Quotes from David Ignatius

Politicians often call for sanctions as a way of sounding tough when they don't want to take riskier measures.

It's easier for China to assert its maritime power by creating artificial islands in the South China Sea than by defying the U.S. Pacific Fleet with an aircraft carrier.

It's fashionable with the Sarah Palin set to attack Harvard and treat its graduates as elitists. But if you spend any time on campus, you see students drawn from all over the world - an astonishing number these days with roots in Asia - whose chief assets are brainpower and hard work.

Panic is a natural human response to danger, but it's one that severely compounds the risk.

Sometimes good countries are so traumatized by events that they lose their bearings and embrace bad leaders.

Machiavelli did believe that it was better to appear to be good than to be good. If you're good, you're just too vulnerable, but if you appear to be good, you get all the benefits plus you can be sneaky and, when necessary, stab someone in the back.

Saudi Arabia is a frightened monarchy. It's beset by Sunni extremists from the Islamic State and Shiite extremists backed by Iran.

At the center of President Obama's strategy for dealing with the Islamic State is an empty space. It's supposed be filled by a 'Sunni ground force,' but after more than a year of effort, it's still not there. Unless this gap is filled, Obama's plan won't work.

Helping Wall Street regain confidence and stability was the last thing an angry public wanted in 2009 after the markets crashed. But without such support, markets can buckle and liquidity can disappear - often for decades, as has been the case in Japan.

Middle Eastern wars rarely end with outright victory and permanent stability, so the word 'settlement' may promise too much. At best, for many years, it may simply mean stable ceasefire lines, reduced bloodshed, fewer refugees, and less terrorism.

Bob Gates has unusual standing in the debate about the Obama administration's foreign policy: He was defense secretary for both a hawkish President George W. Bush and a wary President Obama. He understood Bush's desire to project power and Obama's skepticism.

The value of catastrophic events is that they can help people face up to problems that are otherwise impossible to address.

U.S. has been trying to encourage Iraq to pass a law that would provide money and training and weapons for a Sunni national guard that could be effective in places like Ramadi, like Mosul

It is never too late to apply good sense as a corrective to stupidity.

Retrospective analysis is not a useful guide to current problems.

Never settle for the lesser ambition. The job, the title, the conventional loyalties and rewards. Stay focused on the larger ambition, which is making a difference in the world.

Three rules for when you are under fire: 1) Always have a plan for what to do if something bad happens. 2) Always be the first to move; don't wait until the situation is clear, because by then it may be too late. 3) Keep moving until you find cover or your out of the fire zone.

Three Rules for When You Are Under Fire: 1) Always have a plan for what to do if something bad happens.

Always be the first to move; don't wait until the

If you are one in a million in China, you're one of 1,300 people.

Misdirection. False signals. Spreading confusion. This is the Tao of deception.

Finding a needle in a haystack was not as hard as it sounded, if you had a thread tied to the needle.

We are the sum of our choices and decisions, chances and accidents. Our personal history is built up in layers that contain our history as surely as sediments of rock contain the history of our planet.

Interrogate them," said Ferris. "Send them to Gitmo. Send them to Hani. Whatever." "Well, sure, interrogation," said Hoffman. "That helps. But that's not the real pop. Even if the guy we capture doesn't say shit, the bad guys have to assume he has blabbed. So they'll have to change their cell-phone numbers, and their Internet