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

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

The problem of online identity is expressed best in an old 'New Yorker' cartoon with a picture of a dog next to a computer, and the dog says, 'No one online knows you're a dog.'

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

I realised that if we were not in the E.U., there were people in the E.U. who were also members of NATO that would veto our joining NATO.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

In both Russia and the U.S., there are a very small number of very, very rich people, and then there are a lot of people who don't have anything. The less inequality you have in a society, the more social peace you have. It's kind of a no-brainer.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

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

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Digital warfare, in the Clausewitz definition as 'the continuation of policy by other means,' reached Western public consciousness via my own country, Estonia, in 2007 when our governmental, banking, and news media servers were hit with 'distributed denial-of-service attacks,' which is when hackers overload servers until they shut down.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

In Germany, a country that for obvious reasons is far more attuned than most to the dangers of demagogy, populism, and nationalism, lawmakers have already proposed taking legal measures against fake news. When populist, nationalist fake news threatens the liberal democratic center, other Europeans may follow suit.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

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.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

It is hard to work with the nagging doubt that perhaps some foreign intelligence agency is reading all your correspondence, especially when you know they have done so in the past.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Social media has become a primary factor in political campaigns.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

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

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Can the wider West establish a global 'cyber NATO?' It would be difficult, but so, too, was the founding of NATO itself, which was called into being only after successive communist coups in Eastern Europe.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

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

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.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

The Russian Federation's practice of instant citizenship, whereby Russian passports are distributed willy-nilly to ethnic Russians abroad so they can be 'protected' in their current homeland, is unacceptable. Passports are travel documents, not a tool to justify aggression.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Nothing costs more than the loss of freedom.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

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

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

The minute a collective alliance fails to live up to its agreement to collective defence, then from that moment on, everybody is on the run.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Cybersecurity needs to be taken seriously by everyone.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

In cyberwarfare, it is much harder to identify the attacker and, therefore, to know how to retaliate.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Toomas Hendrik Ilves Quotes

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

The problem of online identity is expressed best in an old 'New Yorker' cartoon with a picture of a dog next to a computer, and the dog says, 'No one online knows you're a dog.'

I realised that if we were not in the E.U., there were people in the E.U. who were also members of NATO that would veto our joining NATO.

In both Russia and the U.S., there are a very small number of very, very rich people, and then there are a lot of people who don't have anything. The less inequality you have in a society, the more social peace you have. It's kind of a no-brainer.

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

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.

It is hard to work with the nagging doubt that perhaps some foreign intelligence agency is reading all your correspondence, especially when you know they have done so in the past.

Social media has become a primary factor in political campaigns.

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

Can the wider West establish a global 'cyber NATO?' It would be difficult, but so, too, was the founding of NATO itself, which was called into being only after successive communist coups in Eastern Europe.

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.

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.

The Russian Federation's practice of instant citizenship, whereby Russian passports are distributed willy-nilly to ethnic Russians abroad so they can be 'protected' in their current homeland, is unacceptable. Passports are travel documents, not a tool to justify aggression.

Nothing costs more than the loss of freedom.

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

The minute a collective alliance fails to live up to its agreement to collective defence, then from that moment on, everybody is on the run.

Cybersecurity needs to be taken seriously by everyone.

In cyberwarfare, it is much harder to identify the attacker and, therefore, to know how to retaliate.