While most know the young Stalin was a seminarian, few realize that he was also a Georgian patriot, a published romantic poet. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
A reforming liberal leader in Russia is the Holy Grail of Kremlinology, but the search for one is as misguided and hopeless as that for the relic of the Last Supper. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
Lenin had just reflected that the revolution would never happen in his lifetime when in February 1917, hungry crowds in Petrograd overthrew Nicholas II while the revolutionaries were abroad, exiled, or infiltrated by the secret police. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
The disorder, uncertainty, and strife of a revolution make citizens yearn for stable authority, or they turn to radicalism. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
It was always presumptuous to expect Russia, an ancient nation-state and proud empire of distinct culture with a tradition of autocracy, to become an Anglo-American democracy overnight – just as it is naive to expect it in other parts of the world. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
The unspoken contract between ruler and subject is that in return for safety, prosperity, and prestige, the Russians entrust power and cede democratic freedoms to their leaders. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
As a youth, I was much more of a Zionist. But Israel was very different then. Israel’s changed, and so have I. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
Putin regards Stalin as a great tsar; he is a great tsar. Asked who the worst tsars were, he said Nicholas II and Gorbachev. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
There is a view of Russian exceptionalism, that they are a unique civilisation, a view right since Ivan the Terrible that Russia is a special civilisation with a special culture. Putin is pushing that now. Simon Sebag Montefiore Read Quote
