“To his lasting credit, President Reagan never wavered. He recognized the strategic importance of staying the course, both in terms of denying Moscow the military hegemony it sought in Western Europe and of restoring the will, cohesiveness, and security of the NATO alliance, so badly frayed during the turbulent 1970s.” CoursesPresidentTermSecurityMilitaryEuropeImportanceWesternCreditStayingLastingStrategicAlliancesNatoMoscowRestoringHegemonyWestern EuropePresident ReaganCohesiveness Author:Frank Gaffney
“The first and most important is to emphasize the enduring nature of the alliance relationship particularly with Europe which does share our values and interests even if it disagrees with us on specific policies.” IfsFirstsDoeImportantValuesInterestSharePolicyEuropeEndureDisagreeAlliances Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski
“In 2003, at the time I made my "Old Europe" comment, the center of gravity in NATO and Europe had long since shifted to the East. With the former Warsaw Pact countries joining NATO, the alliance has a different mix today. Some people were sensitive about my comment because they thought it was a pejorative way of highlighting demographic realities. Apparently they felt it pointed a white light at a weakness in Europe - an aging population. Europe has come some distance since World War II in becoming Europe.” PeopleWorldWayLongMadeDifferentWarCountryRealityLightTodayFeltWhiteBecomingWeaknessEuropeDistanceAgingPopulationEastFormerSensitiveWar Of The WorldsCommentWorld War IiGravityWorld War IAlliancesJoiningNatoDemographicsPactWhite LightHighlightingWarsawCenter Of GravityAging PopulationWarsaw Pact Author:Donald Rumsfeld
“A spectre is haunting Europe-the spectre of Communism. All the Powers of old Europe have entered into holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies. Where is the Party in opposition that has not been decried as Communistic by its opponents in power? Where the Opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?” WellsPartyHolyEuropePoliceRadicalCommunismOpponentsOppositionBrandingPopeSpyHauntingAdversariesAlliancesReproachReactionariesCommunist PartyManifestosCommunist ManifestoSpectreCzarsOpposition PartiesMetternich Book:The Communist Manifesto & Selected Writings: & Selected Writings Source: The Communist Manifesto & Selected Writings: & Selected Writings
“It had the effect of cementing the Anglo-American alliance. What's the good of having bases if when you want to use them you're not allowed to by the home country. It made America realise that Britain was her real and true friend, when they were hard up against it and wanted something, and that no one else in Europe was. They're a weak lot, some of them in Europe you know. Weak. Feeble.” IfsKnowsWantMadeRealCountryHardUseHomeWantedAmericaEffectsEuropeWeakBasesBritainRealisingTrue FriendAlliancesHome Country Author:Margaret Thatcher
“The EU treaties clearly promote an alliance of national states that, as far as possible, maintain their own responsibilities. There is no mention of a centralized state of Europe in the treaties. The EU Commission's politicking, however, is proof of a certain allergy against this principle of national states and national responsibilities.” StatesCertainResponsibilityPrinciplesEuropeProofAlliancesTreatiesAllergies Author:Jaroslaw Kaczynski
“We need additional funding for more U.S. combat brigades in Europe. NATO needs to continue to modernize. It is starting to show with the Russians but these exercises are central to show that the alliance is firm, especially as the E.U. starts to have some weakness on the economic front.” NeedsShowsEconomicFrontsExerciseWeaknessEuropeStartingFirmCombatFundingAlliancesNato Author:Michael Leiter
“The United States has kept the peace through our alliances. Donald Trump wants to tear up our alliances. I think it makes the world safer and, frankly, it makes the United States safer. I would work with our allies in Asia, in Europe, in the Middle East, and elsewhere. That's the only way we're going to be able to keep the peace.” ThinkingWorldWayWantStatesAbleUnitedUnited StatesMiddleTearsTrumpEuropeEastAlliesMiddle EastElsewhereAsiaAlliances Author:Hillary Clinton
“President Bush Sr. and Secretary Baker, way back when, told Gorbachev, "We are not going to advance NATO into Eastern Europe. We're not going to - we're not going to advance NATO into East Germany, if you allow the unification of Germany." Where is that pledge? Where is the logic behind a military alliance, devised in the time of communism, before the Berlin Wall fell, now being in the Ukraine, in Poland, in Estonia, in Latvia and Lithuania? I don't understand.” IfsWayPresidentBehindsMilitaryWallEuropeLogicEastCommunismGermanySecretaryEasternPresident BushAlliancesPledgeUkraineBerlinBack WhenNatoPolandBakersEastern EuropeUnificationBerlin WallGorbachevEast GermanyEstoniaWay Back WhenLithuaniaLatvia Author:Rashid Khalidi
“Our alliance with our NATO partners has been a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for nearly 70 years, in good times and in bad and through presidents of both parties because the United States has a fundamental interest in Europe's stability and security.” YearsHas BeensStatesPresidentInterestUnitedPartyUnited StatesSecurityPolicyEuropeFundamentalsPartnersGood TimesStabilityForeign PolicyAlliancesNatoCornerstones Author:Barack Obama
“In the '30s and '40s, the search for Hungarian national identity led famously to an alliance with Hitler and the destruction of more than a half million of the nation's Jews. And here we are now, more than 70 years later, witnessing a resurgence of xenophobia and authoritarianism, and not just in Eastern Europe.” YearsNationsHalfMillionsIdentityEuropeDestructionJewEasternAlliancesAuthoritarianismXenophobiaEastern EuropeResurgenceHungariansNational Identity Author:Susan Faludi
“Is Europe a home for an alliance of civilizations or is it a Christian club? If the former is true, then Turkey should be part of it.” IfsShouldHomeChristianCivilizationEuropeClubsFormerTurkeysAlliances Author:Recep Tayyip Erdogan
“There seems to be a passive alliance between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump and that's unprecedented in its form and dangerous in its content, because Russia is our most dangerous geopolitical opponent because of the desires that they have in the Middle East and because of their desire to break up Europe. And in the United States, we spent a lot of blood and a lot of treasure trying to keep Europe intact and democratic, and trying to keep the Middle East from being only influenced by people who are massive fans of [Syrian President] Assad and massive fans of the Iranians.” PeopleTryingStatesSeemsFormDesirePresidentUnitedBreakUnited StatesBloodFansMiddleDangerousTrumpEuropeDemocraticEastTreasureRussiaOpponentsMassiveMiddle EastPassivePutinAlliancesUnprecedentedAssadGeopolitical Author:Van Jones
“Moves toward sovereignty in Iraq stimulate pressures first for human rights among the bitterly repressed Shi'ite population but also toward some degree of autonomy. You can imagine a kind of a loose Shi'ite alliance in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, controlling most of the world's oil and independent of the United States. And much worse, although Europe can be intimidated by the United States, China can't. It's one of the reasons, the main reasons, why China is considered a threat. We're back to the Mafia principle.” WorldFirstsHumansKindStatesReasonMovingUnitedPrinciplesUnited StatesRightsImagineDegreesEuropePressureIndependentThreatHuman RightsIraqPopulationChinaOilReason WhyIranSovereigntyAutonomyMafiaAlliancesIntimidatedArabiaSaudi ArabiaSaudisRepressed Author:Noam Chomsky
“The EU is an alliance that the Americans control, in which the EU of course has a great deal of autonomy, but in which it still is very dependent on the United States, especially militarily, but not only in that respect. So to blame the Germans for everything is an easy way out for some of those suffering in Europe today.” WayStillsStatesTodaySufferingCoursesEasyUnitedDealsUnited StatesEuropeBlameDependentAutonomyAlliancesEasy Way Author:Tariq Ali
“In fact, we haven't ever really recalibrated our foreign policy commitments since the end of the Cold War. We still have alliances throughout Asia and across Europe that were devised to tame the Soviet Union, which, last time I checked, ceased to exist more than 20 years ago. Today, of course, we have a commitment to go to nuclear war with Russia in case Russia invades Latvia. To me, that's complete and utter nonsense. There ought to be a reconsideration of our posture in every region of the world.” WorldYearsStillsWarEndsFactsTodayLastsCoursesCasesHavensPolicyColdOughtCommitmentEuropeYears AgoUnionsNuclearRussiaNonsenseRegionsSovietForeign PolicyLast TimeCold WarAsiaSoviet UnionAlliancesPostureNuclear WarReconsiderationLatvia Author:Kevin Gutzman
“For me, Modern Warfare 3 's plot makes its signature turn around the bend when Russia invades Europe. As in, all of it. Simultaneously. Now, I've never invaded Europe, except for that one time, but I would think that's a project you might want to stagger out a bit if you haven't forged an alliance with any galactic empires lately.” IfsThinkingWantMightTurnsBitsModernHavensProjectsEuropeRussiaEmpiresPlotOne TimeWarfareAlliancesSignaturesForgedModern WarfareAround The Bend Author:Yahtzee Croshaw
“I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United States never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe. Their political interests are entirely distinct from ours. Their mutual jealousies, their balance of power, their complicated alliances, their forms and principles of government, are all foreign to us. They are nations of eternal war.” WarStatesGovernmentFormPoliticalNationsInterestUnitedLibertyPrinciplesUnited StatesBalanceEternalEuropeFundamentalsComplicatedActiveLibertarianMutualLibertarianismQuarrelsAlliancesBalance Of Power Book:Memoirs, 4: Correspondence and Private Papers Source: Memoirs, 4: Correspondence and Private Papers