American - Diplomat | July 28, 1951 -
There is a clear norm against the spread of nuclear weapons, but there is no consensus or treaty on what, if anything, is to be done once a country develops or acquires nuclear weapons.
Richard N. Haass
CountryDoneWhat IfAnythingSpread
Vietnam was not a war of choice the United States had to fight. It was clearly not central.
FightWarChoiceClearlyVietnam
I believe in diplomacy; I don't believe in talking to... that talking to Iran somehow constitutes a concession or a favour.
BelieveTalkingI BelieveDiplomacy
To be sure, many of the Sykes-Picot borders reflected deals cut in Europe rather than local demographic or historical realities. But that hardly makes the Middle East unique: Most borders around the world owe their legacy less to thoughtful design or popular choice than to some mixture of violence, ambition, geography, and chance.
AmbitionWorldLegacyChanceDesign
September 11, 2001, was a terrible tragedy by any measure, but it was not a historical turning point. It did not herald a new era of international relations in which terrorists with a global agenda prevailed or in which such spectacular terrorist attacks became commonplace.
MeasureTragedyNewPointHistorical
Terrorists continue to be outliers with limited appeal at best.
BestContinueLimitedAppeal
Terrorists and terrorism cannot be eliminated any more than we can rid the world of disease. There will always be those who will resort to force against innocent men, women, and children in pursuit of political goals.
GoalsWomenChildrenMenWorldWill
The Internet, one of the great inventions of the modern Western world, has shown itself to be a weapon that can be used to incite and train those who wish to cause harm to that world.
GreatWorldInternetWishTrain
There is no way to know for certain what accounts for North Korean decisionmaking, given how closed a country it is.
CountryKnowWayKoreanNorthHow
Living with a nuclear North Korea could give its leaders the confidence to act more aggressively versus South Korea. It could also, over time, drive both South Korea and Japan, as well as countries farther afield such as Vietnam, to reconsider their non-nuclear postures. The stability of a critical region of the world would suddenly be in doubt.
ConfidenceTimeWorldDriveDoubt
No amount of sanctioning will persuade North Korea to give up nuclear weapons, nor will China step up and solve the problem for us.
StepProblemWillNuclear WeaponsUp
How can we pressure China on North Korea if China's one of the two largest holders of American debt?
PressureAmericanDebtTwoChina
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict Richard N. Haass quotes