“Now is the time of monsters.” “We live in a world — the real world, Jake — that is governed by strength. So anyway, to get to a more serious kind of vein, no, I think they think of America as embattled. I don’t think they really, really need Russia’s energy, but it certainly helps to have it there. So if Communist, authoritarian, industrial juggernaut is, rightly or wrongly, the way America often sees China, who’s taken our jobs. And that’s I really think I mean, it sounds ridiculous, but I think that’s an absolutely fundamental motivation.

Source: International New York Times January 30, 2026 10:14 UTC