Carla Norloff Quotes
Under the George W. Bush Administration…, the United States was generally seen as having the capacity and resolve, to pursue its own agenda in complete disregard of other states’ preferences.
This is a statement that was meant as a criticism but would be interpreted by many Americans as just a straight forward description. Many believe that is the way it should be.
Carla Norloff, Canadian Political Scientist, Book Review, Political Science Quarterly, Fall 2012
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The Congressman was being critical of the George W. Bush Administration and their tendency to decide which leaders and countries were legitimate and moral and which were not, and then invading the “bad” and executing the leaders as with Iraq and Saddam Hussein.
Announcing his opposition to the covenant of a League of Nations:
Those environmentalists who take this view do not give credence to other alternatives. For example, the same argument of environmental decision-making could logically justify one superpower nation taking over the government of all others on the planet for environmental matters. Another possibility is that the existing mechanisms and the UN are sufficient if the major powers reach agreement. Another is that science and technology will provide solutions.
This was a warning to Saudi Arabia that the United States might seize the oil fields. At the time we were not getting enough oil for domestic needs and the military in Europe and in Vietnam. The King arranged to secretly supply oil to the United States while maintaining to the other Arab countries that it was maintaining the boycott of the West.
Shariatmadari sometimes serves as a spokesman for major Religious officials of the Iranian theocracy. This quotation is particularly interesting as it illustrates a particular world view of some Iranian leaders that makes it almost impossible to cope with problems through diplomatic means. The argument is that if Iran negotiates with America on any issue, Iran would be a poor example to other Islamic nations because they would conclude that Iran and all Muslim countries had no choice but get along with America. The idea that negotiating with a nation means that a country is “getting along” with the other country is of course the absurdity. But it is believed by many in the Muslim world. Ironically that same view is held by “hard liners” in America and most other countries in addition to Iran. There are Americans who do not believe that we should negotiate with Iran at all because the negotiations gives them a status that they do not deserve. And it connotes a level of approval by America of Iran just to talk with them.
