Madeleine Albright: “I hate to see the United States withdraw from the international scene because the Chinese are filling the vacuum.”

The failure to pay our old U.N. bills undermines our ability to recruit allies with the kind of structural reform that Congress demands.

Like other authoritarians, he equates his well-being with that of the nation, opposition with treason. Because he believes that the U.S. dominates its own region by force, he thinks Russia has the same right.

We need to make clear that we need to be back, and really do need to make clear in so many ways that we are a leader in restoring and building democracy in other countries.

Building and sustaining democracy should be a first principle, not an afterthought, in U.S. foreign and national security policy.