Stephen Kinzer Quotes

• It is not far-fetched to draw a line from Operation Ajax through the Shah's repressive regime and the Islamic Revolution to the fireballs that engulfed the World Trade Center in New York.

  Stephen Kinzer

  New York, Islamic, Ajax

  "All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror". Book by Stephen Kinzer, www.nytimes.com. 2003.

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• The world has paid a heavy price for the lack of democracy in most of the Middle East. Operation Ajax [CIA code for the August 1953 coup] taught tyrants and aspiring tyrants there that the world's most powerful governments were willing to tolerate limitless oppression as long as oppressive regimes were friendly to the West and to Western oil companies. That helped tilt the political balance in a vast region away from freedom and toward dictatorship.

  Stephen Kinzer

  Powerful, Tyrants, Oil

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• Throughout the twentieth century and into the beginning of the twenty-first, the United States repeatedly used its military power, and that of its clandestine services, to overthrow governments that refused to protect American interests. Each time, it cloaked its intervention in the rhetoric of national security and liberation. In most cases, however, it acted mainly for economic reasons-specifically to establish, promote and defend the right of Americans to do business around the world without interference.

  Stephen Kinzer

  Military, Government, World

  Stephen Kinzer (2007). “Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq”, p.3, Macmillan

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• Alliances and partnerships produce stability when they reflect realities and interests.

  Stephen Kinzer

  Reality, Alliances, Partnership

  "America and the rise of middle powers" by Stephen Kinzer, www.theguardian.com. January 11, 2011.

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• New media and mobile entertainment are revolutionizing the way people learn about the world.

  Stephen Kinzer

  Media, People, Way

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• American press, like the press in many countries, acts like a cheerleader to our government rather than a critical observer. This is especially true, when it comes to foreign interventions. That means that when government leaders conclude that intervention in a foreign country is justified, the press rarely criticizes it. In fact, the press has been an enthusiastic cheerleader for many of our foreign interventions.

  Stephen Kinzer

  Country, Mean, Government

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• I don't have any problem with the United States acting on behalf of its own interests. That's what big powers do; that's what all countries do. I would just like to see us analyze in a serious way what really is in our interest. Sometimes we intervene in foreign countries in ways that seem successful at first. In the end, however, we wind up with unpredicted consequences that make us regret those operations.

  Stephen Kinzer

  Country, Regret, Successful

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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