Football strategy does not originate in a scrimmage: it is useless to expect solutions in a political campaign.
Walter LippmannRead
An alliance is like a chain. It is not made stronger by adding weak links to it. A great power like the United States gains no advantage and it loses prestige by offering, indeed peddling, its alliances to all and sundry. An alliance should be hard diplomatic currency, valuable and hard to get, and not inflationary paper from the mimeograph machine in the State Department.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Strong alliances require quality partners rather than numerous weak ones.
This quote emphasizes that the strength of alliances depends on the quality and capability of the partners involved. It suggests that offering alliances too freely can diminish their value and diminish a nation's prestige, advocating for a more selective and strategic approach to forming partnerships in international relations.
Themes
AllianceStrengthQualityDiplomacyPrestige
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech at a summit about international relations.
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