周之久。
Amid regional and global uproar, the Lebanese leader returned to Beirut and recanted his resignation days later.
就在整个地区乃至全世界一片哗然之际，这位黎巴嫩领导人回到了贝鲁特，并于几天后宣布放弃辞职。
The ultimate target in all these adventures was Iran,
沙特的所有这些冒险行动的最终目标都是伊朗，
which arms the largely Shi’ite Houthis in Yemen, has warm relations with Qatar and plays a central role in Lebanese politics.
因为伊朗不仅为也门什叶派胡塞武装提供了武器，与卡塔尔保持着友好的关系，在黎巴嫩政治中扮演了核心的角色，
It is also the great rival of Saudi Arabia both for regional power and leadership of the Muslim world.
也是沙特阿拉伯争夺地区权力，争夺穆斯林世界领导地位的最大对手。
Bin Salman calls Iran the source of every ill in the Middle East—including, to many scholars' astonishment, religious extremism in Saudi Arabia.
本·萨勒曼称伊朗是中东所有问题的根源，包括沙特的宗教极端主义问题，这让许多学者都感到颇为震惊。
The crown prince dates this extremism to 1979, the year Sunni radicals stormed the holiest site in Islam, the Grand Mosque at Mecca,
王储将这种极端主义情绪追溯到了1979年，那一年逊尼派激进分子不仅袭击了伊斯兰教最神圣的圣地——麦加大清真寺，
and called for the overthrow of the House of Saud on the grounds of insufficient piety.
还以沙特王室不够虔诚为由呼吁推翻王室。
In bin Salman's improbable telling, the zealots were inspired by the Islamic revolution that had installed a theocracy in Iran a few months earlier...
根据本·萨勒曼那并不可信的讲述，那些逊尼派的狂热分子是受到了几个月前的那场在伊朗建立起了一个神权政体的伊斯兰革命的鼓舞……
ALL THIS ADDS UP to a different Saudi Arabia, one way or another.
不管怎样，就是这些原因合起来改变了沙特的面貌。
To outsiders, the most obvious danger is from bin Salman's impulsiveness in foreign policy.
在外人看来，最明显的危险其实源自本·萨勒曼在外交政策方面的冲动。
The running war in Yemen is the most worrisome example.
也门持续不断的战争就是最令人忧心的例子。
"This was a somewhat immature, ill-advised and improvised action,"
“这一举措不仅有些不成熟、有些欠考虑，也有点儿临时凑合的感觉，”
says Stephen Seche, former U.S. ambassador to Yemen,
前美国驻也门大使斯蒂芬·塞奇说，
that "raises questions about whether he can carry out other very ambitious plans."
“让人怀疑他是否真能落实剩下的那些野心勃勃的计划。”
The challenge is to reconcile that, and the iron fist he shows rivals at home, with the charming fellow flying around the U.S.
问题是如何才能在这一点——以及他在国内向对手展示的铁拳风格——和在美国飞来飞去且讨人喜欢的小伙子这一形象之间妥善调和。
For all the contradictions, few come away from an encounter with bin Salman unaware of the force of his personality, intellect and devotion to change.
尽管本·萨勒曼身上存在种种矛盾，但与他会面时很少有人不被他的个性、才智以及对变革的献身精神打动。
"He really is trying to project a certain image, and he's worked on it extremely hard," says Saab.
“他的确在努力树立自己的形象，在这方面他的确是下了非常非常大的工夫，”萨博说到。
It is more than enough to give hope to those who want to see the possibility of positive disruption in the Middle East.
这已经足以点燃那些盼望看到中东出现积极分裂的可能性的人的希望了。
Says the Woodrow Wilson Center's Miller:
伍德罗·威尔逊中心的米勒说：
"I guarantee you that people who this man has sat down with are asking themselves: What's new in the Middle East?
“我敢打赌，凡是和这个人坐下来说过话的人都会问自己：中东最近有什么新鲜事吗?
Two words: Saudi Arabia."
两个字；沙特。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
