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I interviewed Putin himself in 2000, shortly after he took over as president.
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One of the most important political and economic facts of this young century is that capital has been slipping the traces of the nation-state. Business is global; government is national.
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In Western capitalism circa 2013, fear that the market economy has become dysfunctional is not limited to a few entrepreneurs in Boulder. It is being publicly expressed, with increasing frequency, by some of the people who occupy the commanding heights of the global economy.
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This globalization is lifting up hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. The Left needs to see that.
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Especially among journalists, politics is not a pursuit that's held in high esteem. We tend to be cynical about it - but I actually believe in democracy.
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Motherhood may be a 'killer' when it comes to becoming a Master of the Universe, but among middle-class mothers, even after that touch of baby's lips to bosom, a big and growing number find themselves able - and often required - to bring home the family bacon.
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I lived in Moscow for four years and really, really enjoyed it, and I have a really deep love for the Russian language and Russian culture.
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I really believe in hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
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I know Russia well.
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Reagan's legacy is so powerful because he identified the state as the central issue in American politics.
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When I was a kid in junior high, I had an assignment to discuss how to rescue poor people in India. I remember my teacher at the time considered it an impossible problem. Now, we're not talking that way anymore. We're sure not talking about that for China. They're rescuing themselves thanks to globalization.
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The hollowing out of the middle class. That's not just about capitalism or the structure of taxation. That is also about the fundamental truth that machines can do a lot of things better than humans used to do. A lot of those people are being pushed down to do less value-adding jobs, so they get paid less money.
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What is interesting is that, although it is framed as a war between the elites and Main Street, the Tea Party is actually really good for the elites.
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Most of the conversation about how geopolitics is changing in the 21st century focuses on the shift from west to east and on how we're moving from the bipolar power equation of the Cold War to a new bipolar relationship, that of the U.S. and China, that determines the mood music for everyone else.
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If you've developed an ideology that what's good for you personally also happens to be good for everyone else, that's quite wonderful because there's no moral tension.
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There are no bad seats at the cabinet table.
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When you think of technological revolution, you probably think of geeks in cool coastal spaces like the Google campus, or perhaps of math wizards on Wall Street. But one source of rural prosperity is the adoption of radical new technologies - and a consequent surge in productivity.
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The main point of democracy is to deliver positive results for the majority.
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Slavery is America's original sin and was the great global injustice of that age.
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If the Tea Party gets its way, there will be less government - which is great for the elites. They don't need the government.
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People don't just want to be rich and successful, they want to be good.
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I see social mobility and equality of opportunity as really successful Canadian values.
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TED is certainly a gathering of an incredibly eclectic, incredibly interesting community, but it's also an elite community - at least an important portion comes from that global 1%.
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The one source of criticism even the most repressive authoritarian leader cannot silence is the outside world. Autocrats are usually thin-skinned and like to be admired, so at least, at first, they often seek to be praised abroad.