In a mass television democracy - which all of us nowadays have - it is impossible to take basic political decisions with long-term consequences without the public knowing it, without the public understanding at least some of it, without the public forming its judgment, heterogeneous as it may be.

Helmut Schmidt

Categorized in : Some Impossible Political Democracy

People who have visions should go see a doctor.

Helmut Schmidt

doctors vision people

Politicians and journalists share the same fate in that they often understand tomorrow the things they talk about today.

Helmut Schmidt

fate tomorrow today

If somewhere is a deficiency the normal American answer would have been well then, let's spend some more money, build some more weapons and deploy them. That's the normal way of thinking of the military, in America not only but also all over the place, but America or Russia or other countries.

Helmut Schmidt

military country thinking

I hate the idea that someone think the destruction of Chicago as strategic affair, the destruction of Hamburg as a tactical one.

Helmut Schmidt

hate ideas thinking

I have had and still do have every confidence in Paul Nitze, a man whom I have known for decades, one of the wisest servants of the American nation but always willing and capable of taking into account the interests of their allies, whoever: the British, or the French or the Germans or others.

Helmut Schmidt

allies british men

Ronad Reagan might go down to history as a man who in the end of this administration brought about the first nuclear arms reduction treaty, the first arms reduction treaty at all in the modern world, and this is quite something.

Helmut Schmidt

might men firsts

Population growth and the proliferation of mega-cities around the world redefines the entire global security agenda.

Helmut Schmidt

population growth cities

President [Ronald] Reagan never has tried to become an expert on military matters. He never has endeavored to learn the most important details in that field, which lead to a situation in which his aides played a much greater roles than aides would have played under President Ford or let us say in the whole Nixon-Ford-Kissinger era.

Helmut Schmidt

important military president

In those years,'80 was the, at the turn of '79/'80 you had the invasion of Afghanistan. It was the period in which the Americans attempt to liberate, to, to liberate the hostages in Iran and all these, all these things, the atmosphere was freezing - boycott of the Olympic Games and all that.

Helmut Schmidt

iran games years

Political leaders normally act by making convincing speeches.

Helmut Schmidt

speech political leader

Leonid Breznev was an old man and despite his own military experience in World War II, he on the other hand was not very close to the military.

Helmut Schmidt

military men war

The catch word is equilibrium again, informed the field what are conventional weapons or nuclear weapons of different qualities. You cannot make up for a actual or perceived disequilibrium in the conventional field by having more nuclear weapons.

Helmut Schmidt

nuclear quality different

President [Ronald] Reagan told me he would negotiate and negotiate and negotiate with the Soviets, and I believed him.

Helmut Schmidt

president-ronald-reagan president

What I do see, for instance, is that the French are not very happy with the ... I am happy but they are not and I understand why they are not happy. They still believe in some nuclear strategic formulas which they have inherited from General De Gaulle and they have started the process of rethinking, they haven't gone very far.

Helmut Schmidt

nuclear gone believe

The Alliance and NATO is two different things. France is a member of the Alliance. NATO is an organization not mentioned in the North Atlantic Treaty, has been built up in the course of history, in the course of history France has left that organization. Normally the Alliance has been lead by consent, building up consensus on important issues of questions, in many instances over the last 30 years that I have followed events closely. In many, many cases was being done under the spiritual guidance of the American President, that is true, but sometimes also at the guidance of others.

Helmut Schmidt

building-up spiritual years

I have talked about the deterioration of the atmosphere between Washington and Moscow. It was quite clear that in the year 1980, which at the same time was an election year in America, these negotiations would not go very far, but immediately after the start of the Reagan administration we in Bonn started to try influencing them on the medium-range nuclear weapons negotiations, and we told them that in our view the best outcome would be zero-zero, zero on either side.

Helmut Schmidt

zero views years

I've never been a classic Gaulist! Not a Gaulist at all.

Helmut Schmidt

classic

I think that the solution of the question of numerical superiority of Russian conventional forces has to be solved.

Helmut Schmidt

conventional force thinking

Admirals and Generals always want more ships and more weapons and they take the arguments where they can find them.

Helmut Schmidt

ships weapons want

Leonid Brezhnev did not understand the enormous political importance of the decision to produce and afterwards deploy the SS-20s.

Helmut Schmidt

brezhnev political decision