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Isolationism Quotes

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Isolationism Quotes

“That war [Bosnian war] in the early 1990s changed a lot for me. I never thought I would see, in Europe, a full-dress reprise of internment camps, the mass murder of civilians, the reinstiutution of torture and rape as acts of policy. And I didn't expect so many of my comrades to be indifferent - or even take the side of the fascists. It was a time when many people on the left were saying 'Don't intervene, we'll only make things worse' or, 'Don't intervene, it might destabilise the region. And I thought - destabilisation of fascist regimes is a good thing. Why should the left care about the stability of undemocratic regimes? Wasn't it a good thing to destabilise the regime of General Franco? It was a time when the left was mostly taking the conservative, status quo position - leave the Balkans alone, leave Milosevic alone, do nothing. And that kind of conservatism can easily mutate into actual support for the aggressors. Weimar-style conservatism can easily mutate into National Socialism. So you had people like Noam Chomsky's co-author Ed Herman go from saying 'Do nothing in the Balkans', to actually supporting Milosevic, the most reactionary force in the region. That's when I began to first find myself on the same side as the neocons. I was signing petitions in favour of action in Bosnia, and I would look down the list of names and I kept finding, there's Richard Perle. There's Paul Wolfowitz. That seemed interesting to me. These people were saying that we had to act. Before, I had avoided them like the plague, especially because of what they said about General Sharon and about Nicaragua. But nobody could say they were interested in oil in the Balkans, or in strategic needs, and the people who tried to say that - like Chomsky - looked ridiculous. So now I was interested.”

WarGenocideAnti WarEthnic CleansingPacifismLeftismHumanitarian InterventionIsolationismBosnian WarInterventionismBosnia And HerzegovinaNeoconservatismNoninterventionismNeocons
Author:Christopher Hitchens
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“The persistence of superannuated institutions in striving to perpetuate themselves is like the obstinacy of a rancid odour clinging to the hair; the pretension of spoiled fish that insists on being eaten, the tenacious folly of a child's garment trying to clothe a man, or the tenderness of a corpse returning to embrace the living. "Ingrates!" exclaims the garment. "I shielded you in weakness. Why do you reject me now?" "I come from the depths of the sea," says the fish; "I was once a rose," cries the odour; "I loved you," murmurs the corpse; "I civilized you," says the convent. To this there is but one reply; "In the past." To dream of the indefinite prolongation of things dead and the government of mankind by embalming; to restore dilapidated dogmas, regild the shrines, replaster the cloisters, reconsecrate the reliquaries, revamp old superstitions, replenish fading fanaticism, put new handles in worn-out sprinkling brushes, reconstitute monasticism; to believe in the salvation of society by the multiplication of parasites; to foist the past upon the present, all this seems strange. There are, however, advocates for such theories as these. These theorists, men of mind too, in other things, have a very simple process; they apply to the past a coating of what they term divine right, respect for our forefathers, time-honored authority, sacred tradition, legitimacy; and they go about, shouting, "Here! take this, good people!" This logic was familiar to the ancients; their soothsayers practised it. Rubbing over a black heifer with chalk, they would exclaim, "She is white" Bos cretatus. As for ourselves, we distribute our respect, here and there, and spare the past entirely, provided it will but consent to be dead. But, if it insists upon being alive, we attack it and endeavor to kill it. Superstitions, bigotries, hypocrisies, prejudices, these phantoms, phantoms though they are, are tenacious of life; they have teeth and nails in their shadowy substance, and we must grapple with them, body to body, and make war upon them and that, too, without cessation; for it is one of the fatalities of humanity to be condemned to eternal struggle with phantoms. A shadow is hard to seize by the throat and dash upon the ground.”

PhilosophyReligionSocietyExtremismAntiquityDeconstructionIsolationismReligious Fanaticism
Book:Les Misérables
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“The multilateral institutions on which the middle powers have relied – the WTO, the UN, the COP – the architecture, the very architecture of collective problem solving are under threat. And as a result, many countries are drawing the same conclusions that they must develop greater strategic autonomy, in energy, food, critical minerals, in finance and supply chains. And this impulse is understandable. A country that can't feed itself, fuel itself or defend itself, has few options. When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself. But let's be clear eyed about where this leads. A world of fortresses will be poorer, more fragile and less sustainable.”

CopInternational RelationsWorld GovernmentIsolationismCollectivityUnWto
Author:Mark Carney
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“Isolationism is an instinctive and even understandable reaction to the ugliness of the modern interconnected world. For some politicians in democracies, it will continue to offer a successful path to power. The campaign for Brexit succeeded by using the metaphor "take back control," and no wonder: everyone wants more control in a world where events on the other side of the planet can affect jobs and prices in our local towns and villages. But did the removal of Britain from the European Union give the British more power to shape the world? Did it prevent foreign money from shaping U.K. politics? Did it stop refugees from moving from the war zones of the Middle East to Britain? It did not.”

BrexitGlobalismIsolationism
Book:Autocracy, Inc.
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“One of the most significant educational features of a People’s Organization is the fact that its all-inclusive and functional program shatters the shell of isolationism surrounding not only the community but the individuals that make up the community. In the first stages of the building of a community organization local provincial pride is placed upon a pedestal. As time goes on, the purpose, character and drive of the People’s Organization takes a direction which is the very antithesis of community chauvinism. The People’s Organization begins to learn, through its own practices, of the functional relationship between the community, the city, the state, the nation, and the world as a whole.”

RelationshipsCommunityEducationBig PictureInclusivityIsolationism
Book:Reveille for Radicals
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“In 2015, when I went back to the States or to an international conference, I found that people didn’t much care anymore. They saw the Middle East awash in blood, beyond redemption, and didn’t want to read about it or see it on the evening news. They just wanted to keep away from it.”

JournalismIsolationismWar CorrespondentAmerican AttitudeMiddle East Conflicts
Book:And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
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“The architects of the Trump administration's foreign policy use two labels to describe the structure they have built: “Principled Realism” and “Putting America First.” Principled Realism is merely a slogan; America First is a slogan with a past. Founded in 1940, the America First Committee (AFC) brought together pacifists, isolationists, and Nazi sympathizers to fight against the country’s prospective entry into World War II. The AFC opposed creation of the Selective Service and also a Roosevelt initiative, known as Lend-Lease, to keep the British in food and arms as they struggled to survive the German onslaught. Within twelve months of its founding, the committee had built a membership of more than 800,000 and attracted support from across the political spectrum—corporate tycoons and Socialists alike. Contributing mightily to its popularity was the famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, who worried that Jewish influence was pushing the country into a conflict it did not, in his view, have reason to fight. Four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler declared war on the United States. The AFC soon disbanded and, in the intervening decades, its name has carried the stigma of naïveté and moral blindness. Now “America First” is back—but what does it mean?”

World War IiDonald TrumpIsolationismAmerica FirstAmerica First CommitteeCharles Lindbergh
Book:Fascism: A Warning
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“Hybrid warfare particularly appeals to China and Russia, since they are much more able to control the information their populaces receive than are their Western adversaries. A 1999 book, Unrestricted Warfare, written by two People’s Liberation Army colonels suggests that militarily, technologically and economically weaker states can use unorthodox forms of warfare to defeat a materially superior enemy – and clearly they had the United States and NATO in mind. Rather than focusing on direct military confrontation, the weaker state might succeed against the dominant opponent by shifting the arena of conflict into economic, terrorist and even legal avenues as leverage to be used to undercut more traditional means of warfare. The subtitle of their book, Two Air Force Senior Colonels on Scenarios for War and the Operational Art in an Era of Globalization, notes a core truth of the early twenty-first century: an increasingly globalized world deepens reliance upon, and the interdependence of, nations, which in turn can be used as leverage to exploit, undermine and sabotage a dominant power. The two colonels might not be happy with the lesson their book teaches Westerners, which is that no superpower can afford to be isolationist. One way to keep America great, therefore, is to stay firmly plugged into – and leading – the international system, as it has generally done impressively in leading the Western world’s response to the invasion of Ukraine. The siren voices of American isolationism inevitably lead to a weaker United States.”

ChinaRussiaUnited States Of AmericaGlobalizationNatoIsolationismRusso Ukrainian WarGreat Power ConflictHybrid WarfareVery Subtle
Book:Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine
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“The temptation of what is sometimes called realism—the belief that nations are solely motivated by a struggle for power, that they have eternal interests and permanent geopolitical orientations—is as strong as that of isolationism, and can be equally misleading, not least because it appeals to the indifferent. If nations never change, then of course we don’t need to exert the effort to make them change. If nations have permanent orientations, then all we need to do is discover what those are and get used to them. If nothing else, the Ukraine war showed us that nations are not pieces in a game of Risk. Their behavior can be altered by acts of cowardice or bravery, by wise leaders and cruel ones, and above all by good ideas and bad ones. Their interactions are not inevitable; their alliances and enmities are not permanent. There was no coalition to aid Ukraine until February 2022, and then there was. That coalition then made what had appeared to be the inevitable, rapid conquest of Ukraine impossible. By the same token, a different kind of Russian leader, with a different set of ideas, could now end the war quickly.”

RealismInternational RelationsIsolationismRusso Ukrainian War
Book:Autocracy, Inc.
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“there some coloureds, negroes, blacks, cd make a living big enough to leave there to come here: but no one went there much any more for all sorts of reasons. the big reason being immigration restrictions & unemployment. nowadays, immigration restrictions of every kind apply to any non-european persons who want to go there from here. just like unemployment applies to most non-european persons without titles of nobility or north american university training. some who want to go there from here risk fetching trouble with the customs authority there. or later with the police, who, can tell who's not from there cuz the shoes are pointed & laced strange/the pants be for august & yet it's january/the accent is patterned for port-au-prince, but working in crown heights. what makes a person comfortably ordinary here cd make him dangerously conspicuous there. so some go to london or amsterdam or paris, where they are so many no one tries to tell who is from where. still the far right wing of every there prints lil pamphlets that say everyone from here shd leave there & go back where they came from.”

HateRacismPoliceImmigrantsUnemploymentAfrican AmericansBlacksIsolationism
Author:Ntozake Shange
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“Jeffersonian isolationism expressed an essentially cosmopolitan spirit. The Jeffersonian was determined - even at the expense of separating himself from the rest of the globe, and even though he be charged with provincial selfishness - to preserve America as an uncontaminated laboratory.”

AmericaSpiritDeterminedSelfishnessPreservesExpensesGlobesLaboratorySeparatingIsolationism
Book:The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson
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“A point has been reached where the peoples of the Americas must take cognizance of growing ill-will, of marked trends toward aggression, of increasing armaments, of shortening tempers--a situation which has in it many of the elements that lead to the tragedy of general war.... Peace is threatened by those who seek selfish power.”

Has BeensWarSituationGrowingElementsTragedyIllSelfishTrendsTemperAggressionThreatenedPeace WarArmamentIll WillIsolationism
Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1936, Volume 5
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“In the time just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when Perfidia opens, we were pre-psychologized. There were no concepts of identity, no politics of victimization. Reparation wasn't in the language. Nobody thought about giving the great grandchildren of black slaves so much as $1.98. And all of a sudden the bombs hit, interventionism versus isolationism became a dead issue, and it was us-versus-them in a heartbeat.”

GivingLanguageBlackIssuesIdentityConceptsSlaveBombsPearlsGrandchildrenVersusHeartbeatHarborsBombingReparationsVictimizationGreat GrandchildrenIsolationismInterventionism
Author:James Ellroy
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“This flirtation with isolationism in the Republican party is over. It's giving way to a more muscular foreign policy than I've been advocating. But I'm also advocating building up others. Build a small schoolhouse in Afghanistan to help a poor young girl have a say about her children will destroy the ideology more than a bomb.”

WayGivingChildrenHelpingYoungGirlPoorPartyPolicyBuildingRepublicanIdeologyBombsOver ItAfghanistanForeign PolicyRepublican PartyAdvocatingBuilding UpFlirtationIsolationismGiving Way
Author:Rand Paul
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“Contrasting British servicemen and women with the appeasers, it is hard not to laugh. Are these two sides even the same species, let alone the same nationality? On one hand the selflessness and internationalism of the soldiers; on the other the Whites-First isolationism of the protesters. Excuse me, who are the idealists here?”

FirstsTwoHardHandsSidesLaughingMen And WomenSpeciesSoldierExcuseBritishSelflessnessNationalityTwo SidesIdealistExcuse MeInternationalismIsolationismServicemen
Author:Julie Burchill
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“From a philosophical perspective, I want to fight off isolationism and protectionism, be it part of another voice out there that says, wait a minute, what matters to women in Afghanistan matters to America. An isolationist point of view says it doesn't matter. The articulation of "all life matters" helps frame the case that it does matter what happens to a woman in Afghanistan.”

WantDoeMatterHelpingHappensAmericaFightingWaitingVoiceViewsCasesMinutesPerspectivePhilosophicalPoint Of ViewAfghanistanWhat MattersArticulationProtectionismIsolationism
Author:George W. Bush
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“The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.”

LittlesPoliticalNationsLibertyConnectionsRelationRegardLibertarianPolitical PartiesAlliancesFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyProperty RightsExtendingPolitical FreedomGreat LibertarianFarewell AddressIsolationismAnti Political
Book:Washington's political legacies: To which is annexed an appendix, containing an account of his illness, death, and the national tributes of respect paid to his memory, with a biographical outline of his life and character
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“America... goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.”

WellsAmericaPeaceLibertyIndependenceLibertarianMonstersImperialismAlliancesFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyIsolationismAmerican ImperialismEnlistingSea Of Monsters
Book:The origin and principles of the American Revolution compared with the origin and principles of the French Revolution: a facsimile reproduction
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“Perfectionism, no less than isolationism or imperialism or power politics, may obstruct the paths to international peace. Let us not forget that the retreat to isolationism a quarter of a century ago was started not by a direct attack against international cooperation but against the alleged imperfections of the peace.”

MayPeaceForgetPathCenturyDirectInternationalImperfectionCooperationQuartersRetreatImperialismPerfectionismInternational PeaceIsolationismPower PoliticsQuarter Of A CenturyInternational Cooperation
Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1944-1945, Volume 13
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“We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars: It is better to be here [in Europe] ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.”

WorldTwoWarGovernmentAmericaLostSeaReadyLessonsProtectEuropeBlindResponseBitterPresidentialWar Of The WorldsAcceptableWorld War IShelterRushingTwo WorldsIsolationism
Author:Ronald Reagan
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“The American people are not naifs who yearn for isolationism, but they are starting to ask some hard questions about the way we have been doing business for 50 years, and it may well be time to grant the French, Canadians, Germans, Turks, South Koreans, and a host of others their wishes for independence from us: polite friendship - but no alliances, no bases, no money, no trade concessions, and no more begging for the privilege of protecting them.”

PeopleWayYearsWellsMayHas BeensHardAsksWishBasesIndependenceTradeSouthStartingPrivilegeGrantsHostPoliteAlliancesBeggingNo MoneyKoreanConcessionsIsolationismHard Questions
Author:Victor Davis Hanson
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“We are thus in the position of having to borrow from Europe to defend Europe, of having to borrow from China and Japan to defend Chinese and Japanese access to Gulf oil, and of having to borrow from Arab emirs, sultans and monarchs to make Iraq safe for democracy. We borrow from the nations we defend so that we may continue to defend them. To question this is an unpardonable heresy called 'isolationism.'”

MayAmericaNationsDemocracyPositionSafeEuropeIraqChinaOilAccessChineseJapanHeresyMonarchsIsolationismChina And Japan
Author:Pat Buchanan
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