Salvador de Madariaga y Rojo Quotes
A general must be shot or befriended - but never hurt.
Clark had commanded the American and NATO forces in the Serbian War where all the military and political objectives were accomplished with heavy losses to the Serbian’s and none to the allied side—what many think was the most successful war in American History. Like Eisenhower in WWII one great challenge was the political and strategic one of keeping the coalition of all the allied governments working together. His perspective had been like Eisenhower’s which was much wider and geopolitical than most military officers.
From the 1787 Philadelphia discussions on the Constitution right up to the Civil War there was compromise after compromise on the slavery issue. Many political issues are amenable to compromise like tax rates or election modalities. Others like freedom of religion and speech and slavery are not. With the latter, compromise just delays the inevitable and often makes the final resolution more contentious and often violent.
On military or foreign policy matters his view was that presidents ought not to rule anything in or out so that he/she can keep all the options open and not reduce future flexibility.
Salvador de Madariaga y Rojo was a Spanish diplomat, writer, historian, and pacifist. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the Nobel Peace Prize. He was awarded the Charlemagne Prize in 1973.
