Michael J. Totten > Quotes

“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. Both Israelis and Palestinians are irresistible forces, and they’re both immovable objects.”
― Michael J. Totten, Tower of the Sun: Stories From the Middle East and North Africa

“An adventure,” the great travel writer Tim Cahill once wrote, “is never an adventure when it happens. An adventure is simply physical and emotional discomfort recollected in tranquility.”
― Michael J. Totten, Where the West Ends

“Essam el-Erian: When congressmen stood up 30 times to salute Netanyahu when he gave his speech in the Congress, it destroyed any dream for peace. MJT:”
― Michael J. Totten, Tower of the Sun: Stories From the Middle East and North Africa

“hills can”
― Michael J. Totten, Where the West Ends

“Do you know why America does not understand Egypt? Because they do not understand the meaning of the word Maaleesh. In English, Maaleesh means ‘doesn’t matter,’ and it is the one word you need to understand Egypt. In America everything is now, now, now—make the money now, make the career now. But in Egypt, everybody believes in life after death, so everything in life is Maaleesh.”
― Michael J. Totten, Tower of the Sun: Stories From the Middle East and North Africa

“What they didn’t know—what no one could know and what may in the end matter most—is how much damage a fanatical minority can do in Iran after it’s thrown out of power. It may not matter if most Iranians want a normal life in a quiet country. Most Iraqis were not insurgents, but the insurgency raged on.”
― Michael J. Totten, Tower of the Sun: Stories From the Middle East and North Africa

“It would be bad for Lebanon and for the Middle East if the U.S. withdraws from the region. We will face a different Arab and Muslim world. It is very strange and ironic that even the pro-Iranians in Iraq are asking the Americans to stay. You could write a theater about it. Making the Americans totally withdraw from the Arab world would be a mistake, would be a disaster for the moderates in the Arab world. The radicals and the Iranians would win.”
― Michael J. Totten, The Road to Fatima Gate: The Beirut Spring, the Rise of Hezbollah, and the Iranian War Against Israel

“Communism would exit the world stage revealed for what it truly was: fascism, without fascism’s ability to make the trains run on time.” ”
― Michael J. Totten, Where the West Ends