“I do believe I’ll be having the honor of taking Cuba,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.

“我确信我将有幸拿下古巴，”总统周一在椭圆形办公室对媒体表示。

“Taking Cuba in some form, yeah,” he added when a reporter asked for clarification. “Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it — I think I could do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth.”

“以某种形式拿下古巴，没错，”当一名记者要求他澄清时，他补充道。“拿下古巴。我的意思是，不管我是解放它，还是拿下它——我觉得我对它怎么做都可以，如果你想听实话的话。”

Even by Mr. Trump’s precedent-shattering standards for speaking his mind as the U.S. president, his comments were a stunning insight into his perceptions of his power and its lack of limits.

即便以特朗普作为美国总统打破先例、口无遮拦的标准来衡量，这番话依然令人震惊，清楚地展现了他对自身权力的认知以及这种权力似乎没有边界的看法。

There have been 13 U.S. presidents since Fidel Castro took power in Cuba, all with their own complicated and often contentious relationship with the Communist-ruled island. But none has so publicly pondered seizing control of the nation, until now. And after Mr. Trump’s military attacks in Venezuela and Iran this year, his comments may not simply be off-the-cuff musings.

自卡斯特罗在古巴掌权以来，美国已经历了13任总统，他们与这个由共产党统治的岛国之间的关系，各有各的复杂，且常常充满争议。但在此之前，还没有哪位总统如此公开地考虑夺取对该国的控制权。而且，在特朗普今年对委内瑞拉和伊朗发动军事打击之后，他的言论可能并非随口之言。

Instead, the remarks seem to suggest that Mr. Trump is pushing toward a third consecutive attempt to behead a foreign government, perhaps before the year finishes its first quarter.

相反，这些言论似乎表明，特朗普正推动接连第三次尝试对一个外国政府进行斩首行动，也许在今年第一季度结束之前。

“I am holding Cuba,” he said on Sunday aboard Air Force One, adding, “We will pretty soon make a deal or do whatever we have to do.” But he also made the sequencing clear: “We’re going to do Iran before Cuba.”

“我正在控制古巴，”他周日在“空军一号”上表示，并补充道，“我们很快会达成协议，或者做我们必须做的任何事情。”但他也明确了顺序：“先解决伊朗，再看古巴。”

In reality, the Trump administration is already engaging on both. Since January, the United States has established what amounts to an oil blockade on Cuba, threatening other countries if they provide oil to the island and even taking military action. Last month, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel intercepted a tanker full of crude oil from Colombia en route to Cuba.

事实上，特朗普政府已经在同时对付这两个国家了。自1月以来，美国已经对古巴实施了事实上的石油封锁，威胁其他国家不要向古巴提供石油，甚至采取了军事行动。上月，一艘美国海岸警卫队船只拦截了一艘满载原油、从哥伦比亚驶往古巴的油轮。

As a result, Cuba has not received any significant oil or fuel shipments since Jan. 9, creating a rapidly escalating crisis on the island. Gasoline sold on the black market has soared to about $35 a gallon and the electricity is failing almost every day, including a nationwide blackout on Monday. Surgeries are being delayed, medicine is running out, and food insecurity is increasing.

其结果是，自1月9日以来，古巴没有再收到任何大规模的石油或燃料供应，导致岛内危机迅速升级。黑市上的汽油价格已飙升至每加仑约35美元，几乎每天都会停电，周一甚至出现了一次全国性停电。手术被迫推迟，药品日益短缺，粮食不安全问题也在加剧。

That has backed Cuba’s leadership into a corner.

这已将古巴领导层逼入绝境。

“我确信我将有幸拿下古巴，”总统周一在椭圆形办公室对媒体表示。

President Miguel Díaz-Canel delivered a national address last week that acknowledged for the first time that Cuba was talking to the United States and would soon begin opening its economy.

古巴国家主席迪亚斯-卡内尔上周发表全国讲话，首次承认古巴正在与美国谈判，并将很快开放经济。

At the same time, the Trump administration was making clear to Cuba that Mr. Díaz-Canel must go, The Times reported on Monday. So far, the White House is not pushing for action against the Castro family, which remains in power behind the scenes. That is in line with the Trump administration’s preference for regime compliance, versus regime change, as seen in Venezuela.

与此同时，《纽约时报》周一报道称，特朗普政府也向古巴明确表示，迪亚斯-卡内尔必须下台。到目前为止，白宫尚未推动针对卡斯特罗家族的行动，该家族仍在幕后掌握权力。这与特朗普政府在委内瑞拉问题上的做法一致，即更倾向于推动政权服从，而非直接更替政权。

Russia has signaled it is prepared to back Cuba, its longtime ally, if necessary. A Kremlin spokesman said on Tuesday that Russian and Cuban officials were in close contact about the crisis.

俄罗斯已表示，如有必要，准备支持其长期盟友古巴。克里姆林宫发言人周二表示，俄古官员正就当前危机保持密切沟通。

On Monday night, Cuba’s economic czar, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, announced a series of changes to allow Cubans abroad to invest, bank and do business in Cuba, a potentially major shift in policy that the Cuban diaspora has long been seeking.

周一晚间，古巴经济主管佩雷斯-奥利瓦宣布了一系列改革措施，允许海外古巴人回国投资、办理银行业务和经商，这可能是一次重大的政策转向，也是古巴侨民长期以来的诉求。

In one sign of the pressure that Cuba is under to make such changes, Mr. Pérez-Oliva Fraga made the announcement over the radio. He had been scheduled to speak on television, but the power grid — which runs largely on oil — was still out. By 7 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the Cuban government said nearly 70 percent of Havana, the capital, was still without power.

从佩雷斯-奥利瓦通过广播宣布这一消息可见古巴在推动此类改革方面所面临的压力。他原定在电视上讲话，但主要依靠石油发电的电网当时仍处于瘫痪状态。截至当地时间周二早上7点，古巴政府表示，首都哈瓦那近70%的地区仍未恢复供电。

The potential of an economic reopening of Cuba is not lost on Mr. Trump. A real estate mogul with a long interest in South Florida and the Caribbean, Mr. Trump has long coveted the island.

对于古巴经济重新开放的潜力，特朗普自然看在眼里。作为一名长期关注南佛罗里达和加勒比地区的房地产大亨，特朗普一直对这个岛屿垂涎不已。

周一的哈瓦那，古巴当天发生大范围停电。

In 1998, a company he controlled secretly hired consultants to visit Cuba to explore its potential, a trip that might have violated the U.S. embargo on Cuba, according to a 2016 investigation by Newsweek. In 2011 and 2012, Trump Organization executives visited Cuba scouting for a golf course, Bloomberg reported in 2016.

根据《新闻周刊》2016年的一篇调查报道，1998年，特朗普控制的一家公司曾秘密聘请顾问前往古巴考察其潜力，这一行程可能违反了美国对古巴的禁运政策。彭博新闻社在2016年报道，2011年和2012年，特朗普集团的高管也曾前往古巴考察建设一座高尔夫球场的可能性。

While on the campaign trail in 2016, Mr. Trump repeatedly said he would like to do business there. “Cuba would be a good opportunity for investment,” he told a Miami news station that year. “I think probably the time’s not right.”

2016年竞选期间，特朗普多次表示愿意在古巴做生意。“就投资来说，古巴会是个好机会，”那一年他对迈阿密一家新闻电视台表示。“但我觉得时机可能还不成熟。”

Now he is suggesting the timing might be near. “They’re talking to us. It’s a failed nation. They have no money. They have no oil. They have no nothing,” he said in the Oval Office on Monday.

如今，他在暗示时机可能已近。“他们正在与我们谈判。那是个失败的国家。他们没有钱，他们没有石油，他们什么都没有，”他周一在椭圆形办公室表示。

Then he had another thought. “They have nice land. They have nice landscape,” he said, adding, “I think Cuba, in its own way, tourism and everything else, it’s a beautiful island, great weather.”

随后他又补充道：“他们有很好的土地，风景也很不错，”他还说，“我觉得古巴，就其本身而言，旅游业和其他方面，是一个美丽的岛屿，气候也很好。”

But then he revealed the geographical and meteorological limits to his knowledge. “They’re not in a hurricane zone, which is nice for a change, you know?” he said. That, of course, is like saying it doesn’t snow in Buffalo.

但随后他也暴露了自己在地理和气象方面的知识局限。“他们不在飓风带，这倒是挺不错的，对吧？”他说。当然，这就好比说水牛城不下雪一样。

Mr. Trump, however, already seemed to be thinking in the context of Cuba as American property: “They won’t be asking us for money for hurricanes every week.”

不过，特朗普似乎已经在把古巴当作美国的财产来考虑了：“他们不会每周都因为飓风向我们要钱。”