Quote 1
“I've got a pretty good idea what children are, and we're not children. Children can lose sometimes, and nobody cares. Children aren't in armies, they aren't commanders, they don't rule over forty other kids, it's more than anybody can take and not get crazy." (8.134)
According to Dink, Battle School is stealing kids' childhood. Dink has memories of his brother and the stuff his brother is interested in (cars, girls). Measured against that, the Battle School students are – to put it mildly – crazy. As he says later, one of their problems is that they’re trying to act like adults.
Quote 2
"I'm not going to let the bastards run me, Ender. They've got you pegged, too, and they don't plan to treat you kindly. Look what they've done to you so far." (8.150)
Here’s Dink talking about how he’s going to stay out of the system by refusing the school’s promotions. At the same time, he loves the game so much he can’t quit – so it’s more like he’s meeting the school halfway. Even if he’s compromising, he’s not being manipulated (according to him) because he knows what they’re trying to do.
Quote 3
"Because as long as people are afraid of the buggers, the I.F. can stay in power, and as long as the I.F. is in power, certain countries can keep their hegemony.” (8.162)
This is Dink being Dink – according to him, if everyone thinks the aliens are out to get us, then the military can effectively have control. And who doesn’t want to have control, right? Man, being in charge of everything is just super great. (Sarcasm alert.) This helpfully reminds us that the war (which Ender never really sees) is considered really important – but that no one else has really seen this war either. (With the exception of Mazer.)