AS A QUAKER, A. Mitchell Palmer did not relish(喜欢，享受) conflict. In 1913 the American congressman turned down an offer to serve as secretary of war. But conflict in Europe challenged his pacifism(和平主义). Six months after America joined the fight against Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1917, Palmer was appointed Alien Property Custodian(敌国财产托管人). The job put him at the forefront of(处于……的最前沿) the economic battle against the two aggressors. Tasked with seizing enemy-owned assets across the American economy, his office hoovered up factories, stocks, buildings, patents and more.(他的办公室受命没收全美经济中敌国拥有的资产，于是将工厂、股票、建筑、专利等统统收入囊中。) Soon it began auctioning these to raise money for the war effort. By 1918 Palmer was helping to finance the fighting with the enemies’ own wealth. Germany began the war as the world’s third-biggest foreign investor, after Britain and France. By the time the guns fell silent(枪声停息，战争结束), more than half of its foreign assets had been confiscate(没收，充公)d.
作为一名贵格会教徒，A·米切尔·帕尔默并不喜欢冲突。1913年，这位美国国会议员拒绝了出任战争部长的邀请。但欧洲的战事挑战了他的和平主义信念。1917年美国加入对德国和奥匈帝国的作战六个月后，帕尔默被任命为敌国财产托管人。这一职位将他推到了对这两个侵略国经济战的最前线。他的办公室受命没收全美经济中敌国拥有的资产，于是将工厂、股票、建筑、专利等统统收入囊中。很快，该办公室开始拍卖这些资产，为战争筹款。到1918年，帕尔默已经在用敌人自己的财富来资助对敌作战。德国在开战时是世界第三大海外投资者，仅次于英国和法国。等到枪声停息时，其海外资产已有超过一半被没收。
The story of Germany’s expropriation(征用，剥夺) is an important episode in “The Age of Confiscation”, an insightful(富有洞见的) new book by Nicholas Mulder of Cornell University. Armies have often financed themselves by loot(劫掠，掠夺)ing their enemies. But because so many German-owned assets were located in Allied jurisdictions, many of them could be taken with little more than a pen stroke.(但由于大量德国资产位于协约国管辖范围内，其中许多只需一纸文书便可夺取。) As Mr Mulder writes, Germany was the first country in the 20th century to have its assets expropriated on every continent.
德国资产被征用的故事，是康奈尔大学尼古拉斯·穆尔德一部富有洞见的新书《没收的时代》中的重要篇章。军队常常靠劫掠敌人来筹措军费。但由于大量德国资产位于协约国管辖范围内，其中许多只需一纸文书便可夺取。正如穆尔德所写，德国是20世纪第一个资产在各大洲均被征用的国家。
Today the West’s enemy is Russia. After its full-scale(全面的，大规模的) invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western governments moved quickly. By 2023 they had blocked some $60bn in Russian oligarch(寡头)s’ assets, from villas in Saint-Tropez to yachts in the Caribbean, and frozen some $300bn-worth of Russian central-bank reserves held in the West (mostly at Euroclear(欧洲清算银行，比利时证券存托机构), a Belgian depository(存托机构，保管库)).
今天，西方的敌人是俄罗斯。2022年2月俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰后，西方政府迅速行动。到2023年，它们已冻结了俄罗斯寡头约600亿美元的资产，从圣特罗佩的别墅到加勒比海的游艇，并冻结了存放在西方（主要是在比利时的存托机构欧洲清算银行）约3000亿美元的俄罗斯央行储备。