Abba Eban Quotes

The Middle East is a very difficult stage to play upon. Without doubt, it is a good drama. And on occasion, there are situations so unimaginable, if not ludicrous, as to make them almost comic. But the cast is constantly changing, the audience is often disengaged, and it seems at times that no one is actually running the show.

The Middle East is a region where predictions go to die.

This Middle East thing is maddening.

The Middle East is a region where extremists go all the way and moderates just go away.

In the Middle East, we don't have the luxury to indulge in fantasy.

There are no second chances in the volatile Middle East.

Iraq is not about oil.

There are no short cuts, no detours in the Middle East.

Iraq has slipped enough toward dangerous paths that may endanger the country if we don't realize that the solution ... lies is the concept of national unity

If you look in general at people who live in anarchy, they have quite high rates of death from either homicide or warfare or both. Anarchy is one of the main reasons for violence, and it may be the most important.

I think Syria is in a particularly sensitive geopolitical position in terms of the politics of the Middle East.

African history is filled with experiences of people shooting their way to power and then splintering into factions, like in Somalia and Liberia.

Jerusalem is a time bomb that I fear is just waiting to go off.

We in the Middle East like to talk politics, we like to argue. Just look at the three prophets - Moses, Jesus and Mohammad. They are all from this small region which creates problems all the time.

The only hope for the Middle East is for moderates to win.

We are all familiar with Lebanon and with the intrigues of its leaders. Collaboration flows in their veins, and treachery thrives in their midst.

You don't have smooth sailing in the American system no matter who's in charge.

Democracies are prone to war, and war consumes them.

Everything in the Middle East is connected to everything else

Everything in the Middle East are linked to each other.

We're not yet in a multipolar world. We are in a chaotic world.... We live in a world where the dangers are real for all of us.

Iraq does have many, many different tensions.

The deep problems that afflict the Middle East are not easy to fix, but they must be dealt with if we are not to see a son of ISIS, or even a grandson of ISIS, developing in the years to come.

Is there going to be a peace in the Middle East? Not in my lifetime.

Historically, the Balkans have been an incubator of war.