Daniel Fried Quotes

Tomorrow you will say Donald Trump wants to get along with Russia, this is terrible! It's not terrible. It's good.

If Russia and the United States approach each other in starkly adversarial terms, the conflict will badly warp the foreign policy of both countries ...

I don't worry about superpower confrontation. You know, I lived through the Cold War days, and where everybody was worried about a Soviet Union armed to the teeth. I think we're going to get along fine with Russia, and I don't see them as internationally ambitious.

I often heard the same question: What place does Russia reserve for itself in the world; how does it see itself; what is its place? We are a peace-loving state and we want to cooperate with all of our neighbors and with all of our partners.

Ultimately Rex Tillerson will reflect [Donald] Trump's policy towards Russia, which will be friendly up right up to the point of time it isn't.

President Obama hasn't been elected by the American people in order to be pleasant to Russia. And your humble servant hasn't been elected by the people of Russia to be pleasant to someone either. We work, we argue about some issues. We are human. Sometimes one of us gets vexed. But I would like to repeat once again that global mutual interests form a good basis for finding a joint solution to our problems.

We have seen very clearly over these past years that there are quite a few people who are sceptical, or let us put it another way, are cautious about the development of Russian-American relations, but the underlying fundamental interests of the United States and Russia demand that our relations be normalised.

I would love to be able to get along with Russia. Now, you've had a lot of presidents that haven't taken that tack. Look where we are now. Look where we are now. So, if I can - now, I love to negotiate things, I do it really well, and all that stuff. But - but it's possible I won't be able to get along with Putin. Maybe it is. But I want to just tell you, the false reporting by the media, by you people, the false, horrible, fake reporting makes it much harder to make a deal with Russia.

If we could get along with Russia, that's a positive thing. We have a very talented man, Rex Tillerson, who is going to be meeting with them shortly.

We do not draw red lines unless we intend to carry them out. We have made very clear that we are willing to work with China, and we believe China has tried to be helpful.

Prospects of normalizing our relations with Russia look good.

Let's start fresh with Russia on some real help and some real reform.

We welcome, we welcome this good cooperation between Russia and NATO.

Of course the United States and Russia have different interests. Nevertheless, both are strategic partners.

Clearly, the Chinese know that we want a good relationship with them.

A grand bargain [with Russia] will not be achieved in a sweeping package that comes together at a single point in time. While attractive to contemplate, such a sudden strategic outcome is a chimera. Our best hope is in saying we will confront where we must but cooperate where we can.

Clearly, for France in her present position, intelligent activity consists of practicing a policy of entente with Germany in order to survive

It’s not in our interest to drive the Russians into a beleaguered attitude where they have to prove what they can do.

Nothing guides Russian policy so much as a desire for friendship with the United States.

There's certain things that we do work with Russia on, and then there's certain things when they do something wrong, I have no problem calling them out on it.

Anybody who says it is in America's interest to not have better relations with Russia doesn't know what they're talking about when it comes to geopolitics.

We will ensure the interests of both the East and the West in Belarus. Don't try to rip us apart; don't try to make us collide with Russia or with the West.

President Trump say that relations between the United States and Russia may be at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

We know that Russia has done things that are very much against our interests. They've done things that require us to take punitive action against Russia. That does not mean we can't work with Russia where we have a common agenda. Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council; we need their help in isolating North Korea and their nuclear weapons violations. So, we still need to work with Russia. But Russia's done things that are contrary to our national security interest, and the US must respond to those types of activities.

We always welcome when somebody says he or she is ready to work with Russia.