Top 14 Ivo Daalder Quotes

Anybody who has been to Chicago has a very positive view. But not everybody has come to Chicago, and in many ways, Chicago is an undiscovered treasure. It punches below its weight internationally.

I think when the military ousts a sitting president, even if the sitting president is deeply unpopular, that’s the definition of a coup.

One of the amazing things about September 11 is that we lacked the imagination to connect the dots and foresee it.

We have built up, through our global engagement, a set of institutions that have been built on trust, fundamentally on trust, where allies had trust in the United States to do the right thing when it really came down to it.

Donald Trump has proven adept at mobilizing anti-immigrant and anti-trade sentiment among a minority of Americans into a strong movement that seeks to put the United States first in global affairs. Yet, his is not the majority’s view.

Syria is a signature to the Geneva Protocol of 1925, which bans the use of chemical warfare. Syria has violated that international norm. For the United States to act in response is the right thing to do, is a legitimate thing to do, and is necessary in order to uphold this very important international standard.

A big challenge in combating terrorism is learning how to think about things that we can’t imagine.

Our fundamental goal in getting involved in Bosnia in the summer of 1995 was to end the war. Richard Holbrooke’s fundamental goal was to negotiate a peace: a peace that was sustaining and self-sustaining over the long term.

Many observers believe that the greatest damage Russia has done to U.S. interests in recent years stems from the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race. Although there is no question that Moscow’s meddling in American elections is deeply worrying, it is just one aspect of the threat Russia poses.

I follow the Cubs. Only when they play the Nationals do I have a conflict.

The more Trump emphasises America First, the more it turns into America Alone.

I think George H. W. Bush, who I had lots of disagreements with, remarkably managed the end of the Cold War in a way that history will look back at and say, ‘Wow.’

We have not been a normal country when it comes to engagement in the world.

Putin wants nothing less than to return Russia to the center of global politics by challenging the primacy that the United States has enjoyed since the end of the Cold War.