George H. W. Bush quote: “This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait.”

“Defiance is the reaction against activity (aggression) of the environment.”

Wilhelm Stekel (1868–1940) Austrian physician and psychologist

Sadism and Masochism : The Psychology of Hatred and Cruelty, Vol. 1 (1939), p. 46
Context: An intense, unyielding stubbornness hides beneath an apparent obedience (the patient brings a vast number of dreams; his associations become endless; he produces an inexhaustible number of recollections, which seem to him very important but are actually of little moment; or he goes off upon some byroad suggested by the analyst and leads the latter into a blind alley).
The child manifests the same reactions of defiance and obedience. The child, too, can hide his stubbornness behind an excessive docility (the parent's command: You must be industrious. Industry may become a mania so that the child neither goes out nor has time to sleep). Obedience is the giving up of the resistance; obstinacy the setting up of fresh resistances. This resistance is externally active. We have in recent years had sufficient opportunity to observe the law of resistance (the passive resistance). Activity and defiance show great differences. Defiance is the reaction against activity (aggression) of the environment. It may then manifest itself actively or passively and stands in the service of the defensive tendency of the ego. Every resistance reveals the ego (one's own) in conflict with another.

“We are against the world war being fomented by the superpowers and also against all the local wars of aggression which they instigate or back.”

Hu Yaobang (1915–1989) former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China

Taiwan Communique and Separation of Powers: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, pp. 199 (1983)

“The only proper role of government, according to libertarians, is that of the protector of the citizen against aggression by other individuals. The government, of course, should never initiate aggression; its proper role is as the embodiment of the retaliatory use of force against anyone who initiates its use.”

John Hospers (1918–2011) American philosopher and politician

Source: The Libertarian Alternative, (1977), p. 12

“Iraq's invasion of Kuwait defies every principle for which the United Nations stands. If we let it succeed, no small country can ever feel safe again. The law of the jungle would take over from the rule of law.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

Speech to the Aspen Institute ("Shaping a New Global Community") (5 August 1990) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108174
Third term as Prime Minister

“It goes back to the days when we were defending ourselves against the internal aggression of the Native American population, who we incidentally wiped out in the process. In the post World War II period, we've frequently had to carry out defense against internal aggression, that is against Salvadorans in El Salvador, Greeks in Greece, against Filipinos in the Philippines, against South Vietnamese in South Vietnam, and many other places.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

Talk titled "The Lessons of Vietnam", March 31, 1985; Republished at " Program Information: The Lessons of Viet Nam http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=11149" at radio4all.net, accessed May 23, 2014.
Quotes 1960s-1980s, 1980s
Context: It goes back to the days when we were defending ourselves against the internal aggression of the Native American population, who we incidentally wiped out in the process. In the post World War II period, we've frequently had to carry out defense against internal aggression, that is against Salvadorans in El Salvador, Greeks in Greece, against Filipinos in the Philippines, against South Vietnamese in South Vietnam, and many other places. And the concept of internal aggression has been repeatedly invoked in this connection, and quite appropriately. It's an interesting concept, it's one that George Orwell would certainly have admired, and it's elaborated in many ways in the internal documentary record.

“Nuclear weapons are considered as a means of forcing a potential adversary to refuse to unleash aggression against our country.”

Valery Gerasimov (1955) chief of the General Staff of the armed forces of the Russian Federation

"Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov holds briefing for foreign military attaches" https://eng.mil.ru/en/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12331668@egNews (24 December 2020)

“Furthermore, when citizens are all almost equal, it becomes difficult for them to defend their independence against the aggressions of power.”

Alexis De Tocqueville book Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America, Volume I (1835), Chapter I-V, Chapter III.

“The men who are to protect the community against violent aggression easily turn into the most dangerous aggressors. They transgress their mandate.”

Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) austrian economist

Source: The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science (1962), Chapter 5: On Some Popular Errors Concerning the Scope and Method of Economics, § 10 : The Concept of a Perfect System of Government
Context: It is a double-edged makeshift to entrust an individual or a group of individuals with the authority to resort to violence. The enticement implied is too tempting for a human being. The men who are to protect the community against violent aggression easily turn into the most dangerous aggressors. They transgress their mandate. They misuse their power for the oppression of those whom they were expected to defend against oppression. The main political problem is how to prevent the police power from becoming tyrannical. This is the meaning of all the struggles for liberty.

“I define anarchist society as one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual.”

Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) American economist of the Austrian School, libertarian political theorist, and historian

"Society Without A State" in The Libertarian Forum (1975) http://www.mises.org/journals/lf/1975/1975_01.pdf.
Context: I define anarchist society as one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual. Anarchists oppose the State because it has its very being in such aggression, namely, the expropriation of private property through taxation, the coercive exclusion of other providers of defense service from its territory, and all of the other depredations and coercions that are built upon these twin foci of invasions of individual rights.

“The people of Ukraine continue to inspire the world with their courage and resolve as they fight bravely to defend their country and their democracy against Russian aggression.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Statement by President Joe Biden on Additional Security Assistance to Ukraine (June 1, 2022) https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/01/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-additional-security-assistance-to-ukraine-2/
2022, June 2022

“This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait.”

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