54 Quotes by Timothy Garton Ash

Russia has lost an empire but not yet found a role. Russia has to decide what it wants to be. And as we know in Britain, that takes some time. It is quite tough to lose an empire and Russia lost its empire very rapidly and very admirably, that is to say peacefully, it didn’t fight.

A central claim of the Bush administration’s foreign policy is that the spread of democracy in the Middle East is the cure for terrorism.

After saying yes to Turkey, the EU is having difficulty finding clear and consistent grounds for saying no to other, still more remote candidates – but being in the general vicinity of Europe does seem to be a continuing requirement.

To be in Florence is to reflect on Europe’s intricate diversity – and its lost creativity.

Nuclear proliferation – the proliferation of WMDs altogether – is one of the greatest dangers of our time.

Canadians tend to be a bit more religious than most Europeans – though not more than the Poles or Ukrainians. Most important, their attitude to immigration and ethnic minorities is more positive than that of most Europeans.

Europe’s biggest problem is its success.

Well, that’s the way democracy works. We have to build this Europe with the material we have at our disposal. And this material is national democracy.

I have also been saddened, though hardly surprised, by the weakness of the EU’s reaction to the criminal attack on the Danish embassy in Syria, which seems to have been permitted, if not actively encouraged, by the Syrian regime.