It would be, in fact, very ominous if Iraq were to be able to get weapon-usable material, hydro-plutonium or highly enriched uranium from abroad.
Mohamed ElbaradeiRead
I still believe that any country understands that if they use nuclear weapons, they will be wiped out of existence. They could be irrational in many ways, but I don't think they're irrational to the point that they're ready to annihilate their own country.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a belief that rationality prevails even in the face of potential nuclear conflict, as countries will avoid self-destruction.
In this quote, Mohamed ElBaradei asserts that despite the irrationalities exhibited by nations, the fundamental understanding of the catastrophic consequences of nuclear warfare keeps countries from engaging in self-destructive behavior. He believes that the threat of annihilation acts as a deterrent against the use of nuclear weapons, as nations recognize that such an act would lead to their own destruction. This perspective highlights a certain level of rationality in global politics, emphasizing the instinct for survival over aggressive tendencies.
Themes
NuclearRationalitySurvivalDestructionPolitics
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on international relations, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of understanding the consequences of warfare.
More from Mohamed Elbaradei
All quotes →Countries that perceive themselves to be vulnerable can be expected to try to redress that vulnerability - and in some cases, they will pursue clandestine weapons programs.
Mohamed ElbaradeiRead
Egypt needs to catch up with the rest of the world. We need to be free, democratic, and - society where people have the right to live in freedom and dignity.
Mohamed ElbaradeiRead
I couldn't have imagined that I would live long enough to see Egypt emancipated from decades of repression.
Mohamed ElbaradeiRead
Psychology is as important as substance. If you treat people with respect, they will go out of their way to accommodate you. If you treat them in a patronizing way, they will go out of their way to make your life difficult.
Mohamed ElbaradeiRead
The gravest threat faced by the world is of an extremist group getting hold of nuclear weapons or materials.
Mohamed ElbaradeiRead
Similar quotes
Anything you dream is fiction, and anything you accomplish is science, the whole history of mankind is nothing but science fiction.
Ray BradburyRead
There are people who can write their memoirs with a reasonable amount of honesty, and there are people who simply cannot take themselves seriously enough. I think I might be the first to admit that the sort of reticence which prevents a man from exploiting his own personality is really an inverted sort of egotism.
Raymond ChandlerRead
My joy is in your freedom, not your compliance. I do not want your worship, I do not need your obedience, and it is not necessary for you to serve me. Deity has no needs. "All that is" is exactly that: all that is. It therefore wants or lacks nothing, by definition.
Neale Donald WalschRead
Man may be defined as the animal that can say ''I,'' that can be aware of himself as a separate entity.
Erich FrommRead
The positive aspects of modernity are to be acknowledged unreservedly: we are all grateful for the marvellous possibilities that it has opened up for mankind and for the progress in humanity that has been granted to us.
Pope Benedict XviRead
We are all potentially such sick men. The sanest and best of us are of one clay with lunatics and prison-inmates. And whenever we feel this, such a sense of the vanity of our voluntary career comes over us, that all our morality appears but as a plaster hiding a sore it can never cure, and all our well-doing as the hollowest substitute for that well-being that our lives ought to be grounded in, but alas! are not.
William JamesRead