Afghanistan's borders are arbitrary, drawn to meet 19th-century political needs rather than to respect ethnic or religious patterns.
Stephen KinzerRead
Rwanda has emerged from the devastation of genocide and become more secure and prosperous than anyone had a right to expect.
Interpretation
Rwanda has transformed remarkably after a tragic past, achieving peace and progress.
This quote highlights Rwanda's dramatic recovery from the horrors of genocide, emphasizing the nation's unexpected success and stability in the aftermath of such devastation. It serves as a powerful example of resilience, showing how a country can rebuild and redefine itself despite immense challenges.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about overcoming adversity in life.
Afghanistan's borders are arbitrary, drawn to meet 19th-century political needs rather than to respect ethnic or religious patterns.
Guerrilla leaders win wars by being paranoid and ruthless. Once they take power, they are expected to abandon those qualities and embrace opposite ones: tolerance, compromise and humility. Almost none manages to do so.
Accepting that Arabs have the right to elect their own leaders means accepting the rise of governments that do not share America's pro-Israel militancy.
After installing friendly leaders in Iran and Guatemala, the United States lost interest in promoting democracy in either country.
Want to depose the government of a poor country with resources? Want to bash Muslims? Want to build support for American military interventions around the world? Want to undermine governments that are raising their people up from poverty because they don't conform to the tastes of Upper West Side intellectuals? Use human rights as your excuse!
Every nation, like every individual, would like to believe it owes 'no apology' to anyone. Adults realise, however, that few among us are purely innocent or utterly blameless.
We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change.
More women than ever are having babies at the peak of their careers. When will we stop punishing them for it?
Resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change.
Someday, our children, and our childrenβs children, will look at us in the eye and they'll ask us, did we do all that we could when we had the chance to deal with this problem and leave them a cleaner, safer, more stable world?
Who can sum up all the ills the women of a nation suffer from war? They have all of the misery and none of the glory; nothing to mitigate their weary waiting and watching for the loved ones who return no more.
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