Strobe Talbott at Occidental College

Date: 2014-04-28 12:02

Subject: Strobe Talbott at Occidental College

Strobe's talk at Occidental last week.

Vladimir Putin vs. the 21st Century

Strobe Talbott

President of the Brookings Institution

Occidental College

April 22, 2014

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The formatting helps but your mileage may vary. PDF attached.

The highlighted sections grabbed my attention.

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"How long Putinism lasts is overwhelmingly up to the Russian people themselves, of course. But it

will pass more quickly if there's a forceful voice, backed by national and international resolve, to

oppose it. The obvious - and perhaps the only - candidate for that role is Oxy's most famous alumnus,

and our 44th president. Barack Obama is a personification of globalization of the world - and the

globalization of America itself."

"With nearly three years to go in his presidency, Obama is positioned to lay out - for his own citizens

and our allies and friends abroad – the contours of the post-post-cold war world -a world that we

will, for some time, have to share with a post-glasnost, post-perestroika, and post-partnership Russia."

"Given what's happened in the last month and the stakes for the U.S. and the world, given the

spreading doubts that West can't do anything to rein in Putinism, this is a moment that cries

out for Obama to tell us, "Yes we can…. and here's how." Let's hope he seizes that moment- and

that he does so soon. Come to think of it, why not invite him to do it right here? This is as good a

Bully Pulpit as any."

https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/1138