If One Is Forever Cautious, Can One

Our Twentieth Century Has Proved To Be More Cruel Than Preceding Centuries, And The First Fifty Years Have Not Erased All Its Horrors. Our World Is Rent Asunder By Those Same Old Cave-age Emotions Of Greed, Envy, Lack Of Control, Mutual Hostility Which Have Picked Up In Passing Respectable Pseudonyms Like Class Struggle, Radical Conflict, Struggle Of The Masses, Trade-union Disputes.

The Perception Of The West As Mostly A "knight Of Democracy" Has Been Replaced With The Disappointed Belief That Pragmatism, Often Cynical And Selfish, Lies At The Core Of Western Policies. For Many Russians It Was A Grave Disillusion, A Crushing Of Ideals.

Vladimir Putin Inherited A Ransacked And Bewildered Country, With A Poor And Demoralized People. And He Started To Do What Was Possible - A Slow And Gradual Restoration. These Efforts Were Not Noticed, Nor Appreciated, Immediately. In Any Case, One Is Hard Pressed To Find Examples In History When Steps By One Country To Restore Its Strength Were Met Favorably By Other Governments.

I Cannot Suggest Political Ways Out, That Is The Task Of Politicians, So It Is Simply That Those Who Accuse Me Of This Do Not Know How To Read.

A Work Of Art Contains Its Verification In Itself: Artificial, Strained Concepts Do Not Withstand The Test Of Being Turned Into Images; They Fall To Pieces, Turn Out To Be Sickly And Pale, Convince No One. Works Which Draw On Truth And Present It To Us In Live And Concentrated Form Grip Us, Compellingly Involve Us, And No One Ever, Not Even Ages Hence, Will Come Forth To Refute Them.