While the United States has often taken the wrong path, it has rarely failed to demonstrate - at least in the long run - the courage to reverse its steps.
Antony BlinkenRead
In the end, North Korea's conduct may change only when its leadership does.
Interpretation
North Korea's behavior is closely tied to the nature of its leadership, suggesting that change is dependent on who is in charge.
This quote by Antony Blinken highlights the idea that the actions and policies of North Korea are heavily influenced by its leadership. It implies that without a change in the motivations, ideologies, or priorities of those in power, significant alterations in the country's approach to international relations and domestic policies are unlikely to occur.
In practice
In a discussion about international diplomacy, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of leadership in affecting change.
While the United States has often taken the wrong path, it has rarely failed to demonstrate - at least in the long run - the courage to reverse its steps.
When it comes to climate change, I think that success at home is directly tied to our ability to lead effectively abroad.
Some friends of Israel believe that the Palestinians will never, in their hearts, accept a Jewish state in Palestine. Yet Germans and French, Chinese and Japanese, Mexicans and Americans have overcome their once insurmountable differences. Palestinians and Jews also have much to gain from peaceful coexistence.
By virtually every metric, the liberal international order has made the world healthier, wealthier, wiser, more secure and more tolerant than it has ever been.
I don't think anyone in the 1990s, the late '90s, anticipated that the Putin they knew then would become the Putin we know now.
My father's father fled a pogrom in Russia in the early 20th century and was welcomed to the United States. So was my stepmother, who escaped as a young girl from Communist Hungary in 1950.
Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.
Every provisional political set-up following a revolution requires a dictatorship, and an energetic dictatorship at that.
We all deserve credit for this new surveillance state that we live in because we the people voted for the Patriot Act. Democrats and Republicans alike....We voted for the people who voted for it, and then voted for the people who reauthorized it, then voted for the people who re-re-authorize d it.
The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose - especially their lives.
The invisible government tends to be concentrated in the hands of the few because of the expense of manipulating the social machinery which controls the opinions and habits of the masses. To advertise on a scale which will reach fifty million persons is expensive. To reach and persuade the group leaders who dictate the public's thoughts and actions is likewise expensive.
Politics matter, but politics can't come first. If politics come first in your life, something is wrong with you. It's a sad thing.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.