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Russia

Thursday 25th of April 2024

2016 Presidential election For all the Republicans' talk of a top-down Democratic plot, [Christopher] Steele and [Glenn] Simpson appear never to have told their ultimate client –the Clinton campaign's law firm– that Steele had gone to the F.B.I. Clinton's campaign spent much of the sum- mer of 2016 fending off stories about the Bureau's investigation into her e-emails, without knowing that the F.B.I. had launched a counter-intelligence investigation into the Trump team's ties to Russia … As a top Clinton-campaign official told me, “If I'd known the F.B.I. was investigating Trump, I would have been shouting it from the rooftops!” Jane Mayer, New Yorker, March 12, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election I had nothing to do with Russia helping me get elected. Donald Trump, 7:57 AM – May 30, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Of course, the Russian effort affected the outcome. Surprising even themselves, they swung the election to a Trump win. To conclude otherwise stretches logic, common sense, and credulity to the breaking point. James Clapper, forner Director of National Intelligence, in his book, Facts and Fears  © 2018 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election The president's intense resistance to the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia systematically interfered in the 2016 campaign – and the blame he cast instead on a rival country – led many of his advisers to think that Putin himself helped spur the idea of Ukraine's culp- ability, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. One former senior White House official said Trump even stated so explicitly at one point, saying he knew Ukraine was the real culprit because “Putin told me.” Washington Post, December 19, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Regrettably, it appears that the platforms may have misrepresented or evaded in some of their statements to Congress. From a report published by the Senate Intelligence Committee about the responses submitted by Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms to its requests for data about Russia's attempts to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election © 2018 Kwiple.com
2020 Presidential election Right now, Russia's security services and their proxies have geared up to repeat their interference in the 2020 election. We are running out of time to stop them. In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests. Fiona Hill, opening statement before the House Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry hearing, November 21, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election When you learn that the bank you borrowed money from is actually owned by a drug cartel, should your first reaction be, “Well, we got a good interest rate”? The simple reality is that the Republican Party was in buiness with Russian intelligence efforts, what used to be known as the KGB, and precious few leading the Republican Party seen to give a damn. Stuart Stevens, It Was All a Lie © 2020 Kwiple.com
Authoritarianism They are imprisoning one person to frighten millions. Alexei Navalny, on being sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail for missing penal meetings in Russia because he was recuperating in Germany after being poisoned by Putin © 2021 Kwiple.com
Bad news  In the face of Trump's fact-free denials, who is reminding the public of the basics – that Russia attacked, and that Trump aided and abetted the operation? … When it comes to framing the overarching story, Trump pracitcally has a monopoly. citation David Corn, Mother Jones, June 5, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Bad news Much of the media framing of the Russia scandal has followed Trump's lead and adopted his collusion-centric perspective. The debate, such as it is, has become whether Trump directly collaborated with Moscow's covert operation– and whether Trump, as president, tried to thwart the investigation and obstruct justice. The story is not driven by the serious offenses already established: Trump and his associates encourged and assisted an attack from a foreign foe. citation David Corn, Mother Jones, June 5, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Bullshitters say I think that the last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump, because nobody's been tougher on Russia than I have, ever. Donald Trump © 2021 Kwiple.com
COVID-19 coronavirus Everything passes and this will pass. Our country  has gone through many serious challenges.  When tormented by the Pechenegs and the Polovtsians Russia has handled them all. We will defeat this coronavirus contagion. Vladimir Putin, exhorting fellow Russians to overcome the latest scourge to afflict their lands [Because most Russians know as much about Pechenegs and Polovtsians as most Americans know about the Great Disappointment of 1844, a meme depicting two Pechenegs went viral. One asks, “So, are we trending on Google yet?” The other responds, “No. It's the Polovtsians.”] © 2023 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case…don't believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted. Problem is that a new…… ……lawyer or law firm will take months to get up to speed (if for no other reason than they can bill more), which is unfair in our great country - and I am very happy with my existing team. Besides, there was NO COLLUSION with Russia, except by crooked Hillary and the Dems! Donald Trump, 7:40 AM + 7:49 AM - Mar 25, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say Nobody's been tougher on Russia than I have. And I know you're nodding yes because everybody agrees when they think about it.  Donald Trump, to reporters © 2018 Kwiple.com
Election meddling My people came to me, Dan Coats [Director of National Intelligence] came to me and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be. Donald Trump, standing beside Vladimir Putin at the Helsinki summit press conference, siding with Putin over America's intelligence agencies © 2018 Kwiple.com
Election meddling Yes I did. Yes I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal. Vladimir Putin, responding to a reporter who asked him at the Helsinki summit press conference, “Did you want President Trump to win the election? And did you direct  any of your officials to help him do that?” © 2018 Kwiple.com
Energy Thanks to an unseasonably warm winter in  Europe, Putin's moment of maximum leverage has passed uneventfully, and … the biggest  victim of Putin's gas gambit was Russia itself.  Putin's natural gas leverage is now noneistent, as the world — and, most importantly, Europe — no longer needs Russian gas. Far from freezing to death, Europe quickly secured alternative gas supplies by pivoting to global liquefied natural gas (LNG). …  Putin … has zero remaining leverage and no way to replace his erstwhile primary customer; he is finding out the hard way that it is much easier for consumers to replace unreliable commodity suppliers than it is for suppliers to find new markets.  Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Foreign Policy, Jan. 19, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Expansionism I have no way to defend my borders but to expand them. Catherine the Great © 2023 Kwiple.com
Fascism The engine of fascism does not have a reverse gear. Mr Putin cannot turn back to a reality-based brand of authoritarianism. Expansion is in its nature. It will seek to expand both geographically and into people's private lives. The Economist, July 28, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Freedom There are two options. The first is Anglo-Saxon. I give you the menu, you can choose what you want. The second option is Russian. There is no choice. The chef chooses for you, because he knows better what you want. I suggest the Russian option. Vladislav Surkov, founding father of Putinism, architect of Russia's “sovereign democracy” © 2021 Kwiple.com
Gun lobbyists say As improbable as it may sound, the Russian bear shares more interests with the Republican elephant than the Democratic donkey.  Marina Butina, founder of Russia's Right to Bear Arms movement © 2018 Kwiple.com
Gun lobbyists say I was impressed by the grassroots movement they created. I wish we had as many good-looking young ladies involved in our gun-rights movement here in the United States. Alan Gottlieb,  founder, Second Amendment Foundation, on Russia's Right to Bear Arms movement  © 2018 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say I accuse Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes (CA), Chairman Paul Ryan (WI), Ex officio Mike Conaway (TX) Tom Rooney (FL) Rick Crawford (AR) I. Ros-Lehtinen (FL) Trey Gowdy (SC) Elise Stefanik (NY) Will Hurd (TX) Chris Stewart (UT) Peter King (NY) Mike Turner (OH) Frank LoBiondo (NJ) Brad Wenstrup (OH) of abrogation of duty in investigating the degree of Russian interference in the 2016 elections ——— Specific charges ——— • Failing to call key witnesses • Failing to verify witness statements • Failing to supboena uncooperative witnesses & witnesses who lied • Leaking secrets for partisan gain • Denying Putin favored Trump • Failing to inform Democratic committee members of meetings • Prohibiting Democratic input to written committee reports • Failing to await special counsel Robert Mueller's findings • Putting Republican Party interests above the nation's © 2018 Kwiple.com
Liars say I'm very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for Democrats. They definitely don't want Trump! Donald Trump, 8:50 AM - 24 Jul 2018, after standing beside Putin in Helsinki as Putin admitted that he ordered Russian interference in the 2016 election to help Trump win, which puts this statement beyond mere lying and deep into the depths of scumbaggery © 2018 Kwiple.com
News For all the angst about polarisation and disinformation, something very different is in fact going on in news consumption: the mass-media age is ending.  We’re returning to a time when most people get almost no news. Growing numbers of citizens are oblivious to current affairs, much like most ordinary Britons before  the first popular newspaper, the Daily Mail, appeared in 1896 … We marvel at Russians, switched off and immobilised while their government commits horrors. That could be us very soon. Simon Kuper, Financial Times, March 21, 2023 © 2024 Kwiple.com
Nukes By taking nuclear blackmail seriously, we have actually increased the overall chances of nuclear war.  If nuclear blackmail enables a Russian victory, the consequences will be incalculably awful. If any country with nuclear weapons can do whatever it likes, then law means nothing, no international order is possible, and catastrophe beckons at every turn. Countries without nuclear weapons will have to build them, on the logic that they will need nuclear deterrence in the future.  Nuclear proliferation would make nuclear war much more likely in the future. Timothy Snyder, New York Times, May 6, 2022, on Russia's threats to use nuclear weapons to guarantee a win in its war with Ukraine © 2023 Kwiple.com
Nukes Russia's nuclear talk is itself the weapon. … Russian propagandists want us to think that nuclear powers can never lose wars, on the logic that they could always deploy nuclear weapons to win. This is an ahistoric fantasy. Nuclear weapons did not bring the French victory in Algeria, nor did they preserve the British Empire. The Soviet Union lost its war in Afghanistan. America lost in Vietnam and in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Israel failed to win in Lebanon.  Nuclear powers lose wars with some regularity. Timothy Snyder, New York Times, May 6, 2022, on Russia's threats to use nuclear weapons to guarantee a win in its war with Ukraine © 2023 Kwiple.com
Nukes We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Joint Statement of the Leaders of the Five Nuclear-Weapon States on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races (January 22, 2022) [The signatories are China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and United States. Currently, India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan also have nuclear weapons.] © 2022 Kwiple.com
Power Although they have amassed immense power and wealth, Putin and his immediate circle remain intensely resentful of the way in which the Soviet Union, Russia and their own service [the KGB] collapsed in the 1990s — and  great power mixed with great resentment is one of the most dangerous mixtures in both domestic and international politics. Anatol Lieven, Financial Times, March 11, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Profiles in courage NO WAR Остановите войну, не верьте пропаганде, здесь вам врут. Russians against war [ Stop the war Don't believe the propaganda You are being lied to here ] Sign displayed by Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One Russia TV channel, after sneaking up behind the anchor during a live broadcast to the nation to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine, before the anchor switched to pre-recorded footage and she was taken away for interrogation © 2022 Kwiple.com
Punt returners say I want to thank the Russian Academy for this Lifetime Achievement Award. Hillary Clinton, 11:19 AM – Mar 15, 2022, responding to the announcmeent that the Russian Foreign Ministry imposed sanctions on her and twelve other high-profile Americans banning them from entering Russia © 2022 Kwiple.com
Reading If Russians knew how to read, they would write me off. Attributed to Catherine the Great © 2023 Kwiple.com
Republicans say We love it when Russians interfere to help us win elections Cnacибo, тoвapиши © 2018 Kwiple.com
Resisters say Make Russia gяeat again Placard, Trump inauguration, January 20, 201 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Resisters say Tяump Remember our kompromat Placard, Trump inauguration, January 20, 201 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Russia Back then, in the 1990s, people like [Irina] Frige [a leader of the Leningrad Memorial Society that preserves facts, images and objects related to the Gulag and its victims] were talking about "de-Communization,” which they imagined  would be like de-Nazification [in Germany]. But twenty years later, she was telling me that I was wrong to talk about forgetting because forgetting presupposes  remembering — and remembering had not happened, or had not happened yet. Masha Gessen, Never Remember  [2018] © 2022 Kwiple.com
Russia The borders of Russia never end. Vladimir Putin, in his role as chairman of the Russian Geographic Society, telling young geographers being honored at a ceremony in 2016, two years before invading Ukraine, the correct answer to the question, Where do Russia's borders end? © 2022 Kwiple.com
Russia Half the bricks would get stolen. Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin, responding to a question about what would happen if Russia were to build a wall to seal itself off from the west, as he imagined in his novel, Oprichnik  © 2022 Kwiple.com
Russia  In Soviet days most of us were really quite  happy with a  dacha, a colour TV and access  to special shops with some western goods, and holidays in Sochi. We were perfectly comfortable, and we only compared ourselves with the rest of  the population, not with the western elites. … It used to be that official rank gave you top status. Now you have to have huge amounts of money too. That is what the 1990s did to Russian society. A “senior former Soviet official” quoted by Anatol Lieven, Financial Times, Nov. 30, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Russia Land is the only thing we've got too much of. An old woman quoted by Colin Thubron in The Amur River: Between Russia and China © 2021 Kwiple.com
Russia The memo … which did not surface publiicly with the others … is based on one source described as “a senior Russian official.” The official said that he was merely relaying talk circulating in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but what he'd heard was astonishing: people were saying that the Kremlin had inter- vened to block Trump's initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt Romney. … The memo said that the Kremlin, through un- specified channels, had asked Trump to appoint someone who would be prepared to lift Ukraine-related sanctions, and who would cooperate on security issues of inter- est to Russia, such as the conflict in Syria. Jane Mayer, New Yorker, March 12, 2018, on a Nov. 2016 memo by Christopher Steele © 2018 Kwiple.com
Russia Now, with the Kremlin once more bleeding men and resources in a foreign war, and again sagging under a torpid economy, western policymakers risk being caught out a second time.  Just as a failure of imagination blinded the  west to the Soviet Union's imminent demise, so the same failure — and an inability or reluctance to understand Russia as the colonial empire it remains — is blinding western policymakers to the potential for the Russian Federation’s dissolution. Casey Michel, Financial Times, Januaryt 10, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Russia The Russian democrat ends where the Ukrainian question begins. Volodymyr Vynnychenko, first Prime Minister of Ukraine, 1917-1918 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Russia Russia's problem was ultimately not just about its military weakness. Its problem was, and remains, its weakness in all relevant forms of power, including the power of attraction. At least during the Cold War a communist Soviet Union could claim to offer the path to paradise on earth. Yet afterward, Moscow could provide  neither ideology, nor security, nor prosperity, nor independence to it neighbors. It could offer only Russian nationalism and ambition, and eastern Europeans understandably had no interest in sacrificing themselves on that altar. Robert Kagan, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Russia There is very little that Russia can do to the US, say, that the US doesn't do to itself. Even the most ingenious outside force can only ignite the kindling that a country leaves lying around. Janan Ganesh, Financial Times, November 30, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Russia The Ukraine war is, Lebedev says: “The defeat of Russian culture. And it is probably the final defeat.  Because if Russia is to have any future at all, it will have to become another country. Another Russia.” Financial Times, April 10, 2023, quoting Sergei Lebedev, the exiled Russian writer © 2023 Kwiple.com
The Russia thing  But regardless of the recommendation, I was going to fire Comey, knowing there was no good time to do it! And in fact when I decided to just do it I said to myself, I said, “You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should've won.” Donald Trump on firing James Comey © 2018 Kwiple.com
The  scandal In 2016, Vladimir Putin's regime mounted information warfare against the United States, in part to help Trump become pres- ident. While this attack was underway, the Trump crew tried to collude covertly with Moscow, sought to set up a secret communications channel with Putin's office, and repeatedly denied in public that this assault was happening, providing cover to the Russian operation. Trump and his lieutenants aligned themselves with and assisted a foreign adversary, as it was attacking the United States. The evidence is rock-solid: They committed a profound act of betrayal. That is the scandal. David Corn, Mother Jones, June 5, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Selfie As a Russian of Asian extraction I am aware I'm not democracy material: I rarely go to vote and never to protest. And that psyche is widespread in the former Mongol empire territories: Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, China and North Korea. Mergen Mongush, letter to the editor, Financial Times, June 22, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Selfie I never worked for Russia. Donald Trump, January 14, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Snapshot I understand why he has to do this, to prove he's a man. He's afraid of his own weakness. Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this. Vladimir Putin portrayed by Angela Merkel, who he forced to wait for hours before starting their scheduled meeting, took a long call during it and then unleashed a huge dog next to her, knowing she was afraid of dogs © 2022 Kwiple.com
Snapshot It will wash in this shame for decades. Russia after invading Ukraine portrayed by Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian TV journalist who waved a sign reading “Stop the war — Don't believe propaganda — They're lying to you” during a live broadcast to the nation and who now lives in exile in safe houses in Europe  © 2023 Kwiple.com
Snapshot The Russians may have something on him personally that they could always roll out and make his life more difficult. Donald Trump portrayed by John Brennan, C.I.A. durector from 2013 to 2017 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot I'm not ready to say that our president is a Russian agent, but I have an agent and he doesn't do much for me as Trump does for Russia. Donald Trump portrayed by Stephen Colbert © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot [E]ither Trump's real estate empire has taken large amounts of money from shady oligarchs linked to the Kremlin – so much that they literally own him; or rumors are true that he engaged in sexual misbehavior while he was in Mos- cow running the Miss Universe contest, which Russian intelligence has on tape and he doesn't want released; or Trump actually believes Russian President Vladimir Putin when he says he is innocent of intervening in our elections over the explicit findings of Trump's own C.I.A., N.S.A. and F.B.I. chiefs. Donald Trump portrayed by Thomas Friedman © 2018 Kwiple.com
Socialism Why the radical intelligentsia, having learned much of the peasant's psychology, nevertheless still expected him to emerge as a selfless socialist, is one of the unexplained mysteries of Russian history. Richard Pipes, Russia Under the Old Regime © 2022 Kwiple.com
Spies [T]he attack on the superannuated minor double agent [Sergei] Skripal is chiefly a public statement. Russia is telling Britons: we can kill with impunity in your country, and it's telling powerful Russians in Britain, we can kill you. Because spies fascinate the public, the message is heard. … Russia's paranoia-creation has become more deliberate. Russian espionage – like so much else in Russian behaviour abroad – is morphing into a branch of public relations. Nowadays, Russian spies are meant to be seen. Simon Kuper, Financial Times, March 22, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Spying Hee hee hee hee Vladimir Putin, snickering before verbally responding to a reporter at the Helsinski summit press conference, who asked him, “Does the Russian government have any compromising material on president Trump or his family?” © 2018 Kwiple.com
State of the union Our democracy is in serious danger. President Trump is either totally compromised by the Russians or is a towering fool, or both, but either way he has shown himself unwilling or unable to defend America against a Russian campaign to divide and undermine our democracy. Thomas Friedman, New York Times, February 18, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
State of the union The Russsians did not create the things that divide us – we did. Alex Younger, retiring head of MI6, the UK's Secret Intelligence Service © 2020 Kwiple.com
Surveillance So the state watched it subjects, and the subjects watched one another. The effect of this mutual surveillance on the collective mind of Russian society can be readily imagined. No one could allow someone else in his group to improve his lot because it was as likely as not done at his expense. Self-interest required social levelling. The Russian was required to denounce and he was eager to do so; indeed, in the early eighteenth century, the only legitimate way a serf had of gaining freedom was to turn in a landlord for concealing peasants from census- takers. Under such conditions, society could neither develop any sense of common cause  nor undertake joint resistance against authority. Richard Pipes, Russia Under the Old Regime © 2022 Kwiple.com
Treason The notion that America's president could be an agent of the Kremlin is so outlandish that it is almost self-discrediting. People who happily speculate about UFOs, or an inside job on 9/11, steer clear of portraying Mr Trump as the Manchurian candidate. To float the idea is to risk being labelled a conspiracy theorist. In private, however, it is a serious topic. Edward Luce, Financial Times chief US commentator, January 18, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say As someone who's run for office five times, if the devil called me and said he wanted to set up a meeting to give me opposition research on my opponent, I'd be on the first trolley to Hell to get it. And any politician who tells you otherwise is a bald-faced liar. Jeanine Pirro, former judge and district attorney and Fox News' Justice with Judge Jeanine host, defending Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with emissaries of the Russian government even though he knew it wanted to help Trump win, and she knew it's illegal for foreigners to contribute, donate or spend funds on any election in the United States © 2017 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I'd rather be a Russian than a Democrat  T-shirt slogan seen at Trump rallies © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I do not believe that I've seen that conclusion that the specific intent was to help President Trump win. I'm not aware of that.  Kirstjen Nielsen, Homeland Security Secretary, claiming to be unaware the intelligence community concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help Trump win © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I'm not going to let Democrats and their water carriers in the media use Russia's attack on our democracy as a Trojan horse for partisan wish-list items that would not actually make our elections safer. Mitch McConnell, refusing to let the Senate vote on election security bills, leading to him being nicknamed “Moscow Mitch” © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say  In 20 years, Russia will be  the only country that is recognizably European. Ann Coulter, 8:42 PM - 3 Jun 2017 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say The news media in the West pose a far greater danger to Western civilization than Russia does. Dennis Prager, 10:55 AM – 14 Jul 2017 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Thank God no one is accusing us any more of interfering in elections in the United States. Now they are blaming Ukraine. Vladimir Putin © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say There's nothing wrong with taking information from Russians. … They shouldn't have stolen it, but the American people were just given more information. Rudy Giuliani © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say With this militant raid on President Trump’s home, we have become Russia. The FBI is the KGB. Michael Caputo, former assistant secretary of public affairs in Trump's Department of Health & Human Services,  commenting on the court-ordered search by the FBI of Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago © 2022 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say You look at what Russia did – you know, buying some Facebook ads to try to sow dissent and do it – and it's a terrible thing. But I think the investigations, and all of the speculation that's happened for the last two years, has had a much harsher impact on our democracy than a couple of Facebook ads. Jared Kushner © 2019 Kwiple.com
Ukraine The survey reveals that Vladimir Putin's war of outright aggression, and his military failures during the conflict, do not appear to  have caused people in non-Western countries to downgrade their opinion of Russia or to question its relative strength. Russia is either an “ally” or a “partner” for 79 per cent of people in China and 69 per cent in Turkiye. Moreover, around three-quarters in each of these two countries and in India believe that Russia is either stronger, or at least equally strong, compared to how they say they perceived it before the war.  Timothy Garton Ash, Ivan Krastev, Mark Leonard, "United West, divided from the rest," European Council on Foreign Relations © 2023 Kwiple.com
Ukraine This is not merely Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It is the beginning of a war aganst Europe. A war against the unity of Europe,  against elementary human rights in Europe, against the peaceful coexistence of the countries of Europe — and against the fact that European states refuse to settle border disputes by force. Volodymyr Zelensky, February 25, 2022, the day after Russia's invasion began © 2023 Kwiple.com
Ukraine Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire. Zbigniew Brzezinski © 2022 Kwiple.com
War The future use of military forces, driven by autonomous systems, weaponized algor-  ithms, and hypersonic weapons, highlights the potential for a more destructive form of warfare in the twenty-first century. However, as the Russians and Chinese have demonstrated over the past decade, if objectives can be achieved without violence, most actors will do so. New ways of using information operations, lawfare, and deniable military and para- military activities offer different pathways to achieve strategic outcomes for state and nonstate actors. Mick Ryan, War Transformed  [2022] © 2022 Kwiple.com
War crimes It [Russia's “special military operation” in Ukraine] is going on strictly in accord- ance with the plans and the purposes that were established beforehand. … We have a concept of domestic security and it's public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used. So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept. Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary, March 13, 2022, interview with CNN, well after Russian started bombing houses, apartment buildings, schools, maternity wards, food markets, etc. © 2022 Kwiple.com
 
the West The west is an “empire of hypocrisy”. It is Russia that is the real “empire of lies”. And when it comes to a trial of strength between systems, hypocrisy works better than outright lies. Gideon Rachman, Financial Times, May 23, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com