Jean Chretien Quotes

And when we draw lines in the sand with regard to certain basic things that are vital to our interest and to the interest of democracy and our friends around the world, we have to be willing to back that up.

The best way to influence our enemies is to stand steadfastly by our friends.

You should never make alliances with a decadent nation like France and a semi-barbarous nation like Russia

Compromise is not a word that generally makes political hearts flutter, and it is even less loved when it comes to the politics of U. S. foreign policy

Even allies don’t share every single interest that you have. That’s a law of nature in the international system. They will tell you most of what you need to know but there may be some things that they don’t tell you that you need to know in order to formulate your policy as wisely as you can.

Donald Trump recognizes that a good leader is going to protect America's interests by making sure that we have a relationship with Russia: that our interests are protected, not theirs.

A great nation like the United States has many and varied interests, and we need both to do business with tyrants and to engage constantly in multilateral diplomacy.

If you want to treat China as an enemy, you have a much better chance of making them an enemy than if you treat them as a potential friend.

Israeli interests are not necessarily in harmony with the American interests.

I believe the U.S. already understands and will understand more and more that only a strong Russia will respond to the genuine interests of the United States.

The United States has got to adopt a policy of befriending and creating allies around the world.

From 8,000 miles away... I would not judge a fellow soldier from a friendly nation and how they are employing their resources.

The exchange program is the thing that reconciles me to all the difficulties of political life.

So far as it depends on the course of this government, our relations of good will and friendship will be sedulously cultivated with all nations.

The United States is a strong and ardent ally of Israel. The fact of the matter is that friends can disagree. I think what's important is that world leaders are able to sit down with one another, have frank conversations and move forward.

I do want to try to put things in perspective today relative to the U.S.-Canada relationship. I would like to start by talking about how important this relationship is to the people of the United States.

The international community lies at the center of the Obama foreign policy. Unfortunately, it is a fiction. There is no such thing. Different countries have different histories, geographies, necessities, and interests. There's no natural, inherent, or enduring international community.

Time after time … when policy makers confronted a conflict between foreign policy and domestic interests, the diplomatic imperative prevailed.

Trust between allies is as important as deterrence of foes.

Alliances do have to deal with political realities.

Peace and security for the United States depend on building principled, constructive, clear-eyed relations with our former great-power adversaries.

You do not build a foreign policy based on one man.

There is a lot of juggling between NATO commitment and domestic politics in most countries [belonging to NATO.]

Today we will find most nations to be both our partners and our adversaries—sometimes simultaneously.

We had to avoid wounding Austria too severely; we had to avoid leaving behind in her any unnecessary bitterness of feeling or desire for revenge; we ought rather to reserve the possibility of becoming friends again with our adversary of the moment, and in any case to regard the Austrian state as a piece on the European chessboard and the renewal of friendly relations as a move open to us. If Austria were severely injured, she would become the ally of France and of every other opponent of ours; she would even sacrifice her anti-Russian interests for the sake of revenge on Prussia.