説得のロジック

知れば知るほどあちらの国の大統領は自分の利益しか頭になく他はどうでもいいと思っていることがわかってゾッとします。

元ウクライナ米大使が議会証言　解任に「大統領が圧力」

2019.10.12 19:48国際米州

【ワシントン＝住井亨介】トランプ米大統領がバイデン前副大統領に関する問題を調査するようウクライナのゼレンスキー大統領に依頼し圧力をかけたとされる「ウクライナ疑惑」で、今年５月に突然解任されたヨバノビッチ元駐ウクライナ米大使が１１日、下院委員会に対し非公開で証言した。

　米メディアによると、調査に非協力的だったとされるヨバノビッチ氏は声明で、サリバン国務副長官から「２０１８年夏以降、大統領から解任の圧力を受けていた」と説明を受けたと明らかにした。

ヨバノビッチ元駐ウクライナ米大使の議会証言の準備稿がメディアに流れたのでその内容を知ることができます。ニュースでは以下のような肝の部分が引用されています。

Ousted Ukraine ambassador was "incredulous" at being removed based on "unfounded and false claims"

BY GRACE SEGERS OCTOBER 11, 2019 / 2:05 PM / CBS NEWS

According to her prepared remarks, obtained by The Washington Post, Yovanovitch said that although her Ukraine tour was supposed to end in 2020, she was "abruptly told" in late April to return to Washington "'on the next plane.'" She did not know why she was being recalled, and she met with the deputy secretary of state, who told her Mr. Trump "had lost confidence in me and no longer wished me to serve as his ambassador." The secretary also told her there had been "a concerted campaign against" her, and there had been pressure to remove her since 2018.

Yovanovitch said she was also told she "had done nothing wrong." 

ワシントンポストでは全文を公開してくれているので、彼女の主張の流れを知ることができます。

Opening Statement of Marie L. Yovanovitch to the

House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Committee on Oversight and Reform

October 11, 2019

国政の流れを変える可能性を秘めた大事な証言でありますし、彼女のキャリアの全てが掛かっていますので、慎重に進めています。まずは証言の機会を得たことと、長い間国務省で働いてきたことへの感謝から入りました。

Thank you for the opportunity to start with this statement today.

For the last 33 years, it has been my great honor to serve the American people as a Foreign Service Officer, over six Administrations—four Republican, and two Democratic. I have served in seven different countries, five of them hardship posts, and was appointed to serve as an ambassador three times—twice by a Republican President, and once by a Democrat. Throughout my career, I have stayed true to the oath that Foreign Service Officers take and observe every day: “that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;” and “that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”

その後も背景知識から説き起こし、メディアで取り上げらる肝に入るのは最後の最後の部分でした。

My Background

Recent Ukrainian History

The Fight Against Corruption

Two Wars

Addressing Specific Concerns

Events Before and After I served in Ukraine

During my Tenure in Ukraine

ウクライナ勤務の時の出来事の５番目になってようやく渦中の人物が登場します。

• With respect to Mayor Giuliani, I have had only minimal contacts with him—a total of three that I recall. None related to the events at issue. I do not know Mr. Giuliani’s motives for attacking me. But individuals who have been named in the press as contacts of Mr. Giuliani may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine.

「２０１８年夏以降、大統領から解任の圧力を受けていた」の部分はthe Department had been under pressure from the President to remove me since the Summer of 2018のところですね。

• Finally, after being asked by the Department in early March to extend my tour until 2020, I was then abruptly told in late April to come back to Washington from Ukraine “on the next plane.” You will understandably want to ask why my posting ended so suddenly. I wanted to learn that too, and I tried to find out. I met with the Deputy Secretary of State, who informed me of the curtailment of my term. He said that the President had lost confidence in me and no longer wished me to serve as his ambassador. He added that there had been a concerted campaign against me, and that the Department had been under pressure from the President to remove me since the Summer of 2018. He also said that I had done nothing wrong and that this was not like other situations where he had recalled ambassadors for cause. I departed Ukraine for good this past May.

• Although I understand that I served at the pleasure of the President, I was nevertheless incredulous that the U.S. government chose to remove an Ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives. To make matters worse, all of this occurred during an especially challenging time in bilateral relations with a newly elected Ukrainian president. This was precisely the time when continuity in the Embassy in Ukraine was most needed.

締めコメは彼女の危機感をヒシヒシと感じることができます。The harm will come when private interests circumvent professional diplomats for their own gain, not the public good.なんて部分は、日本の入試騒動でも当てはまりそうなところです。

That harm will come not just through the inevitable and continuing resignation and loss of many of this nation’s most loyal and talented public servants. It also will come when those diplomats who soldier on and do their best to represent our nation face partners abroad who question whether the ambassador truly speaks for the President and can be counted upon as a reliable partner. The harm will come when private interests circumvent professional diplomats for their own gain, not the public good. The harm will come when bad actors in countries beyond Ukraine see how easy it is to use fiction and innuendo to manipulate our system. In such circumstances, the only interests that will be served are those of our strategic adversaries, like Russia, that spread chaos and attack the institutions and norms that the U.S. helped create and which we have benefited from for the last 75 years.

「英語は結論から先に伝える」というのは大事なことで、日本語を使う際にも参考にすべきことですが、背景から事情を説明してからではないと安易に結論を述べられない事象もあることは念頭に置いておきたいです。