Ian Bremmer Quotes

Before the Iraq war I was quite disturbed by some of the neoconservatives, who were saying things like, "What is the point of being a superpower if you can't do such-and-such, take on these responsibilities?" The point of being a superpower is that people will leave you alone.

Though the object of being a Great Power is to be able to fight a Great War, the only way of remaining a Great Power is not to fight one.

I think the primary message to the world is that the United States is going to remain the strongest military power in the world.

The U.S. has intervened more often in more countries farther from its own shores than has any power in modern history.

There is but one nation on the globe from which we have anything serious to apprehend, but that is the most powerful that now exists or ever did exist. I refer to Great Britain.

The object of China's strategy is inexorably to supplant the United States as the world's premier economic power, and if necessary, to defeat us militarily.

The U.S. needs to control the Middle East, the gateway to Asia. It already has military installations in Uzbekistan.

America stood at the summit of power, emerging from the Cold War as an economic, cultural and military force without equal.

The voice and force of the United States may count for nothing if they are withheld too long.

Unilateralism will lead to the decline of American Power.

Power is the true reserve currency in international affairs.

There is, however, much to be said for the division of this great area [the Ruhr valley], as at present, rather than its union under a single state which would have, in war and peace, a practical monopoly of iron and steel on the Continent.

The United States is a nation different from all others. We are now powerful if we choose to exert our strength.

Russia is living proof that hard power is brittle without the other dimensions of great-power status.

Rebuilding the military is something Putin will pay attention to.

In power politics, it's usually not enough to be liked. A nation has to be considered essential.

There is no substitute - none - for American power.

Behind Trump's promise to 'make America great again' lie many fallacies. The most important fallacy is that America's place in the world can be restored to the one it occupied after World War II, when Europe was still recovering from vast devastation and most developing countries were still European colonies. It can't be.

No one gives a damn what Iran thinks on any significant issue. The only reason Iran is at the big boys' table is because of their nuclear weapons program.

In the period after the Second World War, there were still leaders in Europe who represented weak countries, but possessed a sense of global foreign policy. Nowadays, on the other hand, there are politicians who represent pretty powerful countries, but whose citizens are not prepared to sacrifice themselves for the state.

Never believe that technology alone will allow America to prevail as a superpower.

Geopolitical interests are behind the so-called war on drugs and terrorism.

The fight against drug trafficking is a false pretext for the United States to install military bases.

America has never gotten in a war because we were too strong.

As we watch the world today, sometimes it seems that we're at the mercy of events instead of shaping events. And a strong America's essential to shape events, and a strong America, by the way, depends on a strong military.