Daniel Fried Quotes

Nationalism is like cheap alcohol. First it makes you drunk, then it makes you blind, then it kills you.

We intend to leave it without further discussion. We respect this request by the government of Uzbekistan

At least in my country, we have come to accept the flags burning, but what we cannot accept is violence, burning of embassies and intimidations, and there is no excuse for that.

Partisanship is not part of my professional makeup.

Ronald Reagan reached out to Gorbachev. At the same time, we were pushing back against the Soviets all over the world. He was able to do two things at once, and it worked out very well for us.

Think of Europe in the 20th century. Two World Wars generated by nationalism. France, Germany, Britain fighting with each other.

The world should contemplate a nuclear weapons-armed Iran with the greatest of concern.

We did really well for a generation after 1989 and the fall of communism. Our liberal values expanded in the world, our prosperity expanded.

Nothing can be taken for granted and this great achievement is now under assault by Russia. But what we did in my time is no less honorable. It is for the present generation to defend.

America is not a white man's republic.

The Civil War was fought, in a sense, over whether that sentence - all men are created equal - is to be taken literally. And the southerners in the 1850s argued that it was not.

America is not an ethnostate. We are not rooted in blood and soil.

Lincoln is quoted more often than he's understood, and he understood that the founding principle of our nation is, in fact, the Declaration of Independence.

It's said that Putin can't stand Hillary Clinton. I don't know that for a fact, but it certainly looks that way, but I think her approach to Russia stands up pretty well.

There are lots of secretaries who send off special envoys and yes, say, "Do a great job," and that's fine until it costs you something. And then they cut you off.

We Americans are focused on Russia's attacks with our electoral system and we're consumed with that. But Russia is pushing against the West generally.

Both the Bush people and [Barack] Obama people had no problem working with the holdovers. They weren't out to get them.

Diminish us across the board. They [Russians] do not wish us well.

Internal reform in Russia would require a better relationship with the West.

If we blunt Russian efforts now to be aggressive, we may be pleasantly surprised by the policy options that become available to us, in terms of working with a better Russia.

Putinsim is not necessarily the end state for Russia. Russia has moved in many directions since the early 1980s.

Diplomacy is not merely talking somebody into something; it's talking to somebody from a position of strength. You put your power on the table to open up the conversation; that's diplomacy.

Remember, the American grand strategy works when other countries feel secure. But it doesn't work if we acquiesce in the aggression of other countries.

America's sanctions policy remains intact, and it will remain intact until it changes, if it does, and I'm not sure it will.

Sanctions are a strong and agreed element of the West's response to Russia's aggression. It is puzzling to me that there is so much skepticism about the sanctions. I don't understand it.

Russia despises the West. And is doing what it can to weaken the West.

There are a lot of policies that don't work out that are nevertheless worth doing.

I think the West is in a low point we haven't seen since the 1930s.

The West in its modern form since 1945 is a miracle, and that's in our American interests. It's its good that the West is strong and at peace, and we should want more of that, not less.

The sense the great democracies of the world - Europe, the United States, Japan, others - are going to set the agenda for the world. [Russians] want to bring that down.

What [Russians] want to do is undermine the Western liberal order.

[Russians] want to bring us down to make them feel better about the failure of the Soviet Union. I don't mean bring us down as in collapse, but bring us down a notch in a big way.

They [Russians] are the adversary, they - we're the adversary they love to hate.

[Donald Trump administration] didn't ask me to stay and 40 years seemed like enough.

Don't mistake the Russia you want to exist for the Russia that there actually is. Be realistic.

Be careful about a policy generated with enthusiasm in the rush of a moment. It usually doesn't turn out well.

No great power is ever satisfied with its sphere of influence. They never are.

I think that President George W. Bush was ahead of most of his government, in realizing that Putin was not the person we thought he was.