toomas hendrik ilves

From our point of view, a collective middle powers strategy is based on a faulty understanding of international relations. We are flexible realists. So, we view the international scene through the prism of interest, geography, economics, military power, etc. “Middle powers” don’t have a coherent basis for alignment. 2/

A Russian tourist who arrived in Georgia for a holiday is feeling a little bit uncomfortable due to the ongoing protests in the country.

There is a great deal of hubbub about a collective “middle powers”strategy these days. At DoW, we are not concerned that this is a serious possibility. Rather, we are more concerned that a few allies and partners will *think it is* and waste valuable time, money, and political capital on a distraction. 1/

Donald Trump demands to be reimbursed by other countries for the war against Iran: I want to be reimbursed because we're protecting portion of the world. We've going to be reimbursed for protection. You have Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar… Bahrain.

Tim Scott: I wish more people in our party realized that President Trump is the ruler of the free world…. Just like Lindsey Graham did.

THOMAS MASSIE: “It’s ironic that we control the House, Senate, Supreme Court, & the White House -- and we're yelling 'election fraud'? We won all the damn elections. What are we doing with that? We’re bankrupting the country. We’re starting new wars. We’re violating the Constitution. We’re not cracking down on the fraud. The problem is not the elections. We won the damn elections. The problem is that we’re wasting the opportunity voters gave us."

This tells you everything you need to know about Russia.

Don’t provoke Russia’ is the most expensive sentence in European history. Every red line we drew for ourselves — no tanks, no F-16s, no strikes inside Russia — collapsed later, at a higher price. Appeasement isn’t caution. It’s paying more for the same result.