My hope is that, when historians look back at Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia of last summer, the Ossetians, Russians, and Georgians killed in that war will be seen as having not died in vain. Russian troops crushed Georgia’s army on the ground, but they also delivered a strong blow against the logic of further NATO expansion, which, if not stopped, would have inevitably incited a major war in the heart of Europe.
我衷心期望，当历史学家回顾去年夏天格鲁吉亚对南奥塞梯袭击的时候，被那场战争夺去生命的奥塞梯人、俄罗斯人和格鲁吉亚人不会白白牺牲。俄罗斯军队在战场上击败了格鲁吉亚部队，同时也沉重打击了北约进一步东扩的逻辑理由，这种理由如果继续盛行下去，必然在欧洲心脏地带引发一场大规模战争。