Ben Rhodes Quotes

We need peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. It is important to have political and security stability to build up our economic growth.

In a multipolar world, there must be more powers capable of taking responsibility, the U.S. and Europe must be able to unite to achieve peace in the Middle East.

The U.N. is one of many competitors in a marketplace of global problem solving.

I attach the greatest importance to an amplification of the peace efforts in the Middle East. I would also like to see a greater dialogue between the U.S. and the EU.

Certain it is that a great responsibility rests upon the statesmen of all nations, not only to fulfill the promises for reduction in armaments, but to maintain the confidence of the people of the world in the hope of an enduring peace.

The U.S. must differentiate between controversial assertions of power, like those in the South China Sea, and fair reflections of China's growing contribution to the world, such as the new banks.

Attempts to settle crises by unilateral sanctions outside the framework of U.N. Security Council decisions threaten international peace and stability. Such attempts are counterproductive and contradict the norms and principles of international law.

I am firmly convinced that, in future years, China and India will join hands in playing a more active role in maintaining peace and stability in the region and the world at large and make due contribution to the cause of human progress and development.

The United Nations remains our most important global actor. These days we are continuously reminded of the enormous responsibility of the Security Council to uphold international peace and stability.

North Korea is going to get away with keeping its nuclear weapons.

The logic of collective security is flawless, provided it can be made to work under the conditions prevailing on the international scene... The odds, however, are strongly against such a possibility.

If it must come to war, I argue that the world should respond through the United Nations. This is the best way to give legitimacy to the use of force in these circumstances.

When the big powers are in agreement, the U. N. performs. When they aren't, the U. N. is paralyzed.

[To Americans] diplomacy means all the wicked devices of the Old World, spheres of influence, balances of power, secret treaties, triple alliances, and, during the interwar period, appeasement of Fascism.

The mobilization of world opinion and methods of negotiation should be developed and used by every nation in order to strengthen the United Nations. Then if we are forced into war, it will be because there has been no way to prevent it through negotiation and the mobilization of world opinion. In which case we should have the voluntary support of many nations, which is far better than the decision of one nation alone, or even of a few nations.

[America should engage in] Progressive development of regional and other collective arrangements for individual and collective self-defense

History asks of us that we never act unilaterally, never alone, but only within the alliances of NATO, the United Nations and the European Union as it is clearly specified in international law

Prudence dictates that there should be a balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.

I think what you can see is that we have worked very closely with China. China has really stood up in putting the pressure on North Korea.

The U.S. is the most benign great power we will see in our lifetimes, and it is important for global peace that its leaders continue to value being viewed as benign.

American diplomats worked closely with the League of Nations. The United States used its considerable influence to settle some of the outstanding issues left over from World War I, and Washington took the lead in negotiating naval limitations in the Pacific.

There is, and there will be, an increasing demand for a principled global security provider, for a superpower that believes in multilateralism and cooperation.

Britain is committed to peace and security, and a leading supporter of the international rules-based system.

We have to acknowledge and discuss with citizens that Germany needs to take on more responsibility. One of the questions is, 'Can we keep a functioning international order?'

If the U.N. is ineffective, the whole concept of multilateralism will collapse.