Zbigniew Brzezinski: "American Debacle" . . .

[Journeyman]

American Debacle

By Zbigniew Brzezinski
(Zbigniew Brzezinski was national security advisor to President Carter)

Some 60 years ago Arnold Toynbee concluded, in his monumental "Study of History," that the ultimate cause of imperial collapse was "suicidal statecraft." Sadly for George W. Bush's place in history and — much more important — ominously for America's future, that adroit phrase increasingly seems applicable to the policies pursued by the United States since the cataclysm of 9/11.

Though there have been some hints that the Bush administration may be beginning to reassess the goals, so far defined largely by slogans, of its unsuccessful military intervention in Iraq, President Bush's speech Thursday was a throwback to the demagogic formulations he employed during the 2004 presidential campaign to justify a war that he himself started.

That war, advocated by a narrow circle of decision-makers for motives still not fully exposed, propagated publicly by rhetoric reliant on false assertions, has turned out to be much more costly in blood and money than anticipated. It has precipitated worldwide criticism. In the Middle East it has stamped the United States as the imperialistic successor to Britain and as a partner of Israel in the military repression of the Arabs. Fair or not, that perception has become widespread throughout the world of Islam.

Now, however, more than a reformulation of U.S. goals in Iraq is needed. The persistent reluctance of the administration to confront the political background of the terrorist menace has reinforced sympathy among Muslims for the terrorists. It is a self-delusion for Americans to be told that the terrorists are motivated mainly by an abstract "hatred of freedom" and that their acts are a reflection of a profound cultural hostility. If that were so, Stockholm or Rio de Janeiro would be as much at risk as New York City. Yet, in addition to New Yorkers, the principal victims of serious terrorist attacks have been Australians in Bali, Spaniards in Madrid, Israelis in Tel Aviv, Egyptians in the Sinai and Britons in London.

(snip/more)


http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-brzezinski9oct09,0,2062011.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary

[Wilms]

1. Zbigniew Brzezinski is part of the problem. n/t

[bemildred]

7. Yep. The policy is OK, but the Bushites didn't do it right.

A lot of his complaints now about the decline of
US' global hegemony were talked about and predicted
here at DU before this stupid little war was started,
and in a number of books in the decade preceding.

Where was Zbig then? Babbling about the "Global
Chessboard" and protecting his ass while waiting for
a better time to make his own move. :puke:

[Spoonerian]

8. It looks like Zbiggie's won this round

of "the Great Game"--embarassing Chimpy and the neo-cons by suckering them into Iraq. The G8-ers may try to take out Chimpy now with a drink-o-gate or maybe if we're lucky with a bush-lips-blow-job-o-gate. But don't count the Bushite fascists out yet. Remember after that Hitler thing? One minute it looks like the Bush crime family had all of their chips on the wrong number and then the next thing you knew, the old Fascists were there to protect us from the commies?

I always love that slogan: "Democracy: Its not just a spectator sport." I think Zbiggy and Chimpy got it right. Its not just a spectator sport. It more like that basketball game that the Ancient Mayans (I think) used to play with the vertical hoop where after the first score the losers get murdered in a sacrifice to the gods. But with democracy everybody gets to watch on TV and buy a low payoff lottery ticket for either Zbiggie's team or Chimpy's team.

[peacetalksforall]

2. I am hesitant to congratulate Brzezinski because of words,

positions, and affiliations he has come up with since his Carter days - however, he is speaking the obvious here - obvious to many, but unsaid by more. We are in a sick to dying situation under PNACers and their rulers - the CABAL of the Fed Society, Tri-Lateral Commission, and all their many affialiations who allowed the U.S. to do this.

The full partnership with Britain and Israel has been a disaster.

PNAC et al are anti-American. It is obvious that their agenda is to destroy the U.S. We are living our own political and war mongering disaster. We are going down if we don't understand them and do what we can to expose them.

[Sven77]

3. in his book

the grand chessboard, he refers to the people as "slaves"

[firefox]

4. We are slaves to the corporations and the government is the overseer n/t

[cosmicdot]

5. speaking of 'a narrow circle of decision-makers' ...

U.S. Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce

HONORARY COUNCIL OF ADVISORS

James Baker III

Lloyd Bentsen

Zbigniew Brzezinski
also, Trustee of the Trilateral Commission

Henry Kissinger

Brent Scowcroft

John Sununu

http://www.usacc.org/contents.php?cid=2



Azerbaijan - a nation with a Turkic and majority-Muslim population - regained its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Azerbaijan has yet to resolve its conflict with Armenia over the Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh enclave (largely Armenian populated). Azerbaijan has lost 16% of its territory and must support some 571,000 internally displaced persons as a result of the conflict. Corruption is ubiquitous and the promise of widespread wealth from Azerbaijan's undeveloped petroleum resources remains largely unfulfilled.

[Democrats_win]

6. Yeah, he's in bad company there. Today's article is still good.

Article tells
1. How torturing has hurt our moral standing.

2. Massive spending hurts our ability to influence world events in the future.

3. How our actions are hurting nuclear non-proliferation efforts.

4. How our old friends are seeking other friendships not involving us.
--

I would hope that republicans can see that we are on the wrong track.

[Martin Eden]

9. I liked this quote:

"Flailing away with a stick at a hornets' nest while loudly proclaiming "I will stay the course" is an exercise in catastrophic leadership."

[whirlygigspin]

10. Viva Stepford

Zbig always does a great job delineating geopolitical realities but seems way way off this time on thinking that the administration can change course by working the democrats.

Now maybe a rational man would say, "yeah, good idea, let's all work together and solve this Iraq thing"...but he can't because his only support base come from the politics of division.

The religious right, or as I like to call them, evil Satanists main motivation for support of the President is their hatred of all things democratic and free.

So, stay the course and bring on the rapture!

oy

[Martin Eden]

13. Yeah, Zbig is better at criticizing than finding solutions

and his solution for Iraq is almost as far from reality as Bush's.

IMO, nothing much will change in our foreign policy until there's a major political change in this country -- with leaders who will absolutely refute militarism -- or until we are no longer able to sustain a militaristic foregn policy.

Zbig is a militarist.

[DrDoubleplusgood]

11. Screw Zbig

The Mujahadeen-later Taliban was his baby. In his book The Grand Chessboard he yaks about keeping "vassals" compliant, the need for a new empire through central Asia. I think it came out in 1997. Then, we get 9/11. He's with the PNAC crowd. He's a dem, but so what. He's even more evil than a lot of the other neocons in that he's so open about his disgusting machiavellian outlook and plans.

[Spoonerian]

12. Here's a general rule of thumb:

When Machievelli tells us that he's going to get real with us and then tells us that he's a liar, a cheat, a robber, and a murderer...Don't believe him!....er...a....er...Do believe him!...er...a...

In other words, maybe he would have named his book "The Great Pro Wrestling Match" if he was REALLY being a nice guy and telling us what he's REALLY thinking.

For those of you scoring at home, I've chalked this latest round up to Zbiggie and/or the G8-ers. They suckered the neo-cons and the fundies by letting them think they were playing chess with the big boys. But don't count them out yet. They know a thing or two about pro-wrestling too and they may have a ringer hiding in the script writing or central casting department.