Quotes About Diplomacy

response entirely off its own bat.29 When asked about an official reply, Churchill responded that he had no intention of replying to Hitler himself, as he was not on speaking terms with him.

Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.

We know how to win wars. We must learn now to win peace...

what they were thinking. Finally, I understood. They wanted to punish the United States.

On the justification for the war, it wasn't related to finding any particular weapon of mass destruction.

The most important tactic in an argument next to being right is to leave an escape hatch for your opponent so that he can gracefully swing over to your side without an embarrassing loss of face.

Americans had to choose between permitting them to become democracies or maintaining power over them. It was an easy choice.

Countries that have the power to interfere in foreign lands almost always do so.

In other words, the Germans were continuing to place a large bet on Bolshevism, while at the same time containing it and extracting advantage.

In spite of his Cold War credentials, Kennedy still believed in the power of words.

The "compleat diplomat" of the future should remain cognizant of realism's emphasis on the inescapable role of power, keep liberalism's awareness of domestic forces in mind, and occasionally reflect on constructivism's vision of change.

No president would appoint a wealthy campaign donor to command an armored division or a warship—let alone serve as a regional combatant commander—but roughly a third of U.S. ambassadorial appointments are doled out to campaign contributors rather than to trained professional diplomats, with sometimes embarrassing results.

The mission before us as ambassadors is to assure peace among, as it were, the diplomatic corps of fellow ambassadors. Thus we are to walk in lowliness (humility) and meekness, which foster longsuffering and enable us to forbear one another in love.

There were small changes stirring in American policy as Clinton entered his second term. Hillary Clinton had visited India in 1995 and became determined to push her husband toward greater involvement in the region. Madeleine Albright, who arrived as secretary of state, was more sharply attuned to human rights violators such as the Taliban than Warren Christopher had been.

United States willing to confront the royal families of neighboring energy-rich kingdoms such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, even when sections of those governments also appeased and nurtured al Qaeda.

Mr. Ambassador," Rice replied, "in counterinsurgency, if it doesn't seem like you're winning, you're not winning." She added, "This war isn't working."20

What's the big picture?" Husain Haqqani asked Pasha during this period. "We're a small country," he answered. "They are the big ones. We have to keep our pride. We have to outmaneuver them. It's all about being smart.

The stakes are high," Musharraf told Bush over a secure telephone. "We are with you." Yet it was obvious from the start that Musharraf saw Afghanistan and Al Qaeda through his own prism. "In almost every conversation we had," Bush recalled, "Musharraf accused India of wrongdoing."12

Clinton's relationship with the CIA during his first term: distant, mutually ill-informed, and strangely nonchalant.

Afghans believe that if their country is to be sold to Pakistan they would prefer to bargain over the price directly rather than rely on an agent," meaning the United States, Rubin wrote.17

Obama was new to Afghanistan but he had personal connections to Pakistan. As a college sophomore in Los Angeles, he had shared an apartment with a Pakistani friend, Hasan Chandoo, a business-minded Shiite from a prosperous Karachi family. Obama visited Pakistan with Chandoo and made other Pakistani friends as he came of age and later entered Harvard Law School.

By now a new idea had been identified by both American and Pakistani negotiators, one that might save face. The United States could pay "blood money" to the families of Davis's two victims and the families could choose to forgive him.

Haqqani added that he had "a bone to pick" with Panetta. "You lied." He added, "If you're going to send a Jason Bourne to our country, make sure he has the skills to get out like Jason Bourne," Haqqani added.

Overall, the war left China with considerable latitude in Central Asia, without having made any expenditure of blood, treasure, or reputation.