THE CROATIAN island of Krk is bereft(完全失去；匮乏) of vowels but rich in gorgeous(极其美丽的；华丽的) beaches. Flying into the island’s airport, holidaymakers might notice what looks like a ship at anchor(停泊着；抛锚). In fact, it is a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal. Since its completion in 2021 it has become a crucial European node(节点；枢纽) for importing LNG, mostly but not entirely from America. It is also part of the reason why American and European aims in the region, which for decades were aligned(对齐的；一致的), are increasingly at odds(不一致；有分歧). In the six western Balkan countries that are not members of the European Union, America First policies are starting to bulldoze(用推土机清除；强行推行) the EU out of the way.
克罗地亚的克尔克岛缺少元音字母，但拥有迷人的海滩。飞抵岛上机场时，度假者可能会注意到一艘看起来像停泊的船。实际上，那是一个浮式液化天然气（LNG）终端。自2021年完工以来，它已成为欧洲进口LNG的关键节点，大部分但并非全部来自美国。这也是为什么该地区几十年来一直一致的美国和欧洲目标日益产生分歧的部分原因。在六个非欧盟成员的西巴尔干国家，“美国优先”政策开始将欧盟强行挤到一边。
The disagreement was evident(明显的；显而易见的) at a meeting in April in Dubrovnik, another Croatian beach resort(度假胜地；手段), of EU members from the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Sea regions. America was represented at the Three Seas Initiative(三海倡议：亚得里亚海、波罗的海、黑海区域合作) summit by Chris Wright, its energy secretary. Mr Wright touted(兜售；吹捧) a “Trump Peace Pipelines Framework(特朗普和平管道框架)”, which he said would allow central and eastern Europe to replace its remaining dependence(依赖；依靠) on Russia’s gas with America’s. Croatia signed an agreement at the summit to connect Krk to Bosnia, which now gets all of its gas from Russia. Also in April, an American company signed a $6bn deal to supply LNG to Albania.
分歧在4月份于杜布罗夫尼克（另一个克罗地亚海滨度假胜地）的一次会议上显而易见，与会者是来自亚得里亚海、波罗的海和黑海地区的欧盟成员国。美国由能源部长克里斯·赖特代表出席三海倡议峰会。赖特先生吹捧了一个“特朗普和平管道框架”，称其将允许中欧和东欧用美国天然气取代对俄罗斯天然气的剩余依赖。克罗地亚在峰会上签署了一项协议，将克尔克与波黑连接起来，后者目前全部天然气都从俄罗斯进口。同样在4月，一家美国公司签署了价值60亿美元的协议，向阿尔巴尼亚供应LNG。
All of this is evidence that America aims to do more than(不仅仅；超过) end Russian energy imports to Europe. It is seeking, as the National Security Strategy of November 2025 said, to restore “energy dominance(主导地位；优势)”, to “project power(投射力量；显示实力)” and roll back(削减；逆转) what it sees as harmful European climate policies that “threaten the United States”. Western Balkan countries currently use little gas, and the EU wants eventually to phase out(逐步淘汰) its use of the fuel. Europeans fear that replacing Russian with American gas will undermine(逐渐损害；削弱) the countries’ transition to renewables and make it hard for them to align(使一致；校准) their energy legislation with that of the EU, which they seek to join.
所有这一切都证明，美国的目标不仅仅是终结俄罗斯对欧洲的能源进口。正如2025年11月的《国家安全战略》所说，它正在寻求恢复“能源主导权”，“投射力量”，并扭转它所认为的有害的欧洲气候政策，这些政策“威胁美国”。西巴尔干国家目前使用很少的天然气，而欧盟希望最终逐步淘汰这种燃料的使用。欧洲人担心，用美国天然气取代俄罗斯天然气将破坏这些国家向可再生能源的转型，并使它们难以使自己的能源立法与它们寻求加入的欧盟的立法保持一致。