Political Quotes

“I am concerned that the President of the United States is engaged in a massive campaign of deception that threatens to upend U.S. policy towards Crimea, shake confidence in U.S. global leadership, and override the stated will of the United States Congress. This dangerous precedent set in Crimea cannot be overstated. Putin's forcible and illegal annexation of Crimea, the first forcible seizure of territory in Europe since World War II, undermines Ukrainian sovereignty and threatens the stability of European borders. Acquiescence on the part of the United States threatens the security of sovereign nations. Who is next? Moldova? Georgia? The Baltic States? It is the longstanding policy of the United States not to recognize territorial changes effected by force, as dictated by the Stimson Doctrine established in 1932 by then Republican Secretary of State Henry Stimson. We upheld that doctrine with the issuance of the Welles Declaration in 1940, which stated emphatically that the United States would not recognize the illegal annexation of the Baltic States by then the Soviet Union. That policy remained in effect for 50 long years. For more than 50 years, we stood by the Baltic Republics of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, sometimes in the face of ridicule. Today, they are independent sovereign states and good members of NATO.…”