Could you imagine if the U.N. had endorsed the war in Iraq, what our reputation would be like?
Interpretation
Kofi Annan reflects on the potential consequences of a U.N. endorsement of the Iraq War on global reputation.
In this quote, Kofi Annan emphasizes the importance of international consensus and the role of the United Nations in maintaining global peace and stability. He suggests that had the U.N. supported the Iraq War, it would have severely damaged the organization's credibility and the perception of its legitimacy in the eyes of the world, highlighting the delicate balance of global politics and public opinion.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech on the importance of diplomatic solutions over military intervention.
If you have a problem and you can't find a solution, you meet again tomorrow and you keep talking until you find a solution. You can disagree with behavior or a particular position, but you do not resort to calling an opponent worthless.
Let us remember the large numbers of citizens who, day in and day out, through acts of volunteerism large and small, bring hope to so many of the world's disadvantaged. Let us ensure that this wonderful resource, available in abundance to every nation, is recognized and supported as it works towards a more prosperous and peaceful world.
We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.
The global HIV/AIDS epidemic is an unprecedented crisis that requires an unprecedented response. In particular it requires solidarity - between the healthy and the sick, between rich and poor, and above all, between richer and poorer nations. We have 30 million orphans already. How many more do we have to get, to wake up?
People of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are, without hating what β and who β we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings.
Democracy is, in essence, a form of non-violent conflict management. If war is the worst enemy of development, healthy and balanced development is the best form of conflict prevention.
Fascism is capitalism plus murder.
Republicans and others who are in anguish over the possibility of socialized medicine ought to have to explain their ideology to a mother with a sick newborn. They ought to have to explain how this nation can debate health care and not mention how abysmal ours is.
Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.
We must abandon the notion that the people govern. Instead, we must adopt the theory that, by their occasional mobilisations as a majority, people support or oppose the individuals who actually govern.
There is often, in the affairs of government, more efficiency and wisdom in non-action than in action.
According to Lenin, socialism and democracy are indivisible.... The essence of perestroika lies in the fact that it unites socialism with democracy and revives the Leninist concept of socialist construction both in theory and in practice. We want more socialism and, therefore, more democracy.
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