Strategic Posturing Quotes

U.S. analysts estimate that Russian military expenditures have tripled during the Bush-Putin years, in large measure a predicted reaction to the Bush administration's militancy and aggressiveness.

We want, certainly, the threats around the world, those that don't like our way of life, we want them to wonder what options we still have.

Weak countries always exaggerate their power.

Other than being crazy enough to press a button, there is nothing that Putin can do militarily to fundamentally alter American interests.

Negotiating deals among members of Congress is an exercise in wearing masks, scaring up votes, and, oftentimes, bluffing.

The survival of this country depends upon letting the world know we have the power and the ability to use it if the occasion demands.

Democrats always assure us that deterrence will work, but when the time comes to deter, they're against it.

We should get back to the ... doctrine of brinkmanship, where everybody knows we have the power and will use it.

You'd better believe that Putin sees that in Syria, Obama draws a red line and ignores the red line.

Iran is not interested in a war. Iran is capable of defending itself and teaching a very harsh lesson to anybody who commits aggression against Iran, but we're not interested.

Russia doesn’t like it when it is humiliated, when it is pressured.

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

I must confess to the most profound distrust of Russia. I have no belief whatever in her ability to maintain an effective offensive, even if she wanted to.

The superpowers often behave like two heavily armed blind men feeling their way around a room, each believing himself in mortal peril from the other, whom he assumes to have perfect vision.

I think that most people believe that Russia, because of its - it has regained some of its military strength. And they do rattle the saber a bit. It wants to be a player.

Deterrence is the art of producing, in the mind of the enemy, the fear to attack.

There's nothing effective against Trump. Trump is Trump. Trump is going to lie. Trump is going to act the way he's acting. No amount of reason, no amount of criticism, no amount of anything is going to work to change Trump's behavior. Putin is exactly the same way.

I don't think the British or American governments really want to fight the Islamic State. They just want to look as if they are doing so.

The gap is widening between France’s proud diplomatic rhetoric and the nation’s ability to translate words into action.

There is a thin line between politics and theatricals.

Most of those mocking us and our works night after night have not reached the point of suggesting we are going to use those weapons. They are pretty useless right now.

Russia's assertiveness in global affairs is something I look upon with great concern, which we need to address with eyes wide open and a healthy degree of skepticism.

At the structural level, when the primary is all that matters, the incentives change for politicians. And, when you can earn media coverage with bombast and vitriol, that creates another incentive for politicians to light things on fire.

Sometimes Congress likes to milk an issue.

There's the assumption being made by the national security advisers to the Obama administration that the North Korean leadership is not suicidal, that they know they will be obliterated if they attacked the United States. But I would point that everything in South Korea and Japan is well within range of what they might want to do.