About this Episode
🔴Wednesday January 27th 2021
🔵2021年1月27日星期三
1️⃣EU supports electric vehicles: better late than never
歐盟支持電動車：遲到總比不到好
The EU approved a €2.9bn ($3.5bn) plan to support the production of batteries for electric vehicles within the bloc. The project will give state aid to firms including Tesla, BMW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and others in an attempt to compete with China, which produces 80% of the world’s lithium-ion battery cells.
歐盟批准了一項 29億歐元 (約合 35億美元) 的計畫以支持歐盟會員國的電動車電池之生產/製造。該計畫將為包含特斯拉 (Tesla)、寶馬 (BMW) 以及飛雅特克萊斯勒集團 (FCA) 等公司提供國家援助，進而與中國 (的電動車) 競爭，而後者生產了全球八成的鋰離子電池。
2️⃣Biden in charge: shake things up!
拜登當家：一番大掃除！
President Joe Biden signed several executive orders relating to policing and prison reform. One of them resurrected a policy from Barack Obama’s administration that prevents federal authorities from supplying police forces with military-grade equipment. Mr Biden also plans to improve prison conditions and scale back the federal government’s use of private prisons.
美國總統拜登 (Joe Biden) 簽署了多項與警務和監獄改革有關的行政命令。其中之一是恢復了 (前美國總統) 歐巴馬 (Obama) 時期的一項政策，而該政策禁止聯邦當局向警方提供軍事級別的裝備。拜登也計劃改善監獄的條件，並縮減聯邦政府對民營監獄之使用。
3️⃣New beginnings: NATO’s fresh strategy
新的開始：北大西洋公約組織的新策略
NATO’s top brass will meet in Brussels today for the first time this year. The Military Committee, chaired by a former British defence chief, will discuss ongoing operations and future challenges. The most pressing issue is Afghanistan, where NATO leads an advisory mission of 12,000 troops from 38 allies and partner nations. President Joe Biden is reviewing a peace deal that his predecessor agreed with the Taliban, and which has seen American troop levels fall to just 2,500—the lowest in 20 years. Other tasks include a training mission in Baghdad and a peacekeeping force in Kosovo. The agenda will also include the future of war. Over the past year, NATO has developed a new military strategy and a “warfighting…concept” to adapt to technological change and new threats. Happily for the alliance, tweets from the American president are no longer among those.
在今天，北大西洋公約組織 (北約) 各成員國的最高階軍事將領將於 (比利時首都) 布魯塞爾 (Brussels) 進行今年首度的會晤。由前英國參謀總長為輪值主席的北約軍事委員會將討論當前的軍事行動以及未來的挑戰。其中，最為緊迫的議題是阿富汗 (Afghanistan，位在中東)，而北約在當地主導一項由 38個盟國與合作國所組成，兵力約 12,000人的 (軍事) 顧問任務。美國總統拜登正在重新檢視其前任 (即川普) 與塔利班 (Taliban) 組織所簽署的和平協議，而該協議已使美國駐軍減至 2,500人，達二十年來的新低。其他談論的工作內容包括在 (伊拉克首都) 巴格達的訓練任務以及在科索沃 (Kosovo，位於巴爾幹半島) 的維和任務。議程大綱也將包含戰事的未來。在過去幾年以來，北約正在制定新型態的戰略方針與「作戰概念」以因應科技之革新與新的威脅。不過值得 (北約) 盟國慶幸的是，他們再也不用煩惱美國總統的推文了 (譯註：前美國總統川普時常在推特上推文批評北約)。
