The argument that someone is a bad man is an inadequate argument for war and certainly an inadequate and unacceptable argument for regime change.
Interpretation
Labeling someone as a 'bad man' does not justify war or changing their regime.
In this quote, John Major argues that the moral judgment of an individual as a 'bad man' is insufficient grounds for initiating warfare or attempting to alter the governmental structure of a country. Such a perspective calls for a more nuanced understanding of international relations and emphasizes the dangers of oversimplification in justifying military interventions.
In practice
In a debate on foreign policy, one could use this quote to argue against military intervention.
The sight of allegedly sophisticated politicians parroting complete tripe trivialises and demeans government and it has to be stopped. It's played a significant part in public disillusionment with politics and has led to the absurd situation where more people vote for 'Strictly Come Dancing' than voted in the general election.
I don't think nations can stand aside for ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Whether you agree with me or disagree with me; like me or loathe me, don't bind my hands when I am negotiating on behalf of the British nation.
You have to be very careful. If you over-commercialize a social mission, it completely loses its soul.
In matters of sexuality we are at present, every one of us, ill or well, nothing but hypocrites.
My language and my sensibility are yearning to admit a kind of religious or transcendent dimension. But then there's the reality: there's no Heaven, no afterlife of the sort we were promised, and no personal God.
Anything that just costs money is cheap.
To reflect upon the event horizon is a great deal more awe-inspiring than a burning bush or a wooden statue that weeps or pees or bleeds.
The way of paradoxes is the way of truth. To test Reality we must see it on the tight-rope.
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