An Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski

[Quetzal]

An Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski

March 31 - The U.S. stands at a crossroads. America, according to Zbigniew Brzezinski, has a choice. As the world’s lone superpower, it can either plot a self-isolating course toward global domination or, with the help of allies, global leadership. The difference between domination and leadership may be a subtle one, but Brzezinski, a former national-security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, articulates it in his new book, “The Choice” (Basic Books). Brzezinski argues that in an insecure post-September 11 world that America most needs allies—particularly enduring allies—based not just on convenience but also conviction. “Preponderance,” he says, “should not be confused with omnipotence.”

After the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the Bush administration, he says, moved quickly to construct a new vision of national security founded in unchecked American military might and built with pre-emptive attacks. In invading Iraq with no evidence of any threat to U.S. security, he says, the Bush administration squandered the good will of countries that would have otherwise been America’s natural allies. With “The Choice,” Brzezinksi offers a competing policy. Rather than adopt what he calls a “you’re either with us or against us” stance, the United States should engage its allies to build an "increasingly formalized global community of shared interest.” The very expression “war on terror,” he argues, is a nonsensical phrase in that it is impossible to wage war on the concept of terrorism, a tactic stripped of context. The Bush administration would more effectively adjust to this new era of insecurity, he says, if it were to drop the good-versus-evil rhetoric and address the political circumstances that gave rise to terrorists’ grievances.

more...

An Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski