Richard Engel Quotes

As long as the [Communist] Party remains the ultimate source of wealth and power, its ability to police itself will determine China’s fate.

Intermediary liability enables the Chinese authorities to minimize the number of people they need to put in jail in order to stay in power and to maximize their control over what the Chinese people know and don't know.

Arab governments, at the end of the day, care most about remaining in power.

Our prosperity provides a foundation for our power. It pays for our military. It underwrites our diplomacy.

China’s rulers wanted row country to get rich, but not at the cost of control.

Russia and China, which have embraced autocratic capitalism, have attracted admirers and emulators by the seeming success of their strongman rule.

The most important thing for Singapore is stability.

Russia's inclination toward authoritarianism undoubtedly strengthened the leaders in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Kazakhstan, as they are afraid of normal democratic procedures.

It is in war that the State really comes into its own: swelling in power, in number, in pride, in absolute dominion over the economy and the society.

Putin needs strong moves to keep the country as one. There is some criticism that he is centralizing power, but in Russia, if you don't centralize power, you have the risk of losing the country.

The interest which lay behind Federalism was that of well-to-do citizens in a stable political and social order, and this interest aroused them to favor and to seek some form of political organization which was capable of protecting their property and promoting its interest.

China is a vast, disparate country; there is no alternative to strong central power.

Dictators, unlike Democrats, depend on a small coterie to sustain their power. These backers, generally drawn from the military, the senior civil service, and family or clan members, have a synergistic relationship with their dictator. The dictator delivers opportunities for them to become rich, and they protect him from being overthrown.

There will, in my view, come a time when there has to be some kind of political denouement inside China, because the newly enriched generation might put up with being told what to do by their rulers - but their children, who will take prosperity for granted, will not.

Russia needs a strong state power and must have it. But I am not calling for totalitarianism.

Never underestimate the power of the State to act out its own massive fantasies.

I think Chinese leadership is trying to tell the world they have another set of logic or reasoning or values which are different from yours. Of course, I don't think they believe that. It's just an argument that's made when you can't confront the truth and facts. They really want to maintain power.

We need a firm hand in Germany.

India will, in the next two decades become a major power and if it fails to do that external pressures will break her up

Within the Russian system, everything depends on the character of those few who hold full power in their hands. The position of the individual within present-day Russia has been described as follows: far-reaching economic security by sacrificing personal liberty.

When you have stability, you have at least an opportunity to enjoy prosperity because investment flows. Business tends to follow the flag. When they find a secure environment, they will invest.

The Turkish Army will not allow itself to be bound hand and foot by democracy and human rights.

The middle class serves as a bridge between the haves and the have-nots. If it goes, so goes political stability.

Santa Fe is a quiet little town, and is kept clean and in good order. The governor, Lopez, was common soldier at the time of the revolution, but has now been seventeen years in power. This stability of government is owing to his tyrannical habits, for tyranny seems as yet better adapted to these countries than republicanism. The governor’s favorite occupation is hunting Indians …

Modernization vastly increased the power of the state. It gave the rulers new tools—the powers of indoctrination, surveillance, and repression.