Elliott Abrams Quotes

After World War II, the winds of nationalism and anti-colonialism blew through the developing world.

Nineteen forty-five marked the nadir of Western Civilization.

Well, Italy had been overrun by the War, there had practically been civil war, north and south of the Gothic Line, heavy bombing, the northern industrial cities had been bombed heavily and we had political disorder before 1948.

I'm old enough to remember the end of World War II. On Aug. 14, 1946, a year after the Japanese were defeated, most newspapers and magazines had single articles commemorating the end of the war.

In particular, the efforts to reestablish peace after the World War have been directed toward the formation of states and the regulation of their frontiers according to a consciously national program.

We can say that Japan is the only country that calls into question the outcome of the Second World War; no one else does.

I was born in Breslau on October 5th, 1930. At that time, Breslau, now called Wroclaw, belonged to Germany, and only German was spoken there. After the Second World War, Breslau became Polish, and the original German population was almost completely replaced by a Polish one. I have never visited Wroclaw after the war.

The United Nations was founded 70 years ago, at the end of World War II. Since that time, Japan has steadfastly walked the path of peace and rebuilt a nation. And, since the mid-1950s onward, we have actively worked to share our experience of development with other nations, especially in Asia.

No new state is ever fully ready for independence ..

The colonial powers especially the more heedless ones ... dumped their former possessions on the threshold of independence with little if any preparation for statehood.

Defeat [in World War II] was better for the nation than if we had become extremely militaristic as a result of victory.

The Briitish and the Jewish Races, for reasons which are not American, wish to involve us in the Second World] war.

To-day the Peace Treaty was ratified at Paris; the War is over. A terrible era begins for Europe, like the gathering of clouds before a storm, and it will end in an explosion probably more terrible than that of the World War. In Germany there are all the signs of a continuing growth of nationalism.

In Hitler’s frantic mental haze Already Hull and Cardiff blaze And Paul’s grey dome rocks to the blast Of air torpedoes screaming past

Our military knows how to invade and conquer a country, but we do not know how to run one.

Appeasement is just as bad in 1983 as it was in 1938.

You are simply eaten up with the Dardanelles. Damn the Dardanelles. This will be our grave.

The possibility of the United States winning the war and losing the peace is real and serious

The events of these last few days constitute one of the greatest defeats that this country and France have ever sustained. There can be no doubt that it is a tremendous victory for Herr Hitler.

The Russian entry will prevent the Nazi domination of Europe… I do not think that there is any danger of Russian domination of Europe.

The same contending powers behind the First and Second World Wars are now preparing the Third World War. This we should know, and we as the sons and daughters of an oppressed country are part of the loot.

Think of the prelude to World War Two. Think of all the countries that said, well, we don’t have enough evidence. I mean, Mein Kampf had been written. Hitler had indicated what he intended to do. The people who argued for waiting for more evidence have to ask themselves how they are going to feel at that point where another event occurs.

Britain and America won the last world war. We will win the next world war.

What was new in the imperialism of Germany and Japan in World War II was the far more ruthless treatment of subject populations.

In Los Alamos we were motivated by the desire to develop the atomic bomb before the Germans could do it. That was our main motivation …. The Germans surrendered before the bomb was ready and so it was obvious to use it against our remaining enemy [Japan].