The enemies you make by taking a decided stand generally have more respect for you than the friends you make by being on the fence

This is awful. Do it again.

I would have said, before the World Trade Center events, that he would try to get a normal relationship with China - making clear to China what the limits are of what America can accept, but also showing understanding for some of Chinese necessities. I thought he was moving towards the position that I have more or less advocated.

The attitude of the West and of Russia towards a crisis like Ukraine is diametrically different. The West is trying to establish the legality of any established border. For Russia, Ukraine is part of the Russian patrimony. A Russian state was created around Kiev about 1,200 years ago. Ukraine itself has been part of Russia for 500 years, and I would say most Russians consider it part of Russian patrimony. The ideal solution would be to have a Ukraine like Finland or Austria that can be a bridge between these two rather than an outpost.

We are all the President's men.

It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it.

Whenever a new president comes in, people that are used to the previous president wonder if he has the same capacity.