Abba Eban Quotes
Men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
Abba Eban, 1915-2002, Foreign Minister of Israel (Labor), Israeli Ambassador to the U. N., Quoted in The Observer, December 20, 1970
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Iraq’s program of mass destruction weapons development
Kennan was talking about the Russians, but the same principle seems to hold with any autocratic government and in some cases even democracies. However, the tradition of secret diplomacy with no transparency is established even in many democracies. Great Britain and France, for example conduct most of their diplomacy in secret as do less democratic governments and tyrannies. They expect us to keep negotiations confidential, which causes American diplomats to be torn between the American view of transparency and the tradition of confidentiality.
The first Jew to run for the Vice Presidency on a major party ticket.
When there is a serious problem with another country and it appears that military force may have to be used, he and most sophisticated policy makers argue that we should always try diplomacy first. If that does not work, then the military option is still open. If it does work, war or other military action is always available as an option. When politicians do not want to try diplomacy, it is usually that they have an ulterior motive for war and/or military force. Some urge caution with this principle in all cases as sometimes it gives the enemy time to regroup and rearm and he gets stronger by stringing out the negotiations with no intention of a diplomatic solution. In some other cases, as Iran in the second decade of the 21st century when they were suspected of developing a nuclear weapon. The Israeli right wing and some American conservatives wanted no delay in use of military force as that might allow the Iranians to complete an operational message. President Obama and most Americans favored strong economic sanctions with diplomacy first.
By the standards of the rest of the world the North Korean policies and actions were at the time irrational and inconsistent and explained in a manner which defied any norms that any other nation’s leaders could understand and explain.
Abba Solomon Meir Eban was an Israeli diplomat and politician, and a scholar of the Arabic and Hebrew languages.
