Henry A. Kissinger Quotes - Page 10

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• Create the impression of endless willingness to compromise and you almost invite deadlines. That's the challenge we now have in North Korea and have had in North Korea for 10 years. In this sense, diplomacy and foreign policy and other elements of political activity have to be closely linked and have to be understood by the negotiators

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Business, Korea, Years

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• Well, I don't know whether it caused anguish in China, but it was not a wise way to proceed. But one has to remember that it was the first experience. And in a Republican administration, there is a conservative wing that looks at China as the last embodiment of communism, which therefore tends towards a more bellicose rhetoric anyway than I would. It's not the dominant element, but every once in a while they get a crack at public statement.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Wise, Wings, Cracks

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Taiwan will probably not declare independence. The question isn't independence. The issue is whether Taiwan will declare itself as a sovereign separate state. That will start a huge crisis if that happens.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Issues, Independence, Taiwan

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• In Asia, the nation state still is extremely vital, and of course, then in Africa, a whole new pattern is emerging because the states in Africa reflected the preferences of the colonial powers when they were established.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Patterns, Asia, Preference

  Source: www.nytimes.com

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• Historically when there is a rising power like China, it has usually led to confrontations between the rising power and the existing dominant powers. And when you have a shift of the center of gravity of world affairs from the Atlantic to the Pacific, then you have an additional element.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Rising, Elements, World

  Source: www.nytimes.com

  4 Copy quote

• If Tehran insists on combining the Persian imperial tradition with contemporary Islamic fervor, then a collision with America and, indeed, with its negotiating partners of the Six is unavoidable. Iran simply cannot be permitted to fulfill a dream of imperial rule in a region of such importance to the rest of the world.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Dream, Islamic, Iran

  "The Next Steps With Iran". The Washington Post, p. A15, www.washingtonpost.com. July 31, 2006.

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• We are used to dealing with problems that have a solution and that can be solved in a finite period. But we're at the beginning of a long period of adjustment that does not have a clear-cut terminal point, and in which our wisdom and sophistication and understanding has to be one of the key elements.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Cutting, Keys, Long

  Source: www.nytimes.com

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• Why should we flagellate ourselves for what the Cambodians did to each other?

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Should

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• For my generation the relationship with Europe was the central point of American foreign policy. Even during my time in government there was disagreement, sometimes very strong disagreement. But they were all like arguments within a family. I am not sure if the generation which doesn't have these experiences has the same view of things.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Strong, Europe, Government

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• I see the future of China as growth. I think that historically China has often gone through periods of consolidation, and then periods of sort of weakening central authority. They undoubtedly face tremendous challenges.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Thinking, Challenges, Growth

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• More and more of the Taiwanese economy is connected with the mainland. There are more and more exchanges taking place. There's no reason to doubt that over a period of ten years or so, or maybe more, the conditions of life on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will become more comparable, and the dialogue on the political level therefore easier.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Years, Two Sides, Political

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• Before there was the Soviet Union that could inflame matters. Now you have states not as powerful as the Soviet Union, but states like Iraq, like Iran, and to some extent Syria, having made it possible for some of these groups to operate. So it is a very difficult situation.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Powerful, Iraq, Iran

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• If a Chinese plane landed at Los Angeles Airport having just bought down an American military plane, he wouldn't be permitted to leave the next day. So then we developed a framework which should have been acceptable as a concept to the Chinese, namely to express regret for the loss of life and maintain our position that we had a right to fly these missions.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Regret, Military, Loss

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• I have said there are three principles that should be followed. One, we should maintain the "one China" policy that every American president has articulated, including President Reagan. Secondly, we should make clear that we want a peaceful resolution. And three, Taiwan should not challenge that arrangement in a way that will provoke a conflict. Those are three perfectly clear principles. I haven't used any of the other slogans.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Challenges, Peaceful, President

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• America has made it very clear in several administrations that if there is an attack by China on Taiwan, the United States is very likely to resist.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  America, United States, Taiwan

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Competing pressures tempt one to believe that an issue deferred is a problem avoided; more often it is a crisis invited.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Believe, Issues, Pressure

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• When you travel as secretary, one problem you have is that the press comes with you and wants an immediate result because it justifies their trip. And sometimes the best result is that you don't try to get a result but try to get an understanding for the next time you go to them.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Understanding, Trying, Want

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• The American temptation is to believe that foreign policy is a subdivision of psychiatry.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Believe, Temptation, Foreign Policy

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• Realism in foreign policy is made up of a clear set of values, since difficult foreign policy decisions are often decided with the narrowest of majorities. Without any sense of what is right and wrong, one would drown in a flood of difficult and pragmatic decisions.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Decision, Majority, Realism

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  4 Copy quote

• Nixon had three goals: to win by the biggest electoral landslide in history; to be remembered as a peacemaker; and to be accepted by the 'Establishment' as an equal. He achieved all these objectives at the end of 1972 and the beginning of 1973. And he lost them all two months later-partly because he turned a dream into an obsession.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Dream, Winning, Two

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• We first became conscious of the plane publicly on a Monday. I thought then by the weekend it would be done. But then the Chinese military, the defense minister made a statement saying that if there was no apology from the United States, the Chinese military and the Chinese people would never understand. No reference to the government or the Communist Party, and that obviously presented an internal problem to the Chinese leadership, which was travelling at that moment.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Monday, Military, Party

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• [Nixon] wants a massive bombing campaign in Cambodia. He doesn't want to hear anything about it. It's an order, to be done. Anything that flies on anything that moves.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Moving, Order, Campaigns

  December 09, 1970 Phone call with Gen. Alexander Haig, quoted in National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 123,

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• For the Soul of France is masterful history, brilliantly researched, and hard to put down.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Soul, France, Hard

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• The first reactions are often instinctive. So one of the first things we said was that the Chinese had no right to inspect the plane, and that we had a sovereign right to. I don't know what the legal position is, but it was surely psychologically absolutely the unwise thing to do.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Chinese, Firsts, Sovereign

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• The defining issue is that the government in Taiwan was considered to be the government of all of China, and the authorities in Beijing were not recognized as a government of China. So Taiwan was the residuary for all of China.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Government, Issues, Taiwan

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

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