Robert Gates: “The rise of China as a regional political, economic, and military power with global ambitions is one of the defining…”

I think the president is — based on what I read — is getting the sense that, as he put it, that Putin is 'tapping' him along.

it's a terrible way to budget. I mean, it is a gimmick.

I think part of the problem is that at the end of the Cold War, we were affected by triumphalism or hubris, whatever you want to call it.

Putin believes it's his destiny to recreate the Russian empire.