Both the Bush people and [Barack] Obama people had no problem working with the holdovers. They weren`t out to get them.
Daniel FriedThat was pretty smooth, because you don`t want something to go wrong when you have a whole senior level of actings. That`s not a position you want to be in. It`s OK to replace your team, but usually you want them to be in place until the new people are confirmed.
Daniel FriedDon't mistake the Russia you want to exist for the Russia that there actually is. Be realistic.
Daniel FriedWe 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.
Daniel FriedI believe the liberal international order is under assault from Russia, and from other authoritarian regimes, and it is being questioned from within the West by nationalists, by nativists, and by people who doubt our - doubt the values of the West. We've gone through periods like this before; in the '70s, after Vietnam and Watergate, and certainly in the '30s, when people thought liberal democracy was dead, and the future belonged either to the fascists or the communists.
Daniel Fried