Jonathan Powell
Jonathan Powell
Jonathan Nicholas Powellis a British diplomat who served as the first Downing Street Chief of Staff, under British Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1995 to 2007. He was the only senior adviser to last the whole period of Blair’s leadership. During this period Powell was also the chief British negotiator on Northern Ireland...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionDiplomat
Date of Birth14 August 1956
expected greater mere since time unlike
Since the beginning of time, we have expected our leaders to be supermen, unlike mere mortals. We want them to be much greater than us so that we can look up to them.
civil expel massive modern necessary prevent seen stop threat war wars
I do not think that war is always wrong: sometimes it is necessary to stop a dictator, prevent massive human-rights abuses, or expel an invader. But I have also seen that in the modern world, civil wars are the greatest threat to humanitarian security.
clinton firmly lasted politics terms turned view virtually
I am firmly of the view we should keep the police out of politics in Britain, or we risk going the way of American politics, where the Whitewater investigation lasted virtually the whole of the two terms of the Clinton administration but turned up nothing.
keener themselves wars
Politicians do not enter into wars lightly. It is usually the military themselves who are keener to become involved.
alluring candidate fact feet job likes maybe mean quite remember speech
Maybe strong leaders are not quite as alluring as we think, and we should celebrate the fact that our leaders are just like us. Just because one candidate can't remember his whole speech and the other likes to put his feet up on the job doesn't mean they can't govern.
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Terrorism seems to be the ugly twin of democracy. We need to learn to live with it because we are vulnerable to it.
counter difficult power practical reasons targets terms tool understand
Terrorism is resorted to for practical reasons because there is no other tool available. And those who use terrorism, and then subsequently become the targets of terrorism, understand its power and how difficult it is to counter it. Not just militarily. But especially in terms of international perception.
peace
If you are going to make peace, you can't just meet nice people.
There is no conflict in the world that cannot be solved.
begin collective confront experience historical military purely seem solution suffer talk tells terrorist time
When it comes to terrorism, governments seem to suffer from a collective amnesia. All of our historical experience tells us that there can be no purely military solution to a political problem, and yet every time we confront a new terrorist group, we begin by insisting we will never talk to them.
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It was the rootlessness that went with being the son of an RAF officer that shaped me. I had been to 11 schools by the time I was 9.
aspired foreign labour solid
I'm a solid Labour party supporter. I aspired to be a Labour MP, but it's difficult to make the leap from the Foreign Office.
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A peace agreement isn't like a fairy story. You don't live happily ever after.
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The Israeli people are skeptical about the chances of a long-term peace, but if they saw it, they'd grab it. Any Israeli government that wants to be reelected should be interested in a lasting peace.