Political Quotes

“``Long before its conventional assault on Georgia, Russia openly backed separatist militants--that sounds familiar--launched cyberattacks and used disinformation to meddle in the internal affairs of sovereign states. Initial intelligence reports of Russian forces entering Georgian territory didn't even cause enough concern to order Georgian military officials back from their holidays. . . . ``But in August 2008, under the auspices of securing the separatist enclave, Russia invaded my country . . . ``Leaving aside the practical impossibility of Georgia attacking a nuclear power 100 times its size, the entirety of the conflict took place on internationally recognized Georgian territory. The Kremlin's claim that its land forces mobilized overnight in response to an emergency was absurd. Such an onslaught required careful preparation, especially given the mountainous terrain of the Russian- Georgian border.'' And I think what is really important to point out here is that President Putin has used the exact same plan, the exact same formula down to the T, claiming that there are Russian-speaking people and he is trying to protect those people in Ukraine, down to the absurd claim that Ukraine is a Nazi government now. All these claims are made up, they are nonsense to try to justify in the minds of the Russian people what Putin is engaged in.”