Foreign Policy Quotes - Page 25

• Remember how he handled the Iran-contra Never Ending Scandal from Hell? He went on national television, the President of the United States, and said it wasn't his fault, because he was not aware, at the time, of what his foreign policy was.

  Dave Barry

  Funny, Iran, President

  Dave Barry (2010). “Dave Barry Turns Forty”, p.175, Ballantine Books

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• It is no exaggeration to say that Israeli policy in the occupied territories is not simply a matter of foreign policy - it is a matter for British domestic security policy too.

  John Denham

  Territory, Matter, British

  "British imams to tackle radicals in mosques" by Alan Travis, www.theguardian.com. September 22, 2005.

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• That intelligence capability is enormously important to the United States, to our conduct of foreign policy, to defense matters, to economic matters. And I am a strong supporter of it.

  Dick Cheney

  Strong, Nsa, Important

  "Allies spy on allies because a friend today may not be one tomorrow" by Michael Martinez, www.cnn.com. October 31, 2013.

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• If any individual who objects to government policy can take it in their own hands to publicly disclose classified information, then we will never be able to keep our people safe or conduct foreign policy.

  Barack Obama

  Government, Hands, Nsa

  "President Obama's speech on NSA surveillance reforms - full text". www.theguardian.com. January 17, 2014.

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• American foreign policy must be more than the management of crisis. It must have a great and guiding goal: to turn this time of American influence into generations of democratic peace.

  George W. Bush

  Goal, Generations, Management

  "Governor George W. Bush - 'A Distinctly American Internationalism'". Speech at Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California, www.globalsecurity.org. November 19, 1999.

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• International politics, by and large, are a depressing study.

  C. V. Wedgwood

  Depressing, Politics, Study

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• we ought to realize by now (see Korea, see Vietnam, see Afghanistan, see Iraq, see Iran) that deploying the US military, or dealing billions of dollars a year of arms to our ally of the moment that can serve as a regional rival to our enemy of the moment, is not always the best way to make threats go away. Our military and weapons prowess is a fantastic and perfectly weighted hammer, but that doesn't make every international problem a nail.

  Rachel Maddow

  Military, Iran, Korea

  Rachel Maddow (2012). “Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power”, p.251, Broadway Books

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• The best ambassador is a warship.

  Michelle J. Howard

  Ambassadors, Policy, Warships

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• George W. Bush promised us a foreign policy with humility. Instead, he has brought us humiliation in the eyes of the world. He promised to restore honor and integrity to the White House. Instead, he has brought deep dishonor to our country and built a durable reputation as the most dishonest president since Richard M. Nixon.

  Al Gore

  Country, Integrity, Humility

  Address at New York University, May 25, 2004.

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• This is the problem with foreign policy - talking about foreign policy in a political context. Politics is binary. People win and lose elections. Legislation passes or doesn't pass. And in foreign policy often what you're doing is nuance and you're trying to prevent something worse from happening. It doesn't translate well into a political environment.

  David Corn

  Winning, Talking, People

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

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• The president [Barack Obama] laid out his vision for foreign policy in a way that we hadn't heard before. And it could be summed up, I think, in two words - realistic idealism.

  Barack Obama

  Thinking, Two, Vision

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

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• I've found him to be a disappointment. Wonderful speech in Egypt, and good intentions aside, foreign policy needs to be firmly grounded in reality, and understanding of a sort of chaos theory...[that is to say] it needs to be part good intention, part political intelligence, and part political savvy and knowledge of international interests and national burdens. President Obama has been extremely short-sighted in this sense, and if he fails, it will be a tragic blow for peaceniks and multilateralists the world over, and a manna from heaven for the Republican party.

  Munir Butt

  Disappointment, Party, Blow

  Foreign Affairs, 2009.

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• Another longstanding foreign policy flaw is the degree to which special interests dictate the way in which the "national interest" as a whole is defined and pursued.... America's important historic relationship with Israel has often led foreign policy decision-makers to defer reflexively to Israeli security assessments, and to replicate Israeli tactics, which, as the war in Lebanon last summer demonstrated, can turn out to be counter-productive.

  Samantha Power

  Summer, War, Israel

  Interview with in Molly Lanzarotta, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, March 14, 2007.

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• As a Texas loyalist who followed Bush to Washington with great hope and personal affection and as a proud member of his administration, I was all too ready to give him and his highly experienced foreign policy advisers the benefit of the doubt on Iraq. Unfortunately, subsequent events have showed that our willingness to trust the judgment of Bush and his team was misplaced.

  Scott McClellan

  Team, Texas, Iraq

  "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception". Book by Scott McClellan, April 21, 2008.

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• It was Reagan who began the realignment of American politics, making the Republicans into internationalist Jeffersonians with his speech in London at the Palace of Westminster in 1982, which led to the creation of the National Endowment for Democracy and the emergence of democracy promotion as a central goal of United States foreign policy.

  Michael Ignatieff

  Goal, Democracy, Speech

  "Who Are Americans to Think That Freedom Is Theirs to Spread?". www.nytimes.com. June 26, 2005.

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• The sluggish economy is creating a situation where the young people in Japan cannot cherish their desires or have prospects for their future. Also, the decline in Japan's economic capability is resulting in a declining presence for Japan's foreign policy as well.
  
  Accordingly, the duties and mission that I must fulfill are pretty clear: namely, to regain a strong and robust economy, and also to restore Japan's strong foreign policy capability.

  Shinzo Abe

  Strong, Japan, Creating

  "Interview with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe". www.washingtonpost.com. February 20, 2013.

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• We Communists have got to string along with the capitalists for a while. We need their agriculture and their technology. But we are going to continue massive military programs. . . (soon) we will be in a position to return to a much more aggressive foreign policy designed to gain the upper-hand.

  Leonid Brezhnev

  Military, Technology, Hands

  "Kissinger: The Secret Side of the Secretary of State". Book by Gary Allen, 1976.

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• Foreign policy commands attention when it's crisis management. A street revolt breaks out in Egypt or Libya or Kiev and everyone asks, how should the president respond? Now these are important parts of America's role in the world, but they are essentially reactive and tactical. The broader challenge is to lay down a longer-term strategy that endures after the crisis of the moment.

  Fareed Zakaria

  Egypt, America, Challenges

  "Fareed Zakaria GPS", www.cnn.com. April 27, 2014.

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• I'm proud of the fact that I stood up early and unequivocally in opposition to Bush's foreign policy. [...] That opposition hasn't changed.

  Barack Obama

  Up Early, Proud, Facts

  "Not "corrupted" by DLC, Says Obama". www.blackcommentator.com. June 19, 2003.

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• When it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s and the economic policies of the 1920s.

  Barack Obama

  Want, Economic, Social

  Final 2012 presidential debate, www.cbsnews.com. October 22, 2012.

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• I think it's going to be remembered as the last major war on planet Earth, if we're lucky, if we maintain our foreign policy properly. It will be remembered as the last time major countries had to put people in the field and put them in harm's way. It may be the last of all human nature wars, which is a nice way to remember any kind of a war, as the last one.

  Tom Clancy

  Country, War, Nice

  "Tom Clancy, General Chuck Horner return to Desert Storm". Interview with Jamie Allen, edition.cnn.com. May 12, 1999.

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• My job is to try to advance American foreign policy, to try to advance the president's agenda on democracy and human rights.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Jobs, Rights, Trying

  Source: www.foxnews.com

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• I believe that this president [George W. Bush], regrettably, rushed us into a war, made decisions about foreign policy, pushed alliances away. And, as a result, America is now bearing this extraordinary burden where we are not as safe as we ought to be.

  John F. Kerry

  War, Believe, America

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

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• Iran should not be denied the human right to knowledge...the fear of America is Iran's attitude to Israel, and the cornerstone of America's foreign policy is the protection of Israel... If Iran believes in Allah, and if Iran believes in the power of Allah, Iran can't be frightened by America.

  Louis Farrakhan

  Attitude, Believe, America

  "Farrakhan Champions Iran's Nuclear Program". "Al Jazeera", archive.frontpagemag.com. March 23, 2007.

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• The world is now unipolar and contains o­nly o­ne superpower. Canada shares a continent with that superpower. In this context, given our common values and the political, economic and security interests that we share with the United States, there is now no more important foreign policy interest for Canada than maintaining the ability to exercise effective influence in Washington so as to advance unique Canadian policy objectives.

  Stephen Harper

  Exercise, Unique, Political

  "The New North Strong and Free". Canadian Alliance Defence Policy Paper, May 5, 2003.

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