Quote

We can't make China a friend, but we can behave to make them an enemy.

Brent Scowcroft

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Brent Scowcroft
Age: 95 †
Born: 1925
Born: March 19
Died: 2020
Died: August 6
Former National Security Advisor
Geopolitician
Military Officer
Politician
Ogden
Utah
Friend
Enemy
Make
Behave
China

More quotes by Brent Scowcroft

Image
Osama bin Laden is going after us to get us out of the region, so he can deal with the regimes that he sees in the region, or replace them with purists.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
But figuring out Saddam Hussein was one our greatest mysteries. He marched to his own drummer and frequently as this unfolded he made decisions which were sometimes inexplicable to us and sometimes didn't look very smart.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
If Iraq were to descend into chaos, the Europeans would feel the effects just as much as we would.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
The Russians are not going to do what we want them to do because we want them to do it.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
America is stronger than any state probably since the Roman Empire. But we can't do what used to be done with that kind of strength.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
Everybody is within reach of a television set. And so they're all politicized, and they're all stimulated, and then they have these desires, pleasures, hates, resentments, and so on, and they're reacting instantaneously.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
Many Sunnis, who are still stuck in the Saddam era mindset and believe Iraq belongs to them, are trying to prevent a new country from developing at all.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous. They want to achieve a return to the Islamic purity of the Middle Ages.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
Perhaps the most troubling area in the world goes from the Balkans through the Middle East and in Central Asia.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
Europeans are familiar with terrorism and violence. We have not experienced a true conflict on our soil in a hundred years, and especially not one that involved 3,000 dead.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
To sum up, the position we took was that since we didn't know the internal situation in Iraq nor Saddam Hussein, that our best bet was to take counsel from the people who did know him and who did deal with him.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
Yes, Israel's our ally. But, are the Palestinians our enemy? No, they are not.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
We have never recognized that Iran lives in a dangerous neighborhood. And it's not surprising that they want some protection. We have not been forthcoming about explaining a security relationship for the region, in which Iran can feel secure and thus maybe willing to do something.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
After all, we didn't bring democracy to Germany in 1945 Hitler destroyed democracy there first.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
Who is the guarantor, if there is one, of a more stable world? It's the United States.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
We believe we are creating the beginning of a new world order coming out of the collapse of the US-Soviet antagonisms.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
The Europeans must finally understand the incredible shock triggered by the attacks of September 11.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
But, if you believe we should go around the world overturning regimes to make little United States, I don't agree with that, because I don't think we're capable of doing that.
Brent Scowcroft
Image
The art of diplomacy is to take an opportunity and turn it into something.
Brent Scowcroft