I guess I thought that -- honoring everything that he shared with me, the best way to do that was to continue doing my job. Antony Blinken More Quotes by Antony Blinken More Quotes From Antony Blinken Casualties are often reduced to numbers. But behind every number is a human being -- a daughter, a son, a father, a mother, a grandparent, a best friend. And as the Talmud teaches, to lose a life is to lose the while world, whether that life is Palestinian or Israeli. Antony Blinken The United States once again condemns the Lukashenka regime’s ongoing harassment and arbitrary detention of journalists, we stand with the Belarusian people in their aspirations for a free, democratic, and prosperous future and support their call for the regime to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Antony Blinken This shocking act perpetrated by the Lukashenka regime endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers, including U.S. citizens, initial reports suggesting the involvement of the Belarusian security services and the use of Belarusian military aircraft to escort the plane are deeply concerning and require full investigation. Antony Blinken I think there has to be. I think both sides are reminded that we have to find a way to break the cycle, because if we don't it will repeat itself at great cost. Antony Blinken Then reconstruction, rebuilding what's been lost, and critically, engaging both sides in trying to start to make real improvements... so that Israelis and Palestinians can live with equal measures of security of peace and of dignity. Antony Blinken If you go back and look at previous crises, they've lasted a lot longer, but, of course, every single day that these things go on, we see a tremendous loss in human life and in human suffering. And we were determined to get to bring that to an end. Antony Blinken It's vitally important that the Palestinians feel hope and have opportunity and can live in security just as it is for Israelis. Antony Blinken Ultimately, it is the only way to ensure Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state and of course, the only way to give the Palestinians the state to which they're entitled. Antony Blinken We seek a predictable, stable relationship with Russia, we think that’s good for our people, good for Russian people and indeed good for the world. Antony Blinken Apparently, a (U.S.) decision was made to promote stable, predictable relations with Russia, however, if this includes constant and predictable sanctions, that’s not what we need. Antony Blinken We have concerns about some of the recent military activities in the Arctic, that Increases the dangers of accidents and miscalculations and undermines the shared goal of a peaceful and sustainable future for the region. Antony Blinken It’s also no secret that we have our differences and when it comes to those differences, as President Biden has also shared with President Putin, if Russia acts aggressively against us, our partners, and our allies, we’ll respond — and President Biden has demonstrated that in both word and deed, not for purposes of escalation, not to seek out conflict, but to defend our interests. Antony Blinken We have to proceed all of us, including Russia, based on the rules, based on norms, based on the commitments that we’ve each made and also avoid statements that undercut those. Antony Blinken It has long been common knowledge that this is our territory, our land. We are in charge of keeping the Arctic coast safe. Everything Russia is doing there is absolutely legal. Antony Blinken We have concerns about some of the increased military activities in the Arctic. That increases the injuries or prospects of accidents, miscalculation, and undermines the shared goal of a peaceful and sustainable future for the region, so we have to be vigilant about that, there's been cooperation on a number of important areas, over the years on education, oil spill response, search and rescue, pollution issues, and it is our hope that that... the Arctic means an area of peaceful cooperation and peaceful collaboration. Antony Blinken President Biden has been very clear for a long time in President Biden view that Nord Stream 2 is Nord Stream, i also made clear that firms engaged in pipeline construction risked State Antony Blinken sanctions. Antony Blinken I wish we didn't find ourselves in this situation with a pipeline that's virtually complete. Antony Blinken We see our alliances not as burdens but as a way to get help from others in shaping a world that reflects our interests and our values. Antony Blinken The pipeline divides Europe, it exposes Ukraine and central Europe to Russian manipulation and coercion, it goes against Europe's own stated energy security goals, so what I said was that we will continue to monitor activity to complete and certify the pipeline, and if that activity takes place, we'll make a determination on the applicability of sanctions. Antony Blinken Russia has the capacity on fairly short notice to take aggressive action if it so chooses, and so we are watching this very, very carefully, we discussed in some detail the support that we're providing, we'll continue to provide to Ukraine to continue to strengthen its security, its defenses. Antony Blinken