There are unknown unknowns, as Mr Rumsfeld said

Dear Forumers,

Donald Rumsfeld, the great figure of the Republican Party, and a United States Secretary of Defense, said in 2002 that: "As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know."

I think basically that this assessment by Mr Rumsfeld explains a lot and surely it still applies just as much, not only to America but to Britain and all other nations of course. It is perhaps the best political quotation of the 21st Century so far.

But his boss George W. Bush also gave a great insight when he said that: "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully".

Veronika Oleksychenko