“Look, I don't think President Obama would have bowed to the ruler of Saudi Arabia if he didn't have oil to the degree that the Saudis do. I think they and other producing states, almost all of whom, except Norway and Canada, are dictatorships or autocratic systems, have thrown their weight around because of oil.” IfsThinkingLooksStatesPresidentDegreesWeightOilCanadaThrownPresident ObamaRulersDictatorshipArabiaSaudi ArabiaSaudisNorway Author:R. James Woolsey, Jr.
“One cannot have a trade union or a democratic election without freedom of speech, freedom of association and assembly. Without a democratic election, whereby people choose and remove their rulers, there is no method of securing human rights against the state. No democracy without human rights, no human rights without democracy, and no trade union rights without either. That is our belief; that is our creed.” PeopleHumansStatesBeliefDemocracyRightsSpeechLaborElectionMethodTradeUnionsDemocraticHuman RightsRemoveAssociationRulersCreedsFreedom Of SpeechAssemblyLabor UnionTrade UnionsUnion SolidarityDemocratic Elections Author:George Meany
“With his decision to use force against the violent extremists of the Islamic State, President Obama ... is stepping once again - and with understandably great reluctance - into the chaos of an entire civilization that has broken down. Arab civilization, such as we knew it, is all but gone. The Arab world today is more violent, unstable, fragmented and driven by extremism - the extremism of the rulers and those in opposition-than at any time since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire a century ago.” WorldStatesUseTodayForcePresidentDecisionGoneCenturyBrokenCivilizationChaosDrivenViolentIslamicOppositionEmpiresPresident ObamaCollapseRulersExtremismWorld TodayExtremistUnstableFragmentedReluctanceArab WorldBroken DownIslamic StateOttomansOttoman Empire Author:Hisham Melhem
“There are 3 elements essential in the matters of the State, Food, Military equipment, and Confidence of the people in the ruler. Of these 3, Military Equipment is the least important, Food being the 2nd important, and Confidence of the people being the MOST important. All men rather die of starvation than in war, but nevertheless all men do die of old age. Lacking in Confidence from the people, a state cannot survive.” PeopleMenImportantWarMatterStatesAgeDiesMilitaryConfidenceEssentialsElementsOld AgeRulersNeverthelessLackingEquipmentStarvationMilitary Equipment Author:Confucius
“Our rulers will best promote the improvement of the nation by strictly confining themselves to their own legitimate duties, by leaving capital to find its most lucrative course, commodities their fair price, industry and intelligence their natural reward, idleness and folly their natural punishment, by maintaining peace, by defending property, by diminishing the price of law, and by observing strict economy in every department of the state. Let the Government do this: the People will assuredly do the rest.” PeopleStatesGovernmentLawCoursesNationsPeaceNaturalEconomyDutyIndustryFairsPropertyRewardsLeavingIntelligenceImprovementPunishmentFollyDepartmentRulersCommodityStrictIdlenessMaintainingObservingMaintaining Peace Author:Thomas B. Macaulay
“The self-discipline of the Social Democracy is not merely the replacement of the authority of bourgeois rulers with the authority of a socialist central committee. The working class will acquire the sense of the new discipline, the freely assumed self-discipline of the Social Democracy, not as a result of the discipline imposed on it by the capitalist state, but by extirpating, to the last root, its old habits of obedience and servility.” SelfStatesLastsSocialResultsClassDemocracyHabitDisciplineAuthorityRootsObedienceAcquireCapitalistRulersSocialistCommitteesSelf DisciplineWorking ClassBourgeoisReplacementsOld HabitsServilitySocial Democracy Author:Rosa Luxemburg