Central Asia Quotes

• The momentum of Asia's economic development is already generating massive pressures for the exploration and exploitation of new sources of energy and the Central Asian region and the Caspian Sea basin are known to contain reserves of natural gas and oil that dwarf those of Kuwait, the Gulf of Mexico, or the North Sea.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Dwarves, Sea, Kuwait

  Zbigniew Brzezinski (2007). “The Grand Chessboard”, p.120, Basic Books

  56 Copy quote

  Show source

• Perhaps the most troubling area in the world goes from the Balkans through the Middle East and in Central Asia.

  Brent Scowcroft

  Middle East, World, Asia

  Source: www.nytimes.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• With every throb of the climatic pulse which we have felt in Central Asia,, the centre of civilisation has moved this way and that. Each throb has sent pain and decay to the lands whose day was done, life and vigour to those whose day was yet to be.

  Ellsworth Huntington

  Life, Pain, Science

  Ellsworth Huntington (1907). “The Pulse of Asia: A Journey in Central Asia Illustrating the Geographical Basis of History”

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• If Russia shuts off central Asia and the Caspian Sea from Europe, the European allies of the United States will be totally dependent on Russian gas and energy.

  Mikhail Saakashvili

  Russia, Europe, Sea

  52 Copy quote

• We're interested in it because it would provide a land bridge up to Uzbekistan, which provides us, among other things, a humanitarian pathway for us to move supplies out of Central Asia and down into Afghanistan.

  Tommy Franks

  Moving, Land, Bridges

  "Why Mazar-e Sharif matters" by Ben Wedeman, David Grange, www.cnn.com. November 10, 2001.

  55 Copy quote

  Show source

• I would love to go and see the Himalayan Mountain Kingdoms. There are very few left now. I would loved to have gone to Tibet and Nepal. And there are still parts of central Asia that are utterly unexplored.

  David Attenborough

  Mountain, Gone, Kingdoms

  "Sir David Attenborough interview: The one question about life that still baffles him". Interview with Jenn Selby, www.independent.co.uk. January 28, 2015.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• Since the Bush-Cheney Administration took office in January 2001, controlling the major oil and natural gas fields of the world had been the primary, though undeclared, priority of US foreign policy... Not only the invasion of Iraq, but also the toppling of the Taliban in Afghanistan, had nothing to do with 'democracy,' and everything to do with pipeline control across Central Asia and the militarization of the Middle East.

  F. William Engdahl

  Oil, Iraq, Office

  6 Copy quote

• You have a lot of suspicion from the neighbors of Afghanistan about U.S. intentions. Iran is already, to some extent, trying to undermine the U.S. in Afghanistan. Russia is now becoming increasingly nervous about a more permanent U.S. presence in Central Asia. And China is not keen that the U.S. should be so close to its borders over a long period of time. Certainly, if the U.S. is going to be there for a long time, it's going to exacerbate regional tensions.

  Ahmed Rashid

  Russia, Iran, Long

  Source: progressive.org

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Since Russia has the largest number of illegal immigrants, second only to the US, and immigrants from Central Asia bring in drugs, I'm calling for a visa requirement for all those wonderful people from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

  Alexei Navalny

  Russia, Uzbekistan, Numbers

  Source: www.spiegel.de

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• This document will play an important role in protecting the strategic interests of Russia and Uzbekistan and ensuring stability and security in the region, which some politicians call Russia's soft underbelly. It's not a secret that after the Soviet collapse and especially in recent years, Central Asia has become the focus of interest of major nations because of its geographic location and rich mineral resources.

  Islom Karimov

  Russia, Years, Play

  6 Copy quote

• You've got problems in Central Asia. And you've got problems within our own communities back home. So if we end up saying, look, this has nothing to do with Islam or it's got no connection with that broader question, then we look, frankly, as if we're in denial about the problem. And the interesting thing in the Middle East is that they have absolutely no problem there in identifying that as Islamist extremism and calling it that.

  Tony Blair

  Home, Interesting, Community

  "Tony Blair Works To Define The Problem Of Islamist Extremism". Interview with Steve Inskeep, www.npr.org. February 25, 2016.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Everybody's suffering is mine but not everybody's murdering ... I do not distinguish for one moment whether my child is in danger or a child in central Asia. But I will not accept responsibility for what other people do because I happen to belong to that nation or that race or that religion. I do not believe in guilt by association.

  Margaret Mead

  Children, Believe, Responsibility

  31 Copy quote

• I have information about things that our government has lied to us about. I know. For example, to say that since the fall of the Soviet Union we ceased all of our intimate relationship with Bin Laden and the Taliban - those things can be proven as lies, very easily, based on the information they classified in my case, because we did carry very intimate relationship with these people, and it involves Central Asia, all the way up to September 11.

  Sibel Edmonds

  Lying, Fall, Government

  4 Copy quote

• Although I am a young leader, I actually came to it strangely quite late. I have a different perspective, partly because of my family, partly because of what I did for ten years: negotiating trade deals, working out in Central Asia doing assistance projects.

  Nick Clegg

  Years, Work Out, Perspective

  The Economist interview, www.economist.com. March 11, 2010.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• The United States is the most powerful nation on Earth and it just can't walk away from the Middle East and central Asia and the Horn of Africa.

  John Abizaid

  Powerful, Middle East, United States

  5 Copy quote