American experts on Russia

American experts on Russia:

Washington Post (June 17):

The overwhelming consensus among American political and national security leaders has held that Putin is a pariah who disregards human rights and has violated international norms in seeking to regain influence and territory in the former Soviet bloc.

Strobe Talbott (President, Brookings Institution) June 17:

A metaphor for Putin’s Russia: it flouts the rules on which the international order is supposed to be based.

New York Times headline:

Russia’s Track and Field Team Barred From Rio Olympics

Michael McFaul (former US ambassador to Russia, June 14):

The driving force of our current clash with Russia is not American policies, but domestic politics in Russia and Ukraine, specifically Putin’s response to popular challenges to his authority and the authority of his former ally in Kyiv…. To maintain his argument for legitimacy at home, Putin needs perpetual conflict with external enemies…. Instead of searching for corrections in our past policies, we need to stay the course with our current polices.