Kelly Ayotte Quotes

Economic sanctions rarely achieve the desired results.

I just can't understand why we don't go forward and put more sanctions.

We have treated our most serious adversaries, such as Iran and North Korea, in the most juvenile manner - by giving them the silent treatment. In so doing, we have weakened, not strengthened, our bargaining position and our leadership.

American presidents always avoid shaking hands with brutal dictators, except when it's advantageous to do so.

Does anyone believe that Kofi Annan scares Bashar Assad?

Foreign policy is about choosing from nasty options.

Great powers engage.

I could have been very popular if I had launched a military attack on Iran but I chose patience.

If we find what we need [arms] among friendly nations and if they give us what we ask, they do so for money. We are not getting anything for free. So, if things become complicated with a certain country we will find other countries, regardless of whether they are Eastern or Western.

Unilateral sanctions only make foreign rivals stronger and taint us as unreliable suppliers.

In the affairs of nations, too much hard power ends up breeding not submission but resistance. Likewise great soft power does not bend hearts; it twists minds in resentment and rage.

…sanctions applied to a large nation meant war. They bred “incurable hatreds”.

There are two things that are very expensive in international relations: promises when they succeed and threats when they fail

The Middle East does not follow Las Vegas rules. Whatever happens in the Middle East affects the rest of the world.

If the United States credibly threatens to treat Pakistan like it does Iran, Pakistan’s leaders would find it best to cooperate.

Soft power … cannot accomplish much in the absence of a willingness to use hard power.

So much of our foreign policy is based on other people’s weakness.

I believe that Trump is a danger. I believe that he wants to tighten and build up his relationship to Russia for whatever reasons.

Putin is very - not the smartest guy in the world.

Sanctions against such country as Russia are unlikely to be effective.

So [Vladimir] Putin is a mess. He's committed all sort of murderous thuggery, and I am opposed to the way Putin conducts himself in world affairs, and I hope that the president also wants to show moral leadership about this issue.

Given lesser opportunities, Kissinger would have done very well as a talk show host. Fortunately for him, although not so fortunately for the United States, he found his patron in Nelson Rockefeller instead of William Paley.

He [Vladimir Putin] will not be able to push Donald Trump around the world. Believe me.

If there's any country that has the capacity not to control North Korea, but to influence North Korea, it's still China. The Chinese always say they have very little influence. They have more than they say they do. We should put pressure on them to do it and there's finally, we're seeing the first signs of a little bit of Chinese disaffection. At some point they're getting tired of the antics of this country. This is a dangerous ally for China to have. And the more Chinese can pressure them and put the economic screws on them, the better it will be for everybody.

Sanctions alone could not stop Iran's nuclear program. But they did help bring Iran to the negotiating table.