Political Quotes

“over the past several months the world's attention has been focused on the Russian invasion of Crimea and fighting in the eastern Ukraine, the explosion of violence in Gaza, the flood of migrant children from Central America, and the horrific death and destruction in Iraq and Syria. In each of these places vast numbers of innocent people have suffered terribly, and our own policies and capability to respond have been severely tested. Yet one of the most urgent, difficult, and frightening challenges facing the world today is not the result of armed conflict or ethnic or religious extremism. It is the world's first Ebola epidemic, and it poses a potentially devastating threat to Africa and people everywhere. Before the August recess we were preparing to receive dozens of African heads of state to Washington. At that time, Doctors Without Borders and other nongovernmental organizations had been ringing alarm bells for weeks about the worsening Ebola outbreak in West Africa. But the World Health Organization and governments, including our own, were slow to respond to what was viewed as a manageable, localized public health problem, rather than a crisis that could spin out of control. No longer. Infections and deaths in Liberia and Sierra Leone are increasing rapidly, with exponential acceleration in these countries and potentially in neighboring Guinea. Official reports may be only a piece of the picture.…”