But as the arms-control scholar Thomas Schelling once noted, two things are very expensive in international life: promises when they succeed and threats when they fail.
Meaning of the quote
This quote is saying that in global affairs, both making promises that end up working out and making threats that end up not working out can be very costly. Promises that are successful can be expensive because the country has to follow through on what it said it would do. And threats that fail can also be costly because the country has to deal with the consequences of its failed threat. The speaker is suggesting that countries need to be very careful about the promises they make and the threats they use in international relations.
About Fareed Zakaria
Fareed Zakaria is an Indian-born American journalist, political commentator, and author. He hosts the CNN show ‘Fareed Zakaria GPS’ and writes a weekly column for The Washington Post. Zakaria has held various editorial roles at Newsweek and Time magazines over the years.
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