Elizabeth Esty Quotes

I don't know that there is much the United States can do except work with the international community.

It is one thing to be against unilateralism and against nonhumanitarian interventionism - but it is quite another thing to be against humanitarian interventionism.

Of course the UN brings in a lot of moral authority.

I was raised to believe that America was a force for good in the world and that it should take its leadership role seriously.

It's important that all around the globe that the United States is pursuing the most effective foreign policy possible.

We Americans have no commission from God to police the world.

The U.N. is one of many competitors in a marketplace of global problem solving.

American foreign policy, for all its shortcomings, has underpinned political stability around the world.

The U.N. is much more than the case of Iraq.

Britain does not normally these days play a huge part in peacekeeping.

The purpose of the United Nations should be to protect the essential sovereignty of nations, large and small.

I've been quite involved in a lot of U.N. operations over the years. I was a U.N. observer at the East Timor referendum in 2000. I've been very involved in that for a long time.

It's not easy being the world's policeman. No one thanks you for it.

Intervention continues to be a prominent dimension of the post-cold war world.

The Czech Republic is a dynamic United Nations Member State, active on the Human Rights Council, contributing to the peaceful settlement of disputes, and helping other countries to achieve a democratic transition.

Western powers remain imprisoned by the idea that the world is a dangerous place, that it needs to be managed, and that they are called upon to do the managing.

As the U.S., the world is questioning why not end it, and so if, in fact, we were to pull out, the world would definitely question why we did this to begin with. But I still believe the world would call upon us for help if they needed it.

According to the U. N. Charter, the Secretary General is the chief administrative officer, not its chief moralizer.

The United States can't go in and impose order on chaos every place in the world.

The UN is ultimately going to be judged on its ability in conflict resolution and conflict prevention.

The Secretary General of the United Nations is more of a secretary than a general.

The main thing that endears the United Nations to member governments, and so enables it to survive, is its proven capacity to fail, and to be seen to fail. If there is something you are expected to do, but don't want to do, or even have done for you, you can safely appeal to the UN in the comfortable certainty that it will let you down.

International policy does not aim at exploiting local, specific conditions to widen zones of influence and create difficulties for another country. The goal of international policy is to insure universal fulfillment of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man" and to prevent a sharpening of international tensions and a strengthening of militarist and nationalist tendencies.

Is a military solution the only way to stop nations from doing bad things?

The United Nations is a means. It is not an end for American foreign policy.