Quotes by Stephen Kinzer

About Stephen Kinzer:

Stephen Kinzer is a United States author, journalist and academic. A former newspaper reporter, the veteran New York Times correspondent has filed stories from more than fifty countries on five continents, as well as published several books.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Turkey is immersed in a profound social and political conflict between secularists, who have been in power since the republic was founded, and an insurgent Islamic-based movement that seeks to increase the role of religion in public life.

Stephen Kinzer

Castro has lived almost his entire life as a clandestine revolutionary. To such figures, truth is always malleable, always subservient to political goals.

Stephen Kinzer

Israel deserves special treatment from the United States, both for historical reasons and because there can be no regional peace without a secure Israel.

Stephen Kinzer

Successive American presidents have turned a blind eye to piles of evidence that Saudi money is being used to foment holy war against America.

Stephen Kinzer

By the late 1970s, repression and economic chaos were causing increasing unrest throughout Latin America. Army strongmen were forced to cede power in Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominic...

Stephen Kinzer

No authoritarian leader cedes power easily or turns it over to bodies he cannot control.

Stephen Kinzer

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.

Stephen Kinzer

The dramatic rise of Turkey in the councils of world power was one of the main geopolitical developments of 2010.

Stephen Kinzer

Human Rights Watch wants Rwandans to be able to speak freely about their ethnic hatreds, and to allow political parties connected with the defeated genocide army to campaign freely for power.

Stephen Kinzer

From the 1920s into the 1940s, Britain's standard of living was supported by oil from Iran. British cars, trucks, and buses ran on cheap Iranian oil. Factories throughout Britain were fueled by oil from Iran. The Royal Navy, which projected British p...

Stephen Kinzer

In some countries that are darlings of the West, like Egypt, everyone knows the result of national elections years in advance: The man in power always wins. In others, like Saudi Arabia, the very idea of an election is unthinkable.

Stephen Kinzer

Weapons systems the U.S. sold to the Shah of Iran wound up in the hands of Islamic militants who seized power there in 1979; a comparable scenario in Saudi Arabia is hardly impossible.

Stephen Kinzer

Afghanistan's borders are arbitrary, drawn to meet 19th-century political needs rather than to respect ethnic or religious patterns.

Stephen Kinzer

During the Cold War, the non-aligned movement tried to become a 'third force' in world politics, but failed because it was too large and unwieldy.

Stephen Kinzer

Some major American publishing houses still seek work by foreign writers.

Stephen Kinzer

The United States has means to wound Latin American countries deeply, chiefly by altering trade policies to cut imports in ways that would throw thousands out of work.

Stephen Kinzer

If women are being oppressed in Egypt or children are being forced to join armies in the Congo, for example, it is not only acceptable but wonderful for Americans to be concerned, outraged, and active.

Stephen Kinzer

As British and French imperialism ebbed following the end of the Second World War, America became the main outside player in Arab affairs.

Stephen Kinzer

It is truly vital for the United States to assure that it is not attacked with weapons of mass destruction; to prevent wars in other countries from spreading onto American soil; and to maintain access to global sea lanes on which our economy depends....

Stephen Kinzer

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

Stephen Kinzer

During the 1980s, international interest in the Nicaraguan war was intense. No conflict since the Spanish civil war had provoked such passion around the world. It was a classic good-versus-evil war.

Stephen Kinzer

Author Bio

  • NameStephen Kinzer
  • DescriptionAmerican journalist and writer
  • BornAugust 4, 1951
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionJournalist; Writer; Historian
  • AwardsMaria Moors Cabot Prizes