Diplomatic Trust Quotes

Our efforts will only be effective if ordinary citizens in other countries have confidence that the United States respects their privacy too. And the leaders of our close friends and allies deserve to know that if I want to learn what they think about an issue, I will pick up the phone and call them, rather than turning to surveillance.

Policy flip-flops debase the currency of United States credibility.

Japan had become a general object of distrust and misunderstanding; a fact not only deeply injurious to Japan, but very unfortunate for foreign nations, whose policy in the Far East is influenced thereby. It was the duty of the nation to inspire a spirit of confidence and good-will among its friends abroad

Negotiating with Iran and believing they will keep their word is naive at best.

Important part of our diplomacy is that people take our words seriously.

For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible - and no one can now doubt the word of America.

It is reckless for a presidential candidate to publicly raise doubts about honoring treaty commitments with our allies.

The U.K. and Ireland are like-minded on E.U. matters, and the process of working together in Brussels has built an immense store of knowledge, personal relationships, and trust between our governments.

The European Union will never see America, or an American president, as a risk.

If I were President I would veto arms sales to countries we damn well know our going to shoot our ass the minute our backs are turned.

Here is an example: while resolving current issues, our American colleagues made a proposal on the Syrian settlement but then suddenly declared at the UN that they were not going to discuss anything with us. It is necessary to understand what people want in one department versus another department of the United States. Do they have a common position? And this happened many times on very many areas of our cooperation.

Iran has not earned the right to have the benefit of the doubt.

Frankly, we doubt the veracity and seriousness of the United States in regard to achieving results that would be acceptable to both sides in Geneva.

The management of foreign relations appears to be the most susceptible of abuse of all the trusts committed to a Government, because they can be concealed or disclosed, or disclosed in such parts and at such times as will best suit particular views; and because the body of the people are less capable of judging, and are more under the influence of prejudices, on that branch of their affairs, than of any other. Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.

We negotiated the construction of a gas pipeline system along the bottom of the Black Sea to Bulgaria. We signed certain treaties of a technical nature, contracts for laying the gas pipeline. And then Bulgaria created such conditions that the project's implementation became impossible, which was obviously against its own national interests. The former Bulgarian leadership was, in fact, aware of that and acknowledged it. But we trusted them when we were launching that project. We sustained losses amounting to millions, several million dollars. We would not want to get into such situations.