Diplomatic Leverage Quotes

If Iran has a policy of detaining dual nationals as a tool of diplomatic leverage, then there will be consequences for Iran. We will not let them get away with it scot-free. They have to understand this is not a sustainable situation.

The social power of the Presidency is one of the most powerful tools a President can use.

We need some leverage with the Russians, because they are not going to come to the negotiating table for a diplomatic resolution, unless there is some leverage over them.

Making coercive diplomacy work requires a mix of threats and promises—sticks and carrots.

A superpower does not have to be the bully on the block.

Diplomacy has more to do with (credible) threats than with sweet reason. And threats from America are a lot more credible, nowadays.

Berlin is the testicles of the West, every time I want the West to scream, I squeeze on Berlin.

Sanctions will not produce capitulation.

Americans must reconcile themselves to limited objectives and work in congress with others, for an essential part of American power is the ability to evoke support from others---an ability quite as important as the capacity to compel.

Diplomacy, contrary to the current misconception, is not about making nice, exchanging happy talk, and offering concessions. It is the engine that converts raw energy and tangible power into meaningful political results. In other words, diplomacy is all about the intelligent use of power. Diplomacy is not an alternative to coercion and other forms of power; its effectiveness depends on their skillful use.

Our alliances and our credibility are crucial elements of our working capital in advancing America's interests in the world, and they have been eroded over the last four years.

America has at one bound become a world power in a sense she never was before.

Success in diplomacy is often most advantageous when it is incomplete, an adversary needs an honorable path of retreat if we are to achieve our main policy goals through the reputation of our power rather than through the actual use of force.

Countries are effectively paid deference in direct and indirect ways if they're huge oil suppliers.

We [USA] don't have diplomatic leverage to eliminate every vestige of a peaceful nuclear program in Iran. What we do have the leverage to do is to make sure that they don't have a weapon.

To become a successful hegemon, it helps to be both very rich and very big.

The dictators play the United States like a fiddle and get away with it

I'm going to continue to push for a no-fly zone and safe havens within Syria not only to help protect the Syrians and prevent the constant outflow of refugees, but to, frankly, gain some leverage on both the Syrian government and the Russians so that perhaps we can have the kind of serious negotiation necessary to bring the conflict to an end and go forward on a political track.

In these negotiations we are not a helpless object, although great world powers are involved. We play an active role and try to influence our destiny; we have our own trump cards and we use them.

Diplomacy without military capability is nothing more than prayer.

In Arab capitals, the failure of the United States to stop Iran's nuclear program is understood as American weakness in the struggle for dominance in the Middle East, making additional cooperation from Arab leaders on Israeli-Palestinian issues even less likely.

A credible threat of force is only as good as the political will to use it.

We should not be afraid to speak the truth to our powerful friend the United States.

When we rely on others to finance our foreign policy, we put it at risk.

We should see the [Kosovo] war as a valuable opportunity. Never before have the Europeans or the Americans taken us so seriously.