Compiled by TheBlaze staff with contributions from freelance writer Charles C. Johnson.
"If the war on terrorism is the defining event of our time, can we really persist in having no country from the Middle East, no country with much of an Islamic tradition at all, represented on the Security Council in any kind of permanent way?"
"There are lots of things we could do. We could decide that the Security Council no longer has the legitimacy that we once gave it...maybe the Secretary General himself has to be the authorizer."
"The problem with Security Council reform, which is so important to getting the international system right, is that of course that it will be the permanent five members (U.S., China, Russia, U.K. and France) who will have to go along with reform ... and unfortunately most of the permanent five members, while they will bash they United Nations, will do very little to strengthen it, will do very little to give (the Secretary General), for instance, a standing army or something that he could call upon if a genocide threatened tomorrow."
"There is a realization that some portion of our security threat now is linked to our human rights practices in the past. Those could include human rights abuses committed by past administrations...or it could be bystanding in the face of genocide."
"It is clear the ways in which having a foreign policy that is often antithetical to our values or at best is inconsiderate of our values, how it actually comes back and harms U.S. interests in the long term."
"Some of the resentment toward the United States is born simply of this gross military, economic and cultural supremacy and hegemony, but a lot of it is based also on things that we do as a country."
"Look at what we're doing in the War on Terror. We're about to partner with regimes that if they're not committing genocide they are certainly committing systematic atrocities against their people. Will somebody else write a book about that and say that we abetted the Russian genocide against the Chechens because we were fighting a war on terror and needed Putin on our side? Maybe. But we now, because we're living in the time, understand our mindset and why we're doing it. I don't think we should excuse it. I think we should change our policy."
"Probably the court will end up functioning for a while, hopefully not in a way that shows (U.S) our neglect, that is hopefully it functions properly, judiciously, you know, in a politically sensible way, not making frivolous charges against, you know, the United States -- frivolous charges -- other kinds of charges it is well entitled to make."
"When we promote human rights and dignity at home, we send an invaluable message to other countries. That's why the president's healthcare reform is itself a form of human rights leadership -- not just saying that every person whether rich or poor should have the right to basic health care but showing it by investing the full weight of his presidency in securing the reform."
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