FAO Quotables

"But being right, even morally right, isn't everything. It is also important to be competent, to be consistent, and to be knowledgeable. It's important for your soldiers and diplomats to speak the language of the people you want to influence. It's important to understand the ethnic and tribal divisions of the place you hope to assist."
-Anne Applebaum

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Diplomat's Daily Quotable

My apologies for the scarcity of posts lately.  I need to front load them in the future.  That way when things get busy I can just one click post them.  Today we are gonna flip it around and work bacward from the zzzzzzzzzzzz's.

Diplomat's Daily Quotable:

ZEALOTRY:  Not everyone regards survival as an imperative.  Some prefer the dignity of death to the ignominy of peace on an enemy's terms.

This quote definitely speaks to the danger of such assumptions.  For most of us survival is our most basic imperative.  However, we must be quick to discern when this is not the case in our adversaries (or potential adversaries) and shift our strategies as appropriate.

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