John Bolton Quotations | Page 2

We are waiting for the outcome of the conversations.

We are aware of the Syrian efforts to acquire dual-use technologies that could be applied to a nuclear weapons program,

We want a very strong signal to the government of Syria that its obstruction has to cease and cease immediately,

We want a very strong signal from the council to the government of Syria that its obstructionism has to cease, and cease immediately,

We do not support measures that would constrain legal trade and legal manufacturing of small arms and light weapons.

Diplomacy is not an end in itself if it does not advance U.S. interests.

contained a sentence which said that the U.S. believes Cuba has a developmental, offensive biological warfare program and is providing assistance to other rogue state programs.

There's no such thing as the United Nations. If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.

The United States believes that the long-standing, massive and covert Iranian effort to acquire sensitive nuclear capabilities makes sense only as part of a nuclear weapons program,

the United States and other members of the Security Council are concerned about the deteriorating situation in Burma.

The U.N. is one of many competitors in a marketplace of global problem solving.

It would be, I think, simply prudent to be looking at other options.

It would be wrong to claim more than is realistic and accurate about what these reforms are. They represent steps forward, but this is not the alpha and the omega, and we never thought it would be.

the world's foremost peddler of ballistic missile-related equipment, components, materials, and technical expertise.

I've been an executive branch official my entire public career and, for both constitutional and historical reasons, the executive branch appropriately has typically opposed automatic, non-discretionary directions from all of you esteemed ladies and gentlemen. That's our position. I support it emphatically.

Sanctions were put in before, it's not clear they're being adhered to, ... The question (is) whether we should do something else in that area in terms of arms into the country.

Quite some time ago the president said unequivocally we support the development goals in the millennium summit declaration, ... Now that's different from the goals that were actually written by the secretariat. There is no backing away by the United States in the support for the millennium summit declaration.

North Korea today faces a choice, ... If North Korea wants to have a brighter future, it needs to fundamentally shift the way it operates at home and abroad.

Addressing these issues now will facilitate continued international support for Iraq's security, and it will give the newly elected Iraqi government time to assume office, address constitutional questions and consolidate its authority before confronting issues such as those addressed in this resolution.

After an initial read, the results are clearly troubling and will require further discussion with the international community.

are not that dissimilar to changes that we've been talking about here at the U.N. for months.

This is now a serious law enforcement matter and we will have no further comment,

This is not something we can pass off as boys will be boys,

The United States is very pleased at the council's unanimous adoption

This draft certainly does not live up to the expectations set by the secretary-general when he launched the process. And I don't think anybody claims that, and, in fact, the strongest argument in favor of this draft is that it's not as bad as it could be.

This cannot be seen as simply an American initiative,

This is a moment of crisis for the United Nations. If we don't get serious reform, it's going to put us in a very difficult position, It's now two months since the end of the September summit and we have essentially not made progress since that point. We've got a lot of work to do and there's not a lot of time to do it

Although Libya would need significant foreign assistance to acquire a nuclear weapon, Tripoli's nuclear infrastructure enhancement remains of concern.

There were bribes; there were kickbacks; there was lax oversight from the Secretariat; and some member states turned a blind eye toward this corruption.

There may be an occasion that we want the U.N. to properly run a program like this.

The remarkable thing is that Congressmen Hyde and Lantos agree on the 39 reforms that they want, ... The signal that they're sending I think is that they want substantial reform, and that's certainly something the administration is committed to.

This is the kind of development that I think shocks our conscience in America, to see the humanitarian impulse so cynically manipulated,

This is 'true confessions' time now for the government of Syria . No more obstruction, no more half measures, we want substantive cooperation and we want it immediately.

This is the way the UN operates. And it goes to the question, which is a much longer term question, as to whether the culture of decision making at the UN is the most effective for the organization and that's something that's not going to be resolved today or tomorrow.

There's a lot of important work. It's a very busy schedule in the first couple of days, and I think it's been productive and I'm certainly enjoying myself.

As you know, I have over the years written critically about the U.N. I have consistently stressed in my writings that American leadership is critical to the success of the U.N., an effective U.N., one that is true to the original intent of its charter's framers.

It was only ever going to be the first step,

I took a list of when they (council members) came in. We started just before 10:15.

It is why we repeatedly caution that no option is off the table.

For me, it called back memories to 1990-91 and how the council worked during the Persian Gulf crisis, ... And I think if we could help get back to that kind of level of activity and cooperation it would be ideal.

its obstruction (of the probe) has to cease and cease immediately.

does not address military activities that are appropriately governed by international humanitarian law.

The notion that ... we have dumped a whole bunch of new changes out is simply not correct,

Not so fast. We don't believe that the next secretary general belongs to any particular region.

It's important that we understand when talking about the relationship between actions of foreign policy and the notions of international law we have the sense of what actually happens practically, which is contrary to most academic views.

The negotiating process ... is like making sausage. It isn't necessarily pretty. It takes a long time, and that's the process we're engaged in.

The nature of the culture is such that the changes we want, both in the way the secretariat functions, and the way member governments function, needs to be changed in a substantial way.

Their threats show why leaving a country like that with a nuclear weapon is so dangerous.

The issue is how is it possible this kind of behavior persists of denying the existence of a member state of the United Nations. I have viewed the map question as a potential pivot point to change this anti-Israel culture.

I'm a conservative Republican. I have been since I was 15 years old and participated in the 'Goldwater for President' campaign in 1964.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, Congressman. I had no role in this issue.

If I were a Syrian taxpayer, and my intelligence activities were visible, I would demand a refund, ... So these are the sort of things that remain unanswered.

I must say that the report's assertion is simply impossible to believe,

I'm confident that the Security Council under the charter has a responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

If rogue states are not willing to follow the logic of non-proliferation norms, they must be prepared to face the logic of adverse consequences,

In the United States, there is a broadly shared view that the U.N. is one of many potential instruments to advance U.S. issues, and we have to decide whether a particular issue is best done through the U.N. or best done through some other mechanism.

In the interest of obtaining consensus, I said we would put off a decision until Friday, where we will either achieve consensus on having the briefing, in which case it will go ahead, or I will call for a vote.

In our view, qualified nations should meet criteria in the following areas: size of economy and population; military capacity; contributions to peacekeeping operations, commitment to democracy and human rights; financial contributions to the United Nations; nonproliferation and counterterrorism records, and equitable geographic balance,

I hoped we'd be finished with the establishment of the human rights council before the end of this year,

In the bubble on First Avenue, Volcker is just ignored. I talk about it, but it's a solitary conversation.

In the absence of serious Syrian cooperation on substantive matters, the mission can't get to the ultimate truth. That is what is seems to me the focus the U.N. Security Council should be.

I personally never asked anybody in the intelligence community to change a single thing that they presented, and I am not aware of any other official in this administration who did that.

If for whatever reason the council couldn't fulfill its responsibilities, then I think it would be incumbent on us, and I'm sure we would press ahead to ask other countries or other groups of countries to impose those sanctions.

I brought the gavel down at 10. I was the only one in the room.

Identifying those who failed to execute their responsibilities is a necessary part of the process. Prosecuting wrongdoers is equally necessary.

I don't see that that meeting is going to be productive, because I don't think the Security Council is an exercise in group therapy.

I believe in discipline. I think daily briefings constitute a form of intellectual discipline. Starting on time is a form of discipline. I failed today.

Diplomacy is not an end in itself if it does not advance U.S. interests.

People say you favor assassination, what do you think war is? Except that it's assassination on a much larger scale, a much more horrific scale.

You don't need to spend tens of millions of dollars on political consultants to tell you what you think when you already know what you think.

I'm obviously aware that people are quite focused on the economy rather than foreign policy issues, but that is something that should and can be altered as people see the nature of the threats around the world that we face.

It's very personal in its politics, very bitter and very negative.

Let there be no ambiguity about the American view that Syria's lack of cooperation .. is not acceptable.

As you know, I have over the years written critically about the U.N. I have consistently stressed in my writings that American leadership is critical to the success of the U.N., an effective U.N., one that is true to the original intent of its charter's framers.

The European arguments against the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act demonstrate that "some Europeans have never lost faith in appeasement as a way of life. It is clear that Iran is cynically manipulating gullible (or equally cynical) Europeans to advance its development of weapons of mass destruction.

Maybe it's my libertarian philosophy: but being in government is hard.

If Iran obtains nuclear weapons, then almost certainly Saudi Arabia will do the same, as will Egypt, Turkey and perhaps others in the region.

I am not a neoconservative.

I am not a professional politician.

I don't much believe in bumper sticker characterizations of foreign policy.

I have decided not to run for president.

I think some of this fascination with the 'Arab Spring' is just a grand experiment with Israel's survival.

My priority is to give the United States the kind of influence it should have.

Obviously, you make preparations before you engage in any meeting.

People don't like to talk about victory and defeat anymore.

Reform is not a one-night stand.

I'm not sure history has ended.

I've been surrounded by some of the best economic minds in the country, and hopefully I've absorbed some of that.

The only thing that will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons is regime change in Tehran.

Let me ask, who died and made him king? Who gave him the authority to endanger 300 million Americans? That's not the way it works, and if he thinks he can get away with that, he's got another think coming.

Swapping Bergdahl for illegal enemy combatants (terrorists, in common parlance) signaled unmistakably to Taliban and al Qaeda that Obama is determined to withdraw from Afghanistan no matter what the cost to the United States or those in Afghanistan fighting to remain free.

Our biggest national security crisis is Barack Obama

Obama sees America as another country on the UN role call. Somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe.

Well, you could take several stories off the buildings of most U.S. government agencies and we'd all probably be better for it too.

Just as the Security Council was largely irrelevant to the great struggle of the last half of the twentieth century - freedom against Communism - so too it is largely on the sidelines in our contemporary struggles against international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The U.N. is one of many competitors in a marketplace of global problem solving.

I would not run as a one-issue candidate. Anybody who does that is declaring himself to be marginal.

You know, as somebody who writes op-eds and appears on the television, I appreciate as well as anybody that there is a limit to what that accomplishes.

I think that Ronald Reagan had it right, being against abortion except in certain limited, defined circumstances.

I'm not running around the world looking for ways to create hostilities.