British historian and author (1955- )
America should do a reverse Columbus. The world no longer needs to discover America; but America urgently needs to discover the world's view of America.
TIMOTHY GARTON ASH
"Americans need to discover how the world sees them", The Guardian, Oct. 15, 2013
What is the elephant in all our rooms? It is the global triumph of capitalism. Democracy is fiercely disputed. Freedom is under threat even in old-established democracies such as Britain. Western supremacy is on the skids. But everyone does capitalism. Americans and Europeans do it. Indians do it. Russian oligarchs and Saudi princes do it. Even Chinese communists do it.... Karl Marx would be turning in his grave. Or perhaps not, since some of his writings eerily foreshadowed our era of globalized capitalism. His prescription failed but his description was prescient.
TIMOTHY GARTON ASH
Facts Are Subversive: Political Writing from a Decade Without a Name
Russia has lost an empire but not yet found a role. Russia has to decide what it wants to be. And as we know in Britain, that takes some time. It is quite tough to lose an empire and Russia lost its empire very rapidly and very admirably, that is to say peacefully, it didn't fight.
TIMOTHY GARTON ASH
interview, Radio Free Europe, Mar. 16, 2013