“Famines occur under a colonial administration, like the British Raj in India or for that matter in Ireland, or under military dictators in one country after another, like Somalia and Ethiopia, or in one-party states like the Soviet Union and China.” CountryMatterStatesPartyMilitaryIndiaUnionsChinaBritishAdministrationSovietIrelandDictatorSoviet UnionFamineEthiopiaSomalia Author:Amartya Sen
“['Dad's Army' show]was a military thing but also very funny, so it's kind of the two things that I experienced by being a soldier, and I found it very humorous then and there, because of the juxtapositions [and] me and my emotional state.” KindTwoStatesShowsFoundMilitaryEmotionalDadHumorousArmySoldierTwo ThingsJuxtaposition Author:Rhys Darby
“It's quite clear that Gore won most of the votes. I think the accurate description for them is a military plutocracy. Having lived and worked in the United States, I must add that I don't want to make too much of the distinction between the Bush regime and its predecessors. I don't see a great deal of difference.” ThinkingWantStatesDifferencesUnitedDealsUnited StatesClearToo MuchMilitaryVoteAddDistinctionDescriptionRegimesAccurateGorePredecessorsPlutocracy Author:John Pilger
“We do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out ISIS infrastructure, take out their leadership.” TryingStatesHelpingForceUnitedUnited StatesSpecialMilitaryInfrastructureIsisTrainersPersonnelSpecial ForcesMilitary Personnel Author:Hillary Clinton
“I don't believe in the theory that the United States is reducing its presence in the Middle East. Quite the contrary, in the Gulf, we see an increase in American military presence, as well as an increase in American investments. The argument is more accurate when one says America is focusing more attention to the Far East. But I don't believe it comes at the expense of the Middle East.” BelieveWellsStatesAmericaUnitedAttentionUnited StatesMiddleMilitaryTheoryArgumentIncreaseInvestmentDon't BelieveEastContraryExpensesMiddle EastAccurateReducingAmerican MilitaryMilitary Presence Author:Adel al-Jubeir
“In terms of my own plans, I anticipate supporting one of the three, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio or John Kasich as our nominee. If they don't become the nominee, then I'm probably going to go to the voting booth and find someone else who's running as a conservative or perhaps just write in the name of someone I believe should become the president of the United States, who I could be proud of and who I believe is interested in balancing the budget, keeping America safe with a strong military, and is not willing to disparage fellow Americans, Mexican-Americans, Muslims, and so forth.” IfsShouldWritingBelieveStatesRunningAmericaThreeNamesStrongI BelievePresidentTermMy OwnUnitedUnited StatesPlansMilitaryWillingProudSafeFellowsConservativeBudgetsVotingBe ProudMexicanAnticipateCruzMarcosMexican American Author:Mitt Romney
“The United States found dozens of billions of dollars for military action in Iraq, so it should certainly be able to find a few billions of dollars to get rid of weapons of mass destruction. I'll assume that since the most powerful nation - the United States - has promised to pay for much of this, then its word will be kept. If it isn't, I don't think we can have a true partnership.” IfsThinkingShouldStatesAbleActionFoundNationsUnitedPowerfulPayUnited StatesMilitaryWeaponsMassDestructionDollarsAssumingIraqBillionsMost PowerfulDozenPartnershipWeapons Of Mass DestructionMass DestructionMilitary Action Author:Mikhail Gorbachev
“One of the reasons why this country undertook military action in Iraq was that there are quite a few problems here, and perhaps attention needed to be deflected from those problems. It sometimes seems that the U.S. economy works successfully only if it gets a stimulus from the defense industry. So perhaps in addition to showing the power and the might of the United States internationally, another reason was to help the defense industry and to help the U.S. economy recover.” IfsCountrySometimesStatesReasonHelpingProblemSeemsMightActionUnitedAttentionUnited StatesEconomyMilitaryIndustryNeededIraqDefenseReason WhyStimulusMilitary Action Author:Mikhail Gorbachev
“Hillary Clinton really transformed herself into a national security expert. She decided to join the Senate Armed Services Committee, and she became a real military wonk. She was famous for going to every subcommittee hearing and methodically questioning every lieutenant colonel from the Pentagon about defense procurement or selective service benefits. So that's where she really began to carve out and hone this reputation as a hawk that I think has followed her through the secretary of state years and then into the presidential campaign.” ThinkingYearsRealStatesSecurityMilitaryBenefitsDecidedClintonHearingDefenseCampaignsReputationPresidentialExpertsSenateTransformedQuestioningSecretaryCommitteesNational SecuritySelectiveHawksPentagonColonelsPresidential CampaignLieutenantsProcurementArmed Services Author:Michael Tomasky
“We can't discount how scary and shaken not just the Turkish government is, but Turkish society is. Imagine if you had some rump group of military officials here in the United States who started flying off with F-16s or other artillery and were taking shots at government buildings, and people were killed and injured. People would be scared and rightfully so.” PeopleIfsStatesGovernmentWould BeUnitedUnited StatesImagineGroupsMilitaryBuildingShotsScaredScaryFlyingOfficialsInjuredTurkishDiscountsArtillery Author:Barack Obama
“I think that we're always gonna be in a position as Republicans and as conservatives where we gotta be willing to stand up for our conservative values. And certainly, you know, at the top of that list is a strong national defense, the importance of a United States military that is superior to all others in the world.” ThinkingKnowsWorldStatesValuesStrongUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryPositionWillingRepublicanImportanceConservativeDefenseListsSuperiorsNational DefenseConservative ValuesUnited States Military Author:Liz Cheney
“Did you follow what [General Yehoshafat] Harkabi wrote? Formerly of the Israeli military intelligence service. Remember him? Did you follow what he wrote? He said that it was for the sake of the existence of Israel that we have to accept the rights of the Palestinians to have their independent state.” SaidStatesRememberExistenceAcceptingRightsMilitaryIndependentSakeIsraelPalestinianIsraeliMilitary IntelligenceIntelligence Services Author:Yasser Arafat
“The US presidency will continue to represent the major power groups of the United States - big business and the military - regardless of who the talking head is.” StatesBigsUnitedTalkingUnited StatesGroupsMilitaryMajorsPresidencyBig BusinessTalking Heads Author:Julian Assange
“I am so proud to be running with another strong history-making woman, Hillary Clinton, to be president of the United States. I'm proud because her vision of stronger together, building an economy that works for all, not just those at the top, being safe in the world, not only with a strong military, but also strong alliances to battle terrorism and climate change, and also to build a community of respect, just like Barbara Johns tried to do 65 years ago. That's why I'm so proud to be her running mate.” WorldYearsStatesRunningTogetherStrongPresidentCommunityUnitedVisionUnited StatesEconomyMilitaryBuildingProudBattleSafeYears AgoStrongerClintonClimateClimate ChangeTerrorismMatesAlliancesBarbaraStronger TogetherHistory Making Author:Tim Kaine
“The United States of America should be prepared to use military force to strike military targets of the Assad regime.” ShouldStatesUseAmericaForceUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryPreparedStrikesTargetRegimesUnited States Of AmericaBe PreparedAssadMilitary Force Author:Mike Pence
“In the United States, rising esteem for the military in uniform corresponds to the growing militarization of the society as a whole. All of this despite repeated revelations of the illegality and immorality of the military's own incarceration systems, from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib, whose systematic practices border on if not actually constitute torture.” IfsStatesWholeUnitedPracticeUnited StatesGrowingMilitaryEsteemDespiteBordersTortureRisingRevelationsUniformsSystematicImmoralityIncarcerationGuantanamoAbu Ghraib Author:Michael Hardt
“Our military has been so badly depleted. Who would think the United States is raiding plane graveyards to pick up parts and equipment? That means they're being held together by a shoestring. Other countries have brand-new stuff they have bought from us. It's insane.” ThinkingMeanHas BeensCountryStatesTogetherStuffUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryPicksInsaneBrandsPlanesOther CountriesEquipmentGraveyardBrand NewNew StuffRaiding Author:Donald Trump
“The United States is alone among all the countries in that it does not permit US military forces to be under any threat. Other countries are willing to have forces in peace-keeping operations where they sometimes are under threat, but the US is not willing to do that.” DoeCountrySometimesStatesForceUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryWillingThreatOperationsPermitOther CountriesMilitary ForceUs Military Author:Noam Chomsky
“What we need to do is ensure that we don't create an environment that puts us on a track conceivably where the United States military finds itself in a civil military crisis with a commander in chief who would have us do illegal things.” NeedsStatesUnitedUnited StatesEnvironmentMilitaryCrisisTrackChiefsIllegalCommandersCommander In ChiefUnited States MilitaryIllegal Things Author:John R. Allen
“On January 20, 2017, Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, and he will be given the nuclear codes and the power to launch the U.S. nuclear arsenal, which is comprised of some 7,000 nuclear weapons. A military officer will always be close to Trump, carrying the nuclear codes in a briefcase known as the "football."” StatesGivenPresidentUnitedKnownUnited StatesMilitaryFootballTrumpWeaponsNuclearCodeOfficersNuclear WeaponsJanuaryArsenalBriefcases Author:David Krieger
“There had been a free and open election in Haiti in the early 1990s and president Jean-Bertrand Aristide won, a populist priest. A few months later came the expected military coup - a very vicious military junta took over, of which the United States was passively supportive. Not openly, of course, but Haitians started to flee from the terror and were sent back and on towards Guantanamo Bay. Of course, that is against International Law. But the United States pretended that they were "economic refugees."” StatesLawCoursesPresidentUnitedUnited StatesEconomicMilitaryMonthsElectionInternationalTerrorExpectedPriestsRefugeeSupportiveViciousHaitiInternational LawPopulistCoupsGuantanamoGuantanamo Bay Author:Noam Chomsky
“The budget for nuclear forces in the United States is on the order of $25 billion or so. That includes warheads, delivery systems, command and control; does not include environmental clean-up, which is another maybe $10 billion or so. So that's about 5% of the U.S. military budget.” DoeStatesOrderForceUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryCleanEnvironmentalNuclearBillionsCommandBudgetsDeliveryMilitary BudgetCommand And Control Author:John Burroughs
“We should therefore be opposed to institutional barriers to that freedom: Military dictatorships, for example. Or states run by a Central Committee.” ShouldStatesRunningMilitaryExampleBarriersDictatorshipCommittees Author:Noam Chomsky
“The fact is that you literally, by definition, cannot have a Jewish state and a democratic state and have a whole bunch of Palestinians in it who are living under military rule while the rest of the country is living under civil rule, and they have different rights and different - it's just not a democracy.” DifferentCountryStatesWholeFactsDemocracyRightsMilitaryDemocraticDefinitionsBunchPalestinian Author:John F. Kerry
“One of the great things about the United States is that when it comes to world affairs, the president obviously is the leader of the Executive Branch, the Commander-in-Chief, the spokesperson for the nation, but the influence and the work that we have is the result not just of the president, it is the result of countless interactions and arrangements and relationships between our military and other militaries, and our diplomats and other diplomats, the intelligence officers and development workers.” WorldStatesNationsPresidentUnitedResultsLeaderUnited StatesInfluenceMilitaryDevelopmentWorkersAffairGreat ThingsChiefsBranchesExecutivesOfficersInteractionArrangementsCommandersDiplomatsCommander In ChiefExecutive BranchWorld AffairsIntelligence Officers Author:Barack Obama
“The sole relief I am asking for is to be released from military prison after serving six years of confinement as a person who did not intend to harm the interests of the United States or harm any service members.” YearsPersonsStatesInterestUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryMembersSixAskingPrisonHarmReliefServingSoleConfinement Author:Chelsea Manning
“In the meantime, what is lost is any sense that the Palestinian resistance to Israeli colonial rule is waged from a situation of occupation or expulsion, that there is a military order that controls the boundaries of what would be a sovereign Palestinian state, that the land on which that state is now thinkable has been radically diminished by an ongoing practice of land confiscation and appropriation.” Has BeensStatesWould BeOrderLostSituationPracticeLandMilitaryBoundariesResistanceOccupationPalestinianSovereignOngoingIsraeliAppropriationExpulsionThinkable Author:Judith Butler
“People who have been made stateless by military occupation are entitled to repatriation, and then the question is to which state, or to what polity or area? Those who have had their goods taken away are entitled to compensation of some kind. These are basic international laws.” PeopleKindHas BeensMadeStatesLawTakenMilitaryAreasInternationalGoodsOccupationEntitledCompensationInternational Law Author:Judith Butler
“[Ayn] Rand accepts that when she supports military conscription, even indirectly. Also, she starts her politics from the premise that the State must have police power. She fails to take into account the inevitability that once you start with police power you're going to have a police State.” StatesAcceptingSupportFailingMilitaryAccountsPolicePremisesInevitabilityPolice StateConscriptionPolice Power Author:Murray Bookchin
“I think it's more likely that we can make positive changes happen on environment and military issues if states begin to secede. I don't think it's question of personal lifestyle preference or some sort of parochial identification with your state. I think it's an absolute moral demand that something be done to create a government with some power that can be controlled by the residents of its territory. That was supposedly the idea in creating the United States, but it doesn't exist now and we have to make it exist even if it's piece by piece, part of the United States at a time.” IfsThinkingIdeasStatesDoneGovernmentHappensUnitedMoralUnited StatesIssuesEnvironmentPiecesMilitaryDemandCreatingAbsolutesLifestyleControlledTerritoryPersonal LifePreferenceIdentificationResidentsPositive Change Author:David Swanson
“The idea of a permanent U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, as opposed to an economic presence, is going to create a new wave of hostility toward the United States.” IdeasStatesUnitedUnited StatesEconomicMilitaryWavePermanentAfghanistanHostilityMilitary Presence Author:Ahmed Rashid
“I have in mind repeated statements by Japanese military men containing threats against other states.” MenMindStatesMilitaryThreatStatementsContainingMilitary Man Author:Joseph Stalin
“Because national borders are eroding, because of the growth of non-state actors. It's a different kind of a world. We are tied down by a tiny little country - Iraq. It's amazing, given the disparity in military economic strength. It's a world where most of the big problems spill over national boundaries, and there are new kinds of actors and we're feeling our way as to how to deal with them.” WorldWayKindLittlesDifferentCountryStatesFeelingsProblemBigsActorsGivenGrowthDealsEconomicMilitaryIraqTinyBoundariesBordersDifferent KindsTiedSpillsBig ProblemsDisparityNational Borders Author:Brent Scowcroft
“For fifty years, we heard NATO is necessary to save Western Europe from the Russian hordes, you know the slave state, stuff I was taking about. In 1990-91, no Russian hordes. Okay, what happens? Well there are actually visions of the future system that were presented. One was [Mikhail] Gorbachev. He called for a Eurasian security system, with no military blocs. He called it a Common European Home. No military blocs, no Warsaw Pact. Just an integrated security system with no conflicts.Now the other vision was presented by George Bush, this is the "statesman".” KnowsYearsWellsStatesHomeHappensStuffCommonVisionHeardSecurityMilitaryConflictEuropeOkaySlaveWesternFiftyStatesmenIntegratedNatoPactHordeWestern EuropeVisions Of The FutureGorbachevSecurity SystemsWarsawWarsaw Pact Author:Noam Chomsky
“One of the main aims of Sharon is to prevent a Palestinian state - a real, viable, sovereign, free Palestinian state. It has been the major task of his life for the last forty years. What Sharon wants to do is "shorten the lines," in military slang. He wants to give up some positions which are untenable, or which cost too much to keep, and to withdraw to where he wants Israel to be.” WantGivingYearsHas BeensRealStatesLastsLinesToo MuchMilitaryPositionCostGiving UpMajorsTasksAimIsraelFortyPalestinianSovereignSlangSharon Author:Uri Avnery
“There hasn't been a military force like the United States of America in the history of the world.” WorldStatesAmericaForceUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryUnited States Of AmericaWorld HistoryMilitary Force Author:Rush Limbaugh
“Chairman Mao creatively applied Marxism-Leninism to every aspect of the Chinese revolution, and he had creative views on philosophy, political science, military science, literature and art, and so on. Unfortunately, in the evening of his life, particularly during the "Cultural Revolution", he made mistakes - and they were not minor ones - which brought many misfortunes upon our Party, our state and our people.” PeopleArtMadeStatesPhilosophyPoliticalLiteratureViewsPartyMistakeCreativeMilitaryRevolutionAspectEveningChineseMisfortunesMinorsMarxismPolitical ScienceChairmanMade A MistakeMaoChairman MaoMarxism LeninismChinese RevolutionLiterature And Art Author:Deng Xiaoping
“I think that [Obama] sees the military actually as something that is more dangerous to the world. I think that he looks at the United States military and sees it as a threatening application around the world than actually as a useful tool.” ThinkingWorldLooksStatesUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryDangerousToolsAround The WorldApplicationThreateningUnited States Military Author:Michael T. Flynn
“I think the accurate description for the George W. Bush administration is a military plutocracy. Having lived and worked in the United States, I must add that I don't want to make too much of the distinction between the Bush regime and its predecessors. I don't see a great deal of difference.” ThinkingWantStatesDifferencesUnitedDealsUnited StatesToo MuchMilitaryAddAdministrationDistinctionDescriptionRegimesAccuratePredecessorsPlutocracy Author:John Pilger
“When I was in London a Kachin youth criticized me for not condemning the Burmese military for their offensive in Kachin State. I answered "condemnation is not the solution." We want to build reconciliation, not condemnation.” WantStatesMilitaryYouthSolutionsLondonOffensiveReconciliationCondemnationCondemning Author:Aung San Suu Kyi
“There's been a systematic propagandizing of American citizens for 30 years to make us forget what America is supposed to be and what our rights are and what our system is and what our core principles are. And one of them since 1807 has been this right that the founding generation put in place, to make sure that military troops would never, ever, ever be deployed in the United States of America for civilian policing.” YearsHas BeensStatesAmericaForgetUnitedPrinciplesUnited StatesRightsGenerationsMilitaryCitizensCoreSupposed To BeTroopsUnited States Of AmericaFoundingCiviliansSystematicAmerican Citizens Author:Naomi Wolf
“80 percent of the export of armament in the world comes from the G8 countries. [The] United States alone exports about 50 percent of the world's armament, [for] which, of course, there has to be buyers, and the buyers are very terribly keen, very often military dictator[s] or sometimes not military dictator[s] but for military purposes. But the sellers are also promoting this trade. And two thirds of the arm exports go to developing countries. I'm in favor of putting a control on it, a ban on it.” WorldTwoCountrySometimesStatesPurposeCoursesUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryArmsPercentThirdsTradeFavorsDevelopingDictatorPromotingBansSellersBuyersArmamentDeveloping Countries Author:Amartya Sen
“Reagan said that government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem. And he was going to dismantle that government. Well, long story short, he failed to do that. He built up the military to a much greater status, more people in it, and actually more employees after the end of the Reagan administration. And, to achieve his objectives, he did some of the very same things that Trump is doing to achieve his. What Ronald Reagan really wanted to dismantle was the welfare state. And he had limited success in doing that.” PeopleWellsLongSaidEndsStatesStoriesProblemGovernmentWantedGreaterAchieveMilitaryTrumpSolutionsBuiltObjectivesAdministrationWelfareEmployeeWelfare StateLong Story Author:Brian Balogh
“The Bush administration has created an unimaginable catastrophe in Iraq. This should've been one of the easiest military occupations in history and they succeeded in turning it into one of the worst military disasters in history. They can't control it and it's almost impossible for them to get out for reasons you can't discuss in the United States because to discuss the reasons why they can't get out would be to concede the reasons why they invaded.” ShouldStatesReasonWould BeUnitedUnited StatesImpossibleWorstMilitaryIraqDisasterAdministrationReason WhyOccupationCatastropheUnimaginable Author:Noam Chomsky
“We live in a state-centric world faced with global-scale problems that cannot be met by the actions of single states, no matter how powerful, if assessed from the perspective of military capabilities.” IfsWorldMatterStatesProblemActionPowerfulMilitaryPerspectiveMetsScalesCapability Author:Richard A. Falk
“I worked with the Nato Military Committee. The Head of the Luxembourg Armed Forces had equal standing with me, and I had to respect that. He was the leader of the armed forces of a sovereign country. I had to make sure he never thought that I was looking down on them, merely because they had less power than we did. With that kind of approach you can develop bonds of trust. I tried to do the same thing with my colleagues when I was Secretary of State.” KindCountryStatesForceLeaderMilitaryEqualApproachStandingSecretaryCommitteesSovereignColleaguesNatoArmed ForcesLooking Down Author:Colin Powell
“I think, Russia is pushing against the West in general, not just the United States but the institutions of the West, the key governments in the West using a variety of tools, as well as military assault on Ukraine.” ThinkingWellsStatesGovernmentUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryKeysToolsInstitutionsWestRussiaVarietyPushingAssaultUkraine Author:Daniel Fried
“The United States turned to repression when its prominence started to slip in Latin America through establishing military dictatorships.” StatesAmericaUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryLatinSlipsDictatorshipRepressionLatin AmericaProminence Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“At present, the United States, with over 700 foreign military bases, navies in every ocean, a programme to militarise space, and drone bases planned for all regions of the world, is increasingly perceived in relation to its hard power diplomacy, a threat to political independence and stability for many countries.” WorldCountryHardStatesPoliticalSpaceUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryOceanBasesRelationIndependenceThreatRegionsStabilityDiplomacyNavyProgrammesDronesMilitary BasesPolitical Independence Author:Richard A. Falk
“What you're gonna hear Jim Harbaugh say, many in this country are getting their backs up filled with rage and anger and disbelief, and they are threatened by this. Harbaugh believes in toughness in men, he believes in toughness in America, he believes in toughness in American men. You damn well want it in your Special Forces, gang. You want it with the Navy SEALs. You want it all over the United States military. You want manliness, you want toughness, you want bravery, you want courage.” MenWantBelieveWellsCountryStatesAmericaForceUnitedUnited StatesSpecialMilitaryBraveryFilledRageDamnThreatenedNavyGangDisbeliefSealsToughnessManlinessSpecial ForcesUnited States MilitaryNavy SealRage And Anger Author:Rush Limbaugh