Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister
2016 - 2020, Valdai Discussion Club: 15th Plenary Session (18 October 2018)
Speech against the Iraq War, reported in Brian Dakss (26 October 2002) "Shades Of The Sixties" http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/26/attack/main527058.shtml CBS News
Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister
2016 - 2020, Valdai Discussion Club: 15th Plenary Session (18 October 2018)
Reza Pahlavi (1960) Last crown prince of the former Imperial State of Iran
As quoted in Cnaan Liphshiz. Obama ‘chickened out’ of confronting mullahs http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=272989. The Jerusalem Post. July 6, 2012. <br class="br">Interviews, 2012
Tulsi Gabbard (1981) U.S. Representative from Hawaii's 2nd congressional district
Twitter account, February 2019
Lin Ching-yi (1974) Taiwanese politician
"Taiwan 2020 election, voices from DPP: "Democracy, rights and identity: so we will be stronger"" in Affaritaliani.it https://www.affaritaliani.it/politica/geopolitica/taiwan-2020-election-dpp-interview.html?refresh_ce (23 November 2019)
Ron Paul (1935) American politician and physician
GOP debate on Fox News, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, January 10, 2008 http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-debatetrans11jan11,0,7962304.story?page=23 http://youtube.com/watch?v=Wuu-ElI56Mw <br class="br">2000s, 2006-2009
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2009, Nobel Prize acceptance speech (December 2009)
Context: We do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected. We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The non-violence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached — their fundamental faith in human progress — that must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey.
For if we lose that faith — if we dismiss it as silly or naïve; if we divorce it from the decisions that we make on issues of war and peace — then we lose what's best about humanity. We lose our sense of possibility. We lose our moral compass.
Like generations have before us, we must reject that future. As Dr. King said at this occasion so many years ago, "I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the 'isness' of man's present condition makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal 'oughtness' that forever confronts him."
Let us reach for the world that ought to be — that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls.
Tulsi Gabbard (1981) U.S. Representative from Hawaii's 2nd congressional district
Twitter, https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1103961763614203904 (8 March 2019) <br class="br">Twitter account, March 2019
Kanan Makiya (1949) American orientalist
"Kanan Makiya speaks about Iraq 5 years later...", Washington Post (March 20, 2008)