"A new world order is being created, new rules of a multipolar world, a new balance of power, which is extremely important for stability in the world."

"Being part of such discussions means supporting dialogue and not acting like a sulking little child. This is how the EU and its representatives behave today."

Said Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia, "the only European Union leader present at the parade," quoted in "Kim Jong-un joins Xi and Putin in China for military parade/The North Korean leader has travelled in an armoured train to Beijing for a display of anti-West solidarity with other leaders at the SCO summit" (London Times).

"The perpetrator was not a member of any radicalized group.... He was not left or right — he was interested in politics, that’s all."

"The only group he was a member of was the association of Slovak writers," according to Interior Minister Matus Sutaj-Estok, who said that "the suspect had expressed antigovernment sentiments, including attending protests over the last year, but had been 'radicalized recently, after the presidential election.'"

From "Slovak officials call the shooting suspect a ‘lone wolf’ who had recently been radicalized" in "Suspect Is Charged in Attempted Killing of Slovakia’s Leader/The authorities did not identify the suspect in the shooting of Prime Minister Robert Fico but described him as a 'lone wolf.' Politicians called for calm as Mr. Fico’s condition appeared to stabilize" (NYT).

We're told the suspect was a "71-year-old amateur poet" and he "did not 'agree with current politics.'" But what were the current politics that the suspect did not agree with?

"Few of the 100 or so residents, though, think much of his art. In America, 'you don’t need to be very good at something..."

"'You just need to be different. You don’t need to sing or paint well so long as you do it differently.' She much prefers Rembrandt because ;at least you can see he put a lot of work into his paintings.'"

"She" is Julia Varcholova, a resident of Mikova, Slovakia. She's talking about Andy Warhol, her cousin, and quoted in "Andy Warhol Said He Came From 'Nowhere.' This Is It" (NYT).

I wish I had tags for "What nonelite people think about elite things" and "What nonAmericans think about Americans." Especially the latter. The former is a trite subject that would include every "My child could paint better than that." But I'm intrigued by ideas that foreigners have about my people, especially when they're not particularly mean but actually say something about how we seem different. Here it's the idea that individuality reigns in America and we love originality. You don't even need to be good. Just creative. Not completely true, but interesting to know that's our brand.