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" My American undergraduate education probably gave me a better idea of the fundamentals of what European civilization is about, better than the undergraduate education you get at most European universities. "

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" I was surprised by some of my French colleagues who immediately assumed that because I spoke English with an American accent, that, therefore, you must be a supporter of whoever is the current president of the United States. There seems to be this widespread feeling that, 'Oh, American accent - therefore, you like cowboy boots.' "

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Feeling

You

" In Russia, tweeting or sharing real news that's embarrassing to the regime can land you in prison. Imagine, then, the response of the regime to 'fake news' that's damaging to the Kremlin. "

" Until defense of democracy in the digital era is taken up by governments collectively, both in NATO and outside the alliance, liberal democracies will remain vulnerable to the cyberthreats of the 21st century. "

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Digital

Will

" The domestic policy of any president, U.S. or otherwise, is his or her own concern, as long as democratic norms are followed. "

" There is no Baltic identity with a common culture, language group, religious tradition. "

" Democracies stand on several key pillars: Free and fair elections, human rights, the rule of law, and a free untrammeled media. Until 2016, an open media was seen as a resilient democratic pillar that supported the others. "

" Everything can be known and, in some cases, everything is known. "

" Liberal democracies do not and often cannot respond in kind to cyberattacks on their own way of governance. "

" When hackers have access to powerful computers that use brute force hacking, they can crack almost any password; even one user with insecure access being successfully hacked can result in a major breach. "

" Big data knows and can deduce more about you than Big Brother ever could. "

" Democracy is messy, clearly, but it has one key factor, which is an orderly transfer of power. "

" The Soviet Union collapsed without a lot of people thinking it should or would, whereas for Estonia, it was something we'd been praying for for 60 years. "

" The whole information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure must be regarded as an 'ecosystem' in which everything is interconnected. It functions as a whole; it must be defended as a whole. "

" Cybersecurity needs to be taken seriously by everyone. "

" Nothing costs more than the loss of freedom. "

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Nothing

Loss

" When our diplomats go abroad, they are surprised that they can't do the things that they can do here. "

" The E-government cabinet, E-health services, online voting, online pre-filled tax returns, e-mobile parking, are all examples of Estonian innovation, but far more importantly, they are examples of the transformative power of intensive and extensive use of Information Technology in the public sector. "

" Where a country lies is a subjective decision and only in part a product of its own desire. Much, if not most, is determined by what others believe about it. "

" In a modern digitalized world, it is possible to paralyze a country without attacking its defense forces: The country can be ruined by simply bringing its SCADA systems to a halt. To impoverish a country, one can erase its banking records. The most sophisticated military technology can be rendered irrelevant. In cyberspace, no country is an island. "

" Social media has become a primary factor in political campaigns. "

" I've been in and out of academia ever since I was young. "

" Diplomacy between a powerful, victorious army and a side that's losing doesn't really work well. "

" When your country is in dire straits, it doesn't matter whether you're a social democrat or not. "

" People have actually figured out that Estonia is one of the few post-Communist countries that has a genuine image in people's minds as being something. "

" I was the child of refugees. "

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Refugees

Child

" Russia has had very aggressive military exercises. They've practiced mock nuclear attacks on Warsaw. Russian bombers practiced attacking strategic military targets in Sweden. The military aggression gets everybody nervous. "

" Little by little, we're becoming a boring Nordic country. "

" I'm an American by accent, and I grew up in the States, living there between the age of three and 24. "

" I'm not afraid of code. I mean, I understand how these things work. I thought that that was the one area where Estonia was playing on a level playing field. "

" Since I've been writing about things my entire life, I thought, 'Well, that's what I would do as a president is to read and then write and talk about things that are interesting to me.' "