Bashir Assad Quotes

You don't know whether he's thought through how this is going to affect the Middle East.

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.

One of the lessons learned in the Middle East is to never try to anticipate the other side's moves.

Do I trust Yasser Arafat? Of course not. Why should I? Why should anyone trust a politician, whether Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Benjamin Netanyahu, George W. Bush, or Yasser Arafat?

We need to talk to all the players in the Middle East, not because we agree with them, but because they play a role.

The Turks ... the Saudis, the Emiratis, etc. What were they doing?

Turkey in general became too involved with what is happening in Egypt and in Syria. Some politicians with neo-Ottoman dreams developed this idea of being a major player in the Middle East, which hasn't gone as expected.

Iraq is not about oil.

I must try desperately to absorb all information I can about the Middle East. I want to excel. I want to speak articulately about the politics of the Middle East and its religion.

Politics and war are remarkably similar situations.

I've covered Israel just as I cover other politics.

The United States can tell you all about what's wrong with the British, to say nothing of the Russians.

I am aware of the thesis that the United States has long since invested exclusively in stability and this has obviated democratic transformation in the Middle East.

It is no exaggeration to say that Syria holds the key for nearly all of America's foreign policy goals in the Middle East. As Syria goes, so goes the region.

I think it's almost impossible for any expert to predict for the rapid changes we see in the Middle East. They are rapid and they will continue for quite a while.

Israel ranks her priorities in the following way: security, land, and water.

Each and every day, Israel's very existence is at stake.

The U.S. relationship with Bahrain is obviously more complicated than with Syria and Iran.

A week is a long time in politics.

Iran does not yield easily in the standard tools of Western political analysis.

America simply prefers to deal with dictators.

In the Middle East persons were more trusted than institutions.

Whenever there is talk of peace, there is anger in the military- industrial- political complex.

Politics, you will observe, is the science of guessing right.

You don’t know today which country is going to matter in three years