Anne Applebaum on All Topics
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“The big questions -- Will Ukraine ultimately be "Western" or "Eastern"? Will its political culture come to resemble Europe's or Russia's? Will Ukraine eventually join European and transatlantic institutions? -- have not disappeared with the election of an "Eastern" president. But they have been put on hold, at least for the moment.”
“At the moment, democracy is out, authoritarianism is in, and it is fashionable in many parts of Asia to claim that rapid economic growth requires censorship and central political control. India presents a real alternative to that model. I know that many Indians would violently disagree with that assessment -- and that makes me more optimistic still.”
“I have no illusions about anyone's ability to help, for this is not just a natural disaster: It is a man-made disaster first and foremost, and so it will remain.”
“Both Osama and Che have claimed to fight in the name of the poor and oppressed, while simultaneously appealing very deeply to the wealthy and disgruntled.”
“Never, at any moment, imagine that the rigamarole of airport security is guaranteed to make you safer -- for no one knows which of these measures, if any, is actually necessary.”
“[N]o one knows which of these measures, if any, is actually necessary. Worse, no one has any financial or political incentive to find out.”
“If I had to read the tea leaves and make a grand prediction, I would say that in the closing days of the 2000s, the future does not look good for authoritarian regimes in general.”
“As for nihilism and hatred of humankind, it teaches us nothing, except to give up. And we shouldn't be passing that on to our children either.”
“This decision has been interpreted across Europe, and particularly in the United States, as evidence of Swiss bigotry and rising religious intolerance. But it was not -- or at least not entirely.”
“Even now, they ought to expect to be under arrest, for lying to the Secret Service, if nothing else -- unless the rules of polite society have changed so much that there are no longer any rules at all.”
“Like comets hurtling at one another from opposite points in outer space, two different phenomena in different parts of the world soared into public awareness last week.”
“The subsequent failure to come to any global consensus about how swine flu should be treated is producing as many medical reactions as there are national governments.”
“What did we think Central Europe would look like 20 years after Nov. 9, 1989?”
“Merkel's achievement is far greater than it seems.”
“But the consequences are now with us: NATO, though fighting its first war since its foundation, inspires nobody.”
