Michael McFaul Quotes

• In retrospect, all revolutions seem inevitable. Beforehand, all revolutions seem impossible.

  Michael McFaul

  Retrospect, Revolution, Impossible

  Twitter post from Jan 1, 2018

  46 Copy quote

• In the short run, the big windfall winners ... have been the Islamists.

  Michael McFaul

  Running, Winner, Bigs

  4 Copy quote

• Russians don't want to fight ISIS in Syria. They want to leave that to us. Aside from that, I don't know what are the objectives that Mr. Trump seeks in having a good relationship with Mr. Putin.

  Michael McFaul

  Fighting, Good Relationship, Syria

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• Vladimir Putin will be up for reelection, and he has shifted his whole political strategy inside of Russia from one where he promised the Russians pretty much a chicken in every pot, a better economic way of life.

  Michael McFaul

  Political, Strategy, Economic

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• Vladimir Putin knows exactly what he wants from the relationship with USA. In return for good relations, he wants lifting of sanctions, ratification, approval of his wars in Ukraine and Syria, and his dream of dreams, an acknowledgment of his sphere of influence in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union.

  Michael McFaul

  Dream, War, Influence

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only stupid people or fools would think it was bad.

  Michael McFaul

  Stupid, Thinking, People

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• I think something that's really understudied and misunderstood is the use of information.

  Michael McFaul

  Thinking, Misunderstood

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• It should never be the goal of U.S. foreign policy towards any country to have a - quote, unquote - "good relation." Then what? What do we get out of that? We get - Trump is helping the approval ratings amongst Russians. How does that advance American national security interests?

  Michael McFaul

  Country, Goal, Helping

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• We can deal with Russia on counterterrorism. We have and I think we are right now. That's easy.

  Michael McFaul

  Thinking, Easy

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• Putin is now nationalist. And what he does is, he tells the Russian people, OK, you may have a little less chicken in your pot, but I'm making Russia great again. Look what we're doing all other the world. Everyone is paying attention to us. And Russia is a great power, on par with the United States and others.

  Michael McFaul

  People, Attention, World

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• Trump has got to define what he seeks to achieve with Russia, and then use diplomacy and sometimes coercion to achieve those ends. Right now, aside from this fight with ISIS, which I would underscore, you know, the Obama administration has been trying to fight ISIS with Russia for several years now.

  Michael McFaul

  Fighting, Trying, Sometimes

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• Take cyber-capabilities. We have way more cyber-capability than Russia do. We could intervene in their elections easily. We choose not to do so because we're a different country. That's what Obama was trying to say.

  Michael McFaul

  Country, Trying, Different

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• I think Russia is dangerous, not a superpower. I know what the president is trying to say. I worked for him for five years, not just two.He doesn't want us to overreact. He doesn't want to go back to the Cold War and some superpower competition. But my own view, and I think General Mattis stated something similar today, is that Russia is a challenge for the United States. It is a threat to some of our allies.

  Michael McFaul

  War, Thinking, Competition

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• I want to be clear that when you mention the Republican critique of President Obama, that is not President-elect Trump's critique, right? So you have a real clash within the Republican Party, and I think within the Trump administration, about how to develop policy toward Russia.

  Michael McFaul

  Real, Party, Thinking

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

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