There’s a good lesson for policymakers: It’s not the presence of the U.S. that is a problem for many people in the Arab region; it’s the type of presence we bring. Ian Lustick Read Quote
There is some big thing about the world that produced all these people willing to kill themselves just to hurt us. On 9/11 we learned we’re part of that world, in the same completely crazy, drastic and arbitrary ways it hits other countries. Ian Lustick Read Quote
For the U.S., as the largest player in the global environment, unintended consequences are magnified. Ian Lustick Read Quote
When people today say ‘racism,’ they mean it’s a nationalism they don’t like. Racialism used to be a good thing, a looking-out for what was best for one group… Israel comes out of that 19th-century idea of nationalism. Many Arab states also have preferences. It’s fundamentally unfair to decide that one is racism and the others aren’t. Ian Lustick Read Quote
The leadership of the Palestinian Authority is not held in high regard by most of the population of the West Bank. They’re seen as living relatively high off the hog and certainly not accomplishing anything vis-a-vis the Israelis. Ian Lustick Read Quote
As long as Hamas needs the support it could conceivably get from the international community through the Palestinian Authority, it has an interest in playing nice with Fatah. And Fatah has an interest in playing nice with Hamas because it needs some source of legitimacy on the West Bank. Ian Lustick Read Quote
Most Israelis do want to keep Israel safe. The question is how do you do that. Ian Lustick Read Quote
The fact is that democracy anywhere in the world, including in the United States, is not something that comes easy. And yet, we are committed to it, and equality and democracy are the only ways in the long run that Jews will be safe in the Middle East. Ian Lustick Read Quote
Whether we agree with them or not, politicians aren’t for trusting. They are for getting done what can be done to make really horrible problems into plain old lousy problems. Ian Lustick Read Quote
