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.
Don't get mad. Don't get even. Just get elected, then get even.
One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism has been by way of medicine....If you don't do this, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was like in American when men were free.
Vote: the instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.
The ultimate victory of tomorrow is democracy, and through democracy with education, for no people in all the world can be kept eternally ignorant or eternally enslaved.
One of the most pervasive political visions of our time is the vision of liberals as compassionate and conservatives as less caring.
The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do.
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