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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker equates alliances with terrorism as direct hostility toward civilization itself.
In plain terms
If you support terrorists, you are enemies of civilized society.
What can you take from it?
Aligning with terror forces positions a nation against global civilization.

Where it applies

  • foreign policy
  • counterterrorism

Putting it to work

  • evaluating foreign alliances
  • issuing policy warnings

Questions to consider

  • Where do we draw the line on engagement?
  • Is this a useful framing for diplomacy?

Another view

It presents a binary view that leaves no room for nuance in diplomacy.

More from George W. Bush

  1. Because free peoples believe in the future, free peoples will own the future.

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  2. There's always a temptation, in the middle of a long struggle, to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world, and to hope the enemy gr…

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  3. We're facing a radical ideology with inalterable objectives: to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world. No act of ours invited the rage of the killers …

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