Rand Paul Quotes

If we are going to have any improvement in U.S.-Russia relations - which I think should be an objective of the United States - we don't want to stay where we are. We'd like for this to be more constructive. Then we're going to have to see progress on Ukraine.

I think the point that we all agree upon is that we have to engage with Russia.

Strong countries and strong presidents talk to their adversaries. That's what Kennedy did with Khrushchev. That's what Reagan did with Gorbachev. That's what Nixon did with Mao. I mean think about it. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela - these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying we're going to wipe you off the planet.

Wishful thinking won't make the Palestinians an Israeli peace partner, no matter how much President Barack Obama pressures Israel to make concessions; caustically mocking Putin's worldview won't make it any less real or mitigate the Russian threat.

I would meet directly with the leadership in Iran.

Trump has got to define what he seeks to achieve with Russia, and then use diplomacy and sometimes coercion to achieve those ends. Right now, aside from this fight with ISIS, which I would underscore, you know, the Obama administration has been trying to fight ISIS with Russia for several years now.

President Trump also mentioned that under the right conditions, he is willing to engage in dialogue with North Korea.

It doesn't mean we're not going to be tough across the world, it doesn't mean that we're not going to always put America first in everything we do. But we have big problems in this world. And I don't think we can solve these big problems by making believe that people don't exist. They exist. We have to talk to people.

I don't think you can solve what's going on in Iraq unless you can deal effectively with the region and you can't deal effectively with the region if you start with the premise that you can't talk to people who disagree with you.

Whether we report Iran to the council or not, I believe the only way forward is through diplomacy.

[Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is an adherent of realpolitik. He knows that international relations are not built on the strength of unilateral demands, but on solutions that are in everybody's best interest.

If anything good is going to emerge out of this, it's going to be the result of an acceptable modus vivendi between Ukraine and Russia. The two of them will have to get together at some point. It is going to be a result that many people in the West will not like, because Russia, as the bigger power, is going to get the better of the deal. So, a lot of people will say, that's appeasement. That's this - that - it's reality.

We do not draw red lines unless we intend to carry them out. We have made very clear that we are willing to work with China, and we believe China has tried to be helpful.

Diplomacy is not an end in itself if it does not advance U.S. interests.

What Iran wants and what North Korea wants is respect.

No nation has friends only interests.

Countries that intervene militarily rarely do so out of pure altruism.

My diplomatic position will not consist of going and kneeling down in front of George Bush.

And so there has been a lot of diplomatic movement.

The management of a balance of power is a permanent undertaking, not an exertion that has a foreseeable end.

Foreign policy is not philanthropy.

Negotiations are the most essential tool of statecraft.

Iran is for negotiations…. This is the principle of Iranian Foreign Policy…. Iranians should make sure that the United States is not using pressure on Iran for negotiations.

A multipolar world means more compromise [on Human Rights violations]… more back-scratching and less principled denunciation.

Statesmen should, you see, be very careful how they proceed to acts of positive hostility against the towns or inhabitants of any country with whom they ever intend to be on terms of alliance or kindness