James Baker Quotes

Ataturk advocated a very strong military establishment that should rarely if ever be used—always preferring a diplomatic, political solution to foreign policy problems.

This is one of the earliest instances in which formal American foreign policy called for aggressively preventing other nations from war. This speech was audio recorded -- quite unusual for the time -- and can be heard to this day.

They referred to the George W. Bush Administration. The Powell Doctrine, created by then Secretary of State when he was Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff stated that if American Troops were ever to be used in combat, they should be deployed in massive overwhelming force and have a clear exit strategy. Powell lost the internal argument and was marginalized, but he turned out to be absolutely right.

Roosevelt had withdrawn his Ambassador to Berlin, publicly reprimanded Joseph P. Kennedy, his Ambassador to England who was pro Fascist and who had said complementary things about Hitler and Mussolini. FDR made anti-German statements to a degree unknown for a country not at war. Hitler publically stated that the Germans would not be pressured. Dictators who U. S. leaders have tried to isolate and pressure, have made similar statements ever since. The American intervention was certainly effective against Hitler.

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.

The report was from Heinrich von Tschirschky, the German ambassador to Austria-Hungary. He recommended that Germany persuade Austria-Hungary to not attack Serbia, not realizing the German leaders had already planned a war with Russia and saw the issues between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia was a good excuse to implement their war plans (see {642092}).