Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I would like to expand on my recent comments on the need to stand up to Putin to prevent future aggression and the death and suffering it causes. Specifically, I would like to address the calls from well-meaning people for a diplomatic solution. Many people understandably want an end to the killing in Ukraine. I certainly do. So why not sit down and talk? As I have said before, we tried that after 2014, and it didn't work. We ended up with a full- scale invasion a year ago. More fundamentally, it is important to consider what there is to negotiate over. To start with, what is the nature of the disagreement? In other words, assuming you could get Putin or his representative to a negotiating table, what are the opposing positions and the potential middle ground? Vladimir Putin has continued to repeat his original stated war aims, ``demilitarization and denazification.'' Denazification in the context Putin uses it clearly means regime change. It is pretty clear that Putin thought he could take out the current elected government and install a puppet regime. President Biden publicly released the intelligence we had to that effect before the war began, which I think was a smart move. Demilitarization means that Ukraine has to give up its right to defend itself, allowing Russia a free hand to intervene with force if Ukraine ever again tries to assert its right to act independently of Russia. Obviously, President Zelenskyy cannot ever agree to meet those two demands.…”