Top 60 Richard N. Haass Quotes

Russian membership in the World Trade Organization has the potential to strengthen the rule of law, combat corruption, and give Russia a stake in better relations with the outside world.

What is obvious is that Donald Trump is comfortable with an approach to running his presidency based on what worked for him in the private sector.

If Trump, for whatever reason, continues to coddle Russia, then Congress, the media, foundations, and academics should publicly detail the corruption that characterizes Putin’s rule.

The rise of populism is in part a response to stagnating incomes and job loss, owing mostly to new technologies but widely attributed to imports and immigrants.

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.

On occasion, terrorists will succeed despite our best efforts. That is part of the legacy of 9/11. But 9/11 also shows us that while terrorists can destroy, they are unable to create.

For too long, America tolerated a ‘democratic exception’ in the Muslim Middle East. As long as governments were friendly and backed regional stability, there was no need for outsiders to encourage representative government.

Terrorism is a decentralized phenomenon – in its funding, planning, and execution.

I believe in diplomacy; I don’t believe in talking to… that talking to Iran somehow constitutes a concession or a favour.

It is in the interest of Americans to find out what those wanting to be president think about a wide range of challenges and what they might do about them. We should want to get their take on the wisdom of past decisions, what they agree and disagree with, and why.

I am confident in saying that Oberlin did more for me than vice versa. I took a fantastic class in religion, which led me to archaeology, which got me to the Middle East, which led me to international relations, which launched me on my career.

Russia may well be willing to stop interfering in Eastern Ukraine in exchange for a degree of sanctions relief if it could be assured that ethnic Russians there would not face reprisals.

America’s armed forces are an essential background to much of what the U.S. accomplishes internationally.

In a global world, what happens within one country can all too easily affect others.

It is difficult to think of a foreign policy issue that preoccupies and polarizes world opinion as much as the Palestinian question.

I did not support the U.S. decision to intervene with military force in Libya. The evidence was not persuasive that a large-scale massacre or genocide was either likely or imminent. Policies other than military intervention were never given a full chance.

The horror and tragedy that was 9/11 did many things; one of them was to galvanize this country and much of the world against terrorists and those who support them.

The benefits of freer trade, such as job creation, lower inflation, and greater consumer choice, are often invisible or only partly visible.

Good people cannot fully compensate for bad process, but they can mitigate some of its worst tendencies.

White House staff are meant to coordinate and set policy, not carry it out.

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.

There’s a pattern in Bush 43’s presidency of being attracted to the big and the bold, and my whole reading of him is that he was instinctively uncomfortable with what you might call a modulated foreign policy – a foreign policy of adjustment, of degree.

Our inability to govern ourselves at home, to deal with everything from infrastructure to our debt to tax policy, is reducing the appeal of the American model.

Americans, for their part, must accept that a strong Europe will not be content to simply do America’s bidding.

Security is the absolute precondition for sustainable recovery from conflict; without it, people cannot rebuild their country or return to school or work.

If anything, what happened in Iraq after the fall of Saddam set back prospects for democratic reform in the region, as many came to associate political change with chaos.

Diplomacy can and will matter; little is inevitable in international relations.

There is no way to know for certain what accounts for North Korean decisionmaking, given how closed a country it is.

Terrorists continue to be outliers with limited appeal at best.

Trump is the first post-World War II American president to view the burdens of world leadership as outweighing the benefits.

Speaking truth to power is actually a form of loyalty.

Trade accords had been a staple of the post-World War II world, providing a mechanism for economic growth, development, and association with friends and allies, and a means of reining in would-be adversaries who otherwise would have little incentive to act with restraint.

Indeed, the big U.S. error after 9/11 was to treat Pakistan as if it were an ally. With an ally, it is possible to assume a large degree of policy overlap. With Pakistan, no such assumption can be made.

The political world is defined by relationships rather than transactions, and by numerous actors at home and abroad with independent power. Navigating such a world is difficult and precarious.

Weapons of mass destruction – nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons – are just that, and no cause can excuse their use.

An open, market-oriented, and peaceful Iraq could also advance reform and growth across the entire region.

No one pursuing reasonable goals and who is prepared to compromise can argue that terrorism is his or his group’s only option.

The abolition of the presidential term limit and President Xi Jinping’s concentration of power have come as an unwelcome surprise to many.

I did not believe in the Iraq war.

Any time you use military force, you have got to have a clear purpose that military forces can achieve.

It is true that the U.S. could and should have been more generous as Russia made its painful transition to a market economy in the 1990s.

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.

The vote in the United Kingdom in favor of leaving the E.U. attested to the loss of elite influence.

Nationalism is a tool increasingly used by leaders to bolster their authority, especially amid difficult economic and political conditions.

Unrestrained zeal to make the world better could make it worse. Promoting democracy must be undertaken with humility, care, and wisdom.

The United States is not just another country. It has more capacity and potential to influence the world than any other country – and no other country has the resources and mindset to lead a world that is not on autopilot.

The first Iraq War was one of necessity because vital U.S. interests were at stake, and we reached the point where no other national-security instruments were likely to achieve the necessary goal, which was the reversal of Saddam Hussein’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait.

Americans never would alter the way entitlement programs are funded or education administered without serious study and widespread debate.

Modern terrorism is too destructive to be tolerated, much less supported.

Bad situations can always get worse.

Democracy requires an informed citizenry able to question its government.

A China that trades extensively with the U.S. and its Asian neighbors will think twice before it pursues any policy that would place those relationships at risk. Likewise, trade between India and Pakistan could contribute to the normalization of ties between these long-estranged neighbors.

America must reduce its fiscal deficit, modernize its infrastructure, and improve its schools.

Europeans must shed their illusions about what they can accomplish in the world on their own. Loose talk about resurrecting a multi-polar world is just that – loose talk.

Difficult choices, unlike red wine, rarely improve with age.

Terrorism needs to be de-legitimized in the way that slavery has been. Doing so will make governments and individuals think twice before becoming a party to terrorism; it should also make it less difficult to garner support for international action against those who nevertheless carry it out.

Homegrown terrorists are a real problem for even the most modern, democratic societies.

The United States, working closely with the United Kingdom and others, established the liberal world order in the wake of World War II. The goal was to ensure that the conditions that had led to two world wars in 30 years would never again arise.

Not every threat to America’s national interests can be addressed with military power.