heads-of-state

"The aim of our mutual economic cooperation is to break the economic and commercial isolation and correct the imbalance in world economies, in order to prevent the problems of poverty and dependence of becoming worldwide crises, feeding the gene pools of fanaticism, isolationism and terrorism."

"The trouble with Maronites, and just to be frank about it, is that everyone thinks he is a president. This is the mentality. Because of this it is very difficult for them to agree, and we pay a high price. Lebanon was created because of the Maronites. They wanted one country in the whole Middle East for all sects, and Lebanon, as the Pope said is a message that we can live together, and we must prove we can live, but for that we need to be strong and united. Strong we are, we need to be united. Unless they make us fight each other and then we lose everything again."

"Lebanon respects international laws and acts accordingly and it has never transgressed the rights of others. Lebanon is waiting in return to be treated in the same way and that all its rights, including its waters, are recovered. The fact that Lebanon is securing living requirements for its citizens does not deserve all this brouhaha."

"No country can raise itself and continue without building a strong national army. This is a general understanding and a simple condition for establishing a state. I should point out the big role Syria played in helping rebuild the strong Lebanese army. Syria was generous in providing moral and logistic support and remains supportive of the Lebanese army. If not for Syrian support, this country could not have recovered. The help to rebuild the army is one of many steps adopted by the Syrian command in support of Lebanon. Reality proves that Syria always stood by Lebanon, especially when it faced problems and difficult days in its efforts to liberate its land from Israeli occupation that lasted more than 25 years."

"At the beginning, nobody wanted to mix the brigades that were organized according to religious sects. When I was appointed there was a Maronite brigade, a Sunni brigade, a Druze brigade and so on. There are 18 official sects in Lebanon and there were 12 brigades.From the start, I had problems with those who were politically responsible who said that we just went out of the civil war, and if we make the change they will kill each other. I said that if we treat them right, it would work. And it worked. And that’s how the army became national. As president there were many important moments, but this time they were related more to international politics."

"We are in a state of war with Israel. Inside the army they will know the leaders of the resistance. They will hit them to weaken the resistance. Now they don’t know. They cannot work in known operations. In the army, you give an order – for example, to go through Beirut to Saida, up the mountain…. With Hizballah, nobody knows what holes they are in. They are underground. They have their rockets hidden underground. This is their strength. I can understand why they say that it’s important to have only one commander in chief, but in fact if you have only one of both, we are no stronger than Egypt, Jordan etc. Israel defeated them all in 6 days. Here they stayed 30 days and they had to run away. This means that it worked. I can understand when foreigners like you ask why don’t you make a commander for all, but for a Lebanese to say this it means that they have an outside agenda – one that goes through Europe, America to Israel."

"We have today around half a million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, their birth rate is three times higher than the Lebanese. That is a time bomb. It is the basic problem of our country, it led to the outbreak of civil war in 1975 and still remains unsolved today. Everybody today is talking about UN resolution 1559, but nobody mentions resolution 194, which recognizes the Palestinians' right of return (to Israel). Lebanon is small and can't integrate the Palestinians."

"Despite the hail of bombs, the Israelis have been unable to produce one single photo of a destroyed resistance base, because they don't know where they are. Army bases, on the other hand, are well known and this is why they are invariably destroying our armed forces and, above all, civilian targets."

"We should not forget that in a world without boundaries, where a digital reality have changed the rules of the game due to the technological advances of our age, resources cannot be seen as of the realm of wealthy countries, as its problems cannot be seen as distinct from those of developing countries. The problems of illegal immigration which Lebanon suffers from and is hence joining the fight against- and what Europe currently faces in currents against this immigration, are evidence of the urgency with which we should tackle the root causes of such a problem."

"Our States, which are trying through this convention to strengthen their cooperation and economic ties, in order to create further chances for their development, and getting out of the circle of negative consumerism, are hence stronger and more able to correct the economic and political imbalances. For the resources of our countries, be they human, industrial, commercial, productive, are manifold and voluminous. And these resources need modern and global plans in order to be implemented, and changed into development and modernity."

"In Lebanon, Israel cannot have an influence. Believe me, the best thing now is to stop these ideas about under fire to dictate conditions of Israel. It will not work. Now they're using aircrafts again, and they can, use, kill the people they want, they make I mean threats to everybody, that we can get you everywhere, we know, they can get us everywhere, but they cannot get all Lebanon."

"I said it before Hizballah. For as long as we are in a state of war with Israel, we need to be strong. When there will be peace, I will be the first to ask Hizballah to give up its weapons. But from now until that day comes, they want to trick us."

"Do you know how many Syrian soldiers were in Lebanon? 40 000. Do you know how many there were when they officially left? 11 000. It was confidence building between us, and slowly they were leaving. At the time of the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri, Lebanon was according to Interpol the number one country in the world in terms of security and stability. It was all over the Internet. Number two was Austria and number three was Switzerland. They killed him because our enemies did not want Lebanon to stay strong."

"The Israeli armed forces are destroying Lebanon, and the international community isn't trying to hold them back, but giving them more time to complete their plan of destruction."

"Lebanon may not possess a large military force similar to the U.S. and Israel. Its military arsenal may be modest compared to theirs. However, its solid will, the steadfastness of its people, and its continued cooperation with Syria, as well as coordination with friendly countries are sufficient to achieve what all weapons, however sophisticated and violent may be, cannot achieve. This is not a philosophical theory, but a tangible reality that Lebanon has lived, and that the Palestinian people are living everyday."

"That's why I'm saying you must have a quick ceasefire, because the more the Israelis escalate — the things they're doing now, it's not done in the 21st century, when they use smart bombs against civilian buildings, when they use phosphorus bombs and right now they're investigating about it, when they're throwing three tonne bombs on one building — well all this is not allowed. So what I'm saying, you should have a ceasefire as quickly as possible because force will bring force, and there will be a cycle of violence so nobody knows what will happen; it will be really a catastrophe like it is now in Lebanon. That's why I'm saying that we should think about stopping the fire instead of thinking what will happen next. We must stop it and start to talk."

"We are going through critical times. On the one hand there are the fundamentalists, and on the other the elections and lots of countries with agendas and interests. If we don’t put aside the private interests, and this is difficult to achieve in Lebanon and I know this from my experience as Commander in Chief of the army for nine years and President for nine years, that inside the system you cannot find more than ten honest politicians, though many are outside, but the rest are concerned about individual gains and that cannot make a state. And because it’s critical, I am afraid something will happen."

"You see, Israel can destroy Lebanon. But it will never have an influence on the people of Lebanon. That's different. As I was saying yesterday, they can hit us, kill us, but we will never kneel, because we've seen what happened when Lebanese knelt in the past, what happened to Lebanon."

"Lebanon has resisted the Israeli war machine and forced the Israeli occupying forces to back out and withdraw. The threats made by Sharon and others will not prevent Lebanon from holding onto their land and their legitimate rights. As far as the U.S. position is concerned, we are waiting for them to implement what they have been calling for -- supporting human rights and respecting international laws. Based on this, we have extended our hand to everybody, but we will only refer to the authority able to solve such issues -- the United Nations."

""There is no doubt that the primary targets of the latest Israeli war in Lebanon was also to destroy the awakening and prosperity of our country. The Israelis themselves said that they want to take Lebanon 20 years back. Lebanon is Israel's chief rival in the field of finance, culture and tourism. And that is why we can see that whenever Lebanon bounces back and begins to make progress, Israel attacks it."

"Recent days have brought a notably offensive example. In the face of intense opposition across the Lebanese political and religious spectrum, Syria pressured the country's cabinet last weekend into endorsing a constitutional change designed to let President Émile Lahoud extend his expiring six-year term for three more years. Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has for years been a fierce foe of Mr. Lahoud and had strongly opposed amending the Constitution. But he suddenly changed his mind after a Friday night meeting with the Syrian chief of military intelligence. Now, barring a brave last-minute revolt by Lebanon's parliament, Syria will get its way and Mr. Lahoud, who long ago lost his support among the Lebanese but remains a willing tool of Damascus, will stay on. It is not easy for any Lebanese politician to stand up to the ruthless Syrian dictatorship and the 20,000 troops it keeps on hand to enforce its will. This is the third time in a decade that Syria has forced Lebanon to change its Constitution to ensure that there is a pro-Syrian president."

"HM is homosexual and vicious, like his Father, behind the scenes"

"So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.” And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin. Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. Then Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Urijah the priest made it before King Ahaz came back from Damascus."

"Pul king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his control. And Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from all the very wealthy, from each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and did not stay there in the land."

"Also Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to him and distressed him, and did not assist him. For Ahaz took part of the treasures from the house of the Lord, from the house of the king, and from the leaders, and he gave it to the king of Assyria; but he did not help him."

"Only recently the world witnessed the end of the Cold War. Today we all share in the benefits of progress in education, culture, and information and communication technologies. This progress allows for, but cannot guarantee, peaceful coexistence among nations. Social exclusion, ignorance, poverty, coercion and hatred are still a cause for concern to the world. They are sources of evil and destruction, which cannot be conquered with modern weapons. Therefore, if we want to conquer terrorism we must fight together against poverty, exclusion, racism and intolerance, despair and hatred. I am convinced that, as long as the world puts up with the desperate situation of millions of children in all continents, Europe included, who have no prospect of a better life, it will remain indifferent to evil and terrorism."

"Victory of freedom over oppression and the end of the Cold War opened up the ways for our participation in the process of European unification. The NATO pioneering role in extending the hand of support and assistance to the formerly captive nations was instrumental in this process."

"Although the Iron Curtain has separated Lithuania from the West, the Lithuanian people have retained their commitment to the values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law."

"The founding fathers of UNESCO who had witnessed the tragedy of the Second World War aspired to create an organization that would not only promote a dialogue among the cultures of the world but also act as a moral voice of the world’s nations. I believe that, in the face of the new reality, the latter role of UNESCO has acquired crucial significance. Indeed, today as never before, the States and nations of the world need a forum capable of defending and embedding the wisdom of humanity, common human values and moral principles. And the intellectual and moral power of UNESCO as such a forum, its influence and its authority in the modern world, will depend on the efforts of each and every one of us."

"But I faced an entirely different autumn in Washington this year. It so happened that on 11 September I was in Washington and, together with Americans, experienced the shock of the tragedy, which I took as a tragedy for the whole world and its civilizations. Terrorist attacks on civilians are attacks on peace, which is a moral foundation of our common life; they are attacks against the ethos of humanity. The acts of terror in New York and Washington have challenged and threatened peaceful coexistence among civilizations and the peaceful future of nations. And today we must respond to this threat by mustering the wisdom and goodwill of all nations. Cultural diversity must not be made an instrument of armed conflict. Victory over terrorism is the goal of all cultures and all civilizations, since terrorism will never be acceptable in any culture or in civilized behavior. On the other hand, we are facing a shared responsibility to prevent, now and in the future, the fight against terrorism from becoming a war against any culture, religion or nation, or a conflict of civilizations."

"As we further pursue economic reforms, strengthen democracy and promote good neighbourhood, your understanding and support to our aspiration of the membership will facilitate the elimination of the last vestiges of the Cold War and will contribute to ensuring a lasting peace and stability in the Continent."

"The tragic events in September should reinforce our resolve to defend peace and security. I believe that in the wake of these events UNESCO could initiate new measures for strengthening mutual confidence and moral principles for our common life."

"In the past, heads of state designed the security maps of Europe and of the world as they saw it fit. This practise of the past should never repeat itself. I would like to emphasise therefore that the enhancement of security and stability zone should be all-inclusive and proceed without delay."

"The cruelties of the Cold War fell particularly hard on the Baltic nations, which during the inter-war period also included Finland and Poland. Having suffered through decades of violence and oppression, we tend to judge the Cold War by emotions. Therefore our view of the post-cold-war Europe differs from that of other European states."

"We are well aware of the progress that should be made in certain areas in order to meet the criteria set for the membership: air defence, command, control and communication, logistics and infrastructure."

"The Cold War stereotypes still burden us. The Baltic states are often referred to by the militaries as indefensible. And their membership in the Euro-Atlantic structures is therefore viewed as a concern rather than a benefit."

"The end of the Cold War has opened to Lithuania and other restored democracies the doors to many European institutions. But the door to the key structures, generating the greatest prosperity, security and stability, are still hard to open."

"Political developments of the recent years have proved the significance of joined, co-operation and integration oriented efforts to European security. The expanding atmosphere of confidence and good-will erodes the foundations of long-standing threats and conflicts. We seek to be an integrated part of the on-going developments. Moreover, we are in the vortex of these historic integration processes. The heads of Central and Eastern European states who assembled in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania, last year, declared their clear-cut determination to strengthen the atmosphere of confidence in the region which, at present, is in search of guidelines for the future. It is not only our accomplishment, but also the achievement of Europe as the whole. I want to reassure you of Lithuania's commitment to the creation of the continent that is undivided and at peace."

"In 1944, the Soviet terror and suppressions made me leave Lithuania. I found a temporary shelter first in a war ravaged Germany, later - in the United States. I was among those who could take advantage of the possibilities offered by free society, and also share its responsibilities."

"The future role of UNESCO in identifying possible challenges to humanity and proposing solutions to them has acquired crucial importance today. The ever more rapid advancement of science, technologies and communications raises complex ethical problems for humanity."

"Just later when you start serving, do you take the responsibility and perceive how deep, meaningful and binding this oath is. The only thing which I’d like to say, especially, to the young generation, is that when you swear to the Constitution, you have to respect it, fight for the free man and his natural rights, and it will completely eliminate your private life. Since the moment you take that duty, you refuse your personal goals. Your aim from now on is to give your state and its people everything that you have with the best of your personality and your environment."

"The 11th of March was the day that Lithuania declared itself independent from the Soviet Union in 1990. There is only one difference; the 16th of February inspired and united people, who, despite very difficult circumstances, still cherished love and focused on creating their own state. Comparatively, the 11th of March commemorates the restoration of Lithuania after the long fight against occupation which lead to the crowning event - receiving independence. It showed that our nation, in the first phase of its independence (from 1918 till 1940, ed.), was able to rear the strongly patriotic younger generation, who took strength from their parents and built the state of Lithuania on firm, moral legs. It held that there was a strong aspiration for independence during those 50 years of occupation, and it proved to the world that we are determined to live freely and autonomously."

"To my mind, the question of integration is not related to the founding of Lithuanian suburbs in one place or another as you have mentioned. It was self-contained, uniting itself with a goal to maintain the nationality and further develop Lithuanian culture. In my opinion, the concentration of Lithuanians in those separate suburbs led to more permanence – Americans also paid attention to this. They – various officers attending our concerts or celebrations, for instance – were surprised by our national group, which, despite being far away from the motherland, was not only able to save their identity, but also mature it over the years. It kept hope that matters in the issues of Lithuanian freedom would get better someday. I’m personally proud of our emigrees, who managed to achieve such significant results – Lithuania’s case for independence became famous worldwide."

"A thousand years of fighting for survival. A thousand years of efforts to be within Europe, not only and not as much in its geographic space, but within its spiritual, cultural and political context. We confronted and countered inside and outside threats and we escaped the danger of losing our national identity or becoming extinct. Today as we look back on the past of Lithuania, we can describe many of its moments as national self-protection."

"Liberalism had no appropriate foundations to form in Lithuania. In that field we feel that we lack guides and leaders, and that our liberal idea drowns. Sometimes it seems to me that the liberal thought itself – the promotion of the free word, free will and a free mindset – is distorted in Lithuania. Thinking that liberalism opens any liberties which deny the main moral values, deform the liberal ideal and converting it, in some cases, creates chaos. The only hope is that over time, a certain group of people will remain, they won’t turn away from set liberal ideals, and then liberalism itself will become valid as one of the essential ideological domains. But, I’ll repeat myself, this will take a matter of time. I also hope that eventually Lithuanian society will become mature enough and we’ll have all indications needed for a full-grown democratic country."

"On the other hand, it would be naive to expect that we’d be capable of implanting that ideal, whereas the Western world has been pushing its way for several centuries."

"Is it not for this reason that Lithuania received massive moral support from all over the world since the very first moments of its national revival movement and aspirations for independence? The strong backing given by democratic forces and prominent international figures had not only encouraged us, but also accelerated our return to the family of democratic nations and the final point of our historical destination. So that once again we can leave resistance behind and resume the nation building process. So that we can live as an independent nation and member of collective security organizations, working together towards modern Lithuania, modern Europe and modern world."

"This year - the last year of the century - is full of historical dates. The two of them -60 years since the start of the Second World War and the first decade of the end of the Cold War - stand out from all the other. It is difficult to decide which of the two has left a deeper mark on the European development. The first, which cost us millions of human lives and discouraged from the use of force, made us say "never again" and accelerated the integration of the old continent. The second, whose death toll of ideological violence is yet unknown, disclosed the impotence of communism and established democracy, human rights and market economy as the only resilient principles of the world order."

"Fighting for freedom and living in independence is the common denominator that brings the suffering and victories of the people of Lithuanian, their past and future, their armed resistance, their culture, education and science together in a single space. The work and endeavors of each generation and every person have created a nation vibrant in its heart and actions, forging a close bond between all of us here and the Lithuania of 1009, the Lithuania of King Mindaugas and the Lithuania of All Ages."

"Today European unity should first and foremost focus on the spiritual and moral values. European unity should be based not on the struggle against something but on joint work for democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It is the development of democracy that will prevent conflicts and pave new ways for the European identity."