Gary Milhollin Quotes

If the world believes that Iran doesn't play by the rules and imposes sanctions, then we'll follow them whether we have an opinion about it or not.

Legislation that would withhold funding for the United Nations is fundamentally flawed in concept and practice, sets us back, is self-defeating, and doesn't work.

There is no way that any major international problem anywhere in the world can be solved efficiently with the United States sitting on the sideline.

International institutions like the UN can only be as effective as its members allow it to be.

U. S. Foreign Policy is usually largely reactive.

Americans must step back and realize that an effective foreign policy is very difficult to devise, and we must present a united front to make it work.

At the U.N., I routinely encounter countries that do not want to impose sanctions or even to enforce those already on the books. The hard-line sanctions skeptics have their own self-interested reasons for opposing sanctions, but they ground their opposition in claims that America uses sanctions to inflict punishment for punishment's sake.

U.N. Security Council resolutions are only as effective as their enforcement.

In the United States, there is a broadly shared view that the U.N. is one of many potential instruments to advance U.S. issues, and we have to decide whether a particular issue is best done through the U.N. or best done through some other mechanism.

There are many who criticise the United Nations. And those of us who know this institution well know that it is not immune from criticism. But those who argue against the United Nations advance no credible argument as to what should replace it. Whatever its imperfections, the United Nations represents a necessary democracy of states.

The United Nations has come under the control of outlaw nations and self-serving special interest groups.

Probably the most useful thing I can do as secretary of state is to assist the president in adapting and renewing the transnational institutions that were created after World War II.

In the United Nations, when China entered, we voted on the same position, and since then we have maintained the same position, that position has not changed.

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

Well, there's been plenty of ultimatums, and one thing that we better be very clear is that we can't continue to have the kind of defiance of the United Nations, the defiance of the international community that we've had.

I think the American people, understandably, have sort of lost faith in the United Nations.

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

I don’t talk to countries that exhibit bad behavior.

The most obvious difference between international relations and domestic politics is that international relations take place in anarchy, whereas politics within states is conditioned by hierarchy.

The U.S and England are not worthy of security council membership. Those who want good relations with the Iranian people should bow and surrender to its right and might.

If governments do not want to work with the U.N. and the international organizations, there is a limit to what you can do. And there is also a limit to patience.

The United Nations is a failed institution in its current form.

American foreign policy must be fashioned by the United States, not the United Nations.

We were instrumental in creating the United Nations and the World Bank, and now we threaten their health.

The United States does not feel any need to consult with anybody … except when it suits them.