Elliott Abrams Quotes

Why are diplomatic cables secret at all?

Most other documents leaked to WikiLeaks do not carry the same explosive potential as candid cables written by American diplomats.

Huge numbers of embassy cables are labeled 'unclassified' or 'limited official use' and deal with mundane matters.

When it comes to international negotiations it cannot all be kept confidential and secret. There must be a way of preparing publics for what is being negotiated.

The Prime Minister of Great Britain has nothing to hide from the President of the United States.

Cool, realistic diplomats are prepared to try to negotiate with any type of regime whenever the national interest calls for it; the last thing that should ever be done to turn emotional or "demonize" another foreign leader no matter how nasty he may be.

I was years older than you when I became an ambassador for the first time. Remember that, Tycho? How did we get through that assignment, anyway?” “Pretty much, we opened fire on everyone who disagreed with us.” Wedge nodded and turned to his daughter. “When all else fails, just do that.

Diplomacy is unfashionable in the world of knee-jerk reaction and the dogmatic sound bite on television.

Diplomats were invented simply to waste time.

I'm not going into personal details of meetings I have with anybody, be it John Howard or President Bush or President Putin or President Yeltsin, in years gone by, whoever it may be, I'm not going into that.

I'm simply saying that there are advantages in sending a skilled diplomat who can always say, 'I'll get back to you on that, Mr. Minister'.

When the ambassadors of other foreign countries come to Japan to make treaties, they can be told that such and such a treaty has been made with the ambassador of the United States, and they will rest satisfied with this.

Like Prince von Bismarck in diplomacy, I have no secrets.

Richard Holbrooke is known for many things, but I will remember him as an impressive, sometimes even intimidating diplomat who understood the value of culture in diplomacy.

Diplomacy is, perhaps, one element of the U.S. government that should not be subject to the demands of 'open government'; whenever it works, it is usually because it is done behind closed doors. But this may be increasingly hard to achieve in the age of Twittering bureaucrats.

Diplomats make it their business to conceal the facts, and politicians violently denounce the politicians of other countries.

I think that the president of Iran has the authority wherever which - where - wherever the national interests of the country are involved and, when it is necessary and expedient and required to speak and talk with others in order to promote the rights of its nation, that the president can take that initiative.

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

Our public dealings with the Russians can hardly lead to any clear and satisfactory results unless they are preceded by preparatory discussions of the most secret and delicate nature.

I shall have to depend upon you for taking care of these matters of foreign affairs, of which I know so little, and with which I reckon you are familiar.

The old diplomat liked to move with deliberation, in secret, following well-established traditions and working through what he loved to describe as "the usual channels". To him, the open debate carried on, not by professional diplomats, but by politicians and statesmen having little regard for the use of the technical phraseology of diplomacy and intent merely on reaching results which would make diplomacy unnecessary, was offensive to all his instincts.

You can’t outsource diplomacy. You can’t do it unless you do it.

Our allies and enemies, and Mr. Wilson himself, should all understand that Mr. Wilson has no authority to speak for the American people.

If you operate any kind of major diplomacy, you must run some risk.

The limits of diplomacy must be acknowledged.