Zbigniew Brzezinski: "Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-01-26/zbigniew-brzezinski-strategic-vision-america-and-crisis-global-power
Zbigniew Brzezinski has had a hand in U.S. foreign policy for four decades. He served as national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter from 1977-1981. Since then he has counseled presidents and members of Congress. And he has written and lectured extensively on America's role in the world. In a new book Brzezinksi argues U.S. leaders need a better strategic vision to navigate the challenges of the 21st century. He offers his insights on China's meteoric rise, a turbulent Middle East and the likely consequences of a decline in American power.
Guests
Zbigniew Brzezinski
counselor and trustee at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, professor of American Foreign Policy at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and former National Security Advisor in the Carter administration.
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Program Highlights
Zbigniew Brzezinski is the former national security advisor under President Carter. Since then, he's widely consulted on geo-politics. In a new book, Brzezinski offers his views on America's role in the world as the center of gravity shifts from the West to the East.
A Crisis For America
"The fact of the matter is that the age of domination of the world by a single power is probably over and irretrievably so for a variety of reasons we can discuss, but they have a lot to do with the changing balance of power - and a great deal with the new phenomenon that I have been very much concerned with over the last several years which I call global political awakening," Brzezinski said. "And the other dimension is the internal stresses and weaknesses of the American system which have been surfacing and which have been compounded in the last decade or so by
a fundamentally irrational and self-damaging foreign policy."
What Is The Worst International Problem Facing The U.S.?
The combination of the sudden rise of Asia, the simultaneous weakening of the West, and the restlessness in many other parts of the world is really the worst problem the U.S. faces today in Brzezinski's view. He believes it is critically important that the U.S. not get "sucked into"
conflicts in other parts of the world now. "It's going to be tough sledding to achieve that," he said.
Will The EU's Oil Embargo Have a Strong Impact On Iran?
"That's a very difficult and delicate issue because on the one hand they certainly will cut to the core of Iranian economic survivability. They are highly dependent on their oil exports and that includes the several Asian countries, China, Japan particularly, India to some extent, also to some Western European countries - particularly Italy," Brzezinski said. Some countries might be damaged by it and blame us for it, he added.
Is Obama A Foreign Policy Realist?
Diane said that Brzezinski is a foreign policy realist, and asked him if he thought President Obama was, too. "He has a strong streak of idealism in him, which is all to the good because that's very much associated with the American message to the world," he said."But what has impressed me from talking to him is that he does understand what's unique and novel about the 21st century. He does understand some of the things I write about in my book, which is that the nature of power has changed, that the role of the West as the dominant force in the world has come to an end, that new centers of power are rising, that the population of the world is now really politically awakened."
You can read the full transcript here.
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Does Mr. Brzezinski feel the U.S. sellout of the Bahrain democracy movement will prove to be an enormous strategic blunder? Suppose a democratic Bahrain decides it finds another use for the space currently being occupied by the Fifth Fleet?
Dr. Brzezinski. First I so admire you and your commitment to helping the American public and people around the world understand US foreign policy and expanding our awareness about how other nations respond to our foreign policy.
The other morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe you said :
“I don’t think the (US) decline is inevitable. I think it is avoidable. But it is looming on the horizon. There is a lot of evidence for a relative decline and also an absolute decline in the American standing in the world.”
Can you please discuss how the invasion of Iraq based on unsubstantiated claims and the subsequent death and destruction that has taken place in Iraq has affected the US standing in the world?
Can you also discuss how this push for a military attack on Iran based on questionable intelligence and being promoted by some of the same individuals who lied this nation into Iraq would effect the US's standing in the world morally, strategically and economically?
Dr. Brezinski on MSNBC's Morning Joe you recently said
“The fact is we are a democracy we can only conduct a foreign policy that the public supports. The public in America is woefully ignorant about the world.”
Can you try to explain why say for instance MSNBC spends hour after hour covering the Republican debates, everything the candidates say while ignoring foreign policy issues. Educating the public based on accurate information about the Israeli Palestinian conflict, US negotiations or lack of negotiations with Iran etc. It almost seems the MSM wants to keep the American public "woefully ignorant" Well with the exception of the Rehm show, Cspan, Democracy Now etc.
I always wondered why the American public needed the "mainstream media" to educate itself? Anyone ever heard of the library? The internet? The American people are WILLFULLY ignorant of the world, because by and large, that's what arrogance produces.
Wasn't the word umbrella used by the US in a colloquialism related to the 'nuclear shield' we could provide our allies? 'did not understand the doctors' answer about a regional umbrella pertaining to the Afghanistan issues.
On MSNBC's Morning Joe during a recent interview about your new book you said “Iran could happen between now and election day. Perhaps in the last three weeks of the elections. Because at that moment if something happens the public opinion would support military action initially”
I have watched and listened carefully to how some MSM host of shows have allowed unsubstantiated and inflammatory claims about Iran to be repeated on their programs over the last eight years. I have a list. It is long. Would you say that the media has helped set the stage for an attack on Iran that the public "would support military action initially"
How does he think the U.S. can still be considered an "honest broker" in the Israel/Palestine conflict?
Please ask you Mr. Brzenzinski where the national and economic security of the US would be today if President Reagan had not reversed the sustainable energy and conservation policies of the Carter administration resulting from the energy crisis of the 70's and had instead reinforced those efforts as a national goal and as a new sustainable jobs creation effort similar to the gear up during WWII?
I would say that's what monopoly capitalism produces, ignorance, and arrogance. You can't have one without the other.
Diane, a question for Mr. Brzezinski:
I am a 22 year old University Student in Orlando, FL. My world-view has been shaped and will forever be plagued by terrorism; the seemingly-perpetual wars against terrorism, the domestic fears of terrorism and the simultaneous shrinking of civil liberties and privacy due to those fears. My friends often remark how wars and our almost numbness to these wars are so natural to us, that it scares us. There are no diplomatic relations with terror organizations, unlike the USSR. Do still hold by your view (from the interview with Le Nouvel Observateur Jan. 1998) that these groups are just some "stirred-up Moslems" and that their existence is better than the existence of the Soviet Union?
Sir both you and Diane just said that the President of Iran has said that Israel should not "exist" It is often repeated in the US MSM that he has said that "Israel should be wiped off the map"
According to Professor Juan Cole who speaks Persian as well as several other languages has said that what the Iranian President said is that "Zionism should vanish from the pages of history" A far cry from saying that Israel should not "exist" or "will be wiped from the face of the map"
Yet Israel and the I lobby in the US congress threaten to attack Iran almost daily. Please discuss the unsubstantiated claims about Iran that are repeated daily in the US. One example is the article that appeared in the New York Times the other day "Will Israel Attack Iran? By RONEN BERGMAN
The article is filled with unsubstantiated and inflammatory claims
What is Dr. Brzezinski's view on activities of IMF on current economic crises in Europe and Middle East?
Can you ask him to discuss the place of Africa, the African Union and the United States of Africa in this new world.
Didn't General MacArthur say to never get in a land war in Asia? Now all we have to do is make Turkey, and Russia democracy's? What just got ran by us? We're still paying for Britains intrigue into the region when they got the Ottoman empire to fall aren't we? Doctor wasn't the 20th Century all about oil?
Here is how Professor Juan Cole at Informed Comment has translated the Iranian Presidents words about Israel
"The phrase he then used as I read it is “The Imam said that this regime occupying Jerusalem (een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods) must [vanish from] from the page of time (bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad).”
Ahmadinejad was not making a threat, he was quoting a saying of Khomeini and urgin...(tharr be more)g that pro-Palestinian activists in Iran not give up hope– that the occupation of Jerusalem was no more a continued inevitability than had been the hegemony of the Shah’s government.
Whatever this quotation from a decades-old speech of Khomeini may have meant, Ahmadinejad did not say that “Israel must be wiped off the map” with the implication that phrase has of Nazi-style extermination of a people. He said that the occupation regime over Jerusalem must be erased from the page of time. "
Yet both Diane and Dr. Bryzinski just said that the Iranian president said that "Israel should not exist" This falsehood keeps being repeated all over the place. Dangerous and inaccurate interpretation
alerted folks over at Mondoweiss and Race for Iran about Dr. Zbig being on the program today. Hope it brought callers and commenters. Both of these sites are extremely informative and great discussions going on about these foreign policy issues. Diane would you please have Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett on to discuss the situation with Iran. Both served in the Bush administration.
Dr. Brzezinski and President Carter paved the way for the Islamofascists in Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon...etc. They drove the late Shah of Iran for his disrespect for "human rights" into exile and since 1978, both Brzezinski and Carter have been rather quiet about the total disrespect for "human rights" in Iran under the Islamofascists. Does he have an explanation for this?
Dr. Zbig would you please tell us what you thought about President Obama'a decision to appoint Dennis Ross to negotiate with Iran and also his involvement in the Israeli Palestinian conflict negotiations. Many of us were extremely dissappointed with this appointment.
So if you were a betting man. What are the chances that Israel will attack Iran? And what are the chances that Israel will be pulled into a possible military confrontation?
The new moderator (a man) seldom allows women through during foreign policy discussions. Serious gender bias going on on the Diane Rehm show
A few moments ago, Mr. Brzezinski used the term "fair." Can someone provide me with a way to determine what is "fair" that is not subjective?
OBL said that the American public should read former head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit's Micheal Scheuers books to understand why so many people in that part of the world are not happy with the US. Dr. Brezinski what do you think about Micheal Scheuers books?
Does the Obama administration ever consult with you about foreign policy
Rico go to RACE FOR IRAN for accurate info about Iran. Read former head of the CIA's bin Laden Micheal Scheuers books go to his website NON INTERVENTION for a deeper perspective about US foreign policy. MONDOWEISS another great place to discuss and learn about these issues. along with Professor Juan Coles website INFORMED COMMENT. Steve Clemons at WASHINGTON NOTE another great place. Will be buying Dr. Zbigs new book. The man is a genius
Considering the way history unfolded in Afghanistan wouldn't you agree that
the Carter Administration's support for the Mujhadeen was a complete
mistake? In the 1950s the US government was largely responsible for the
overthrow of the democratically elected leader of Iran Mohammed Mosadegh and the Shah of Iran installed as an American puppet. If that had not occurred
we would not have the Ayotollahs in charge now bringing Iran back to the 12th
century.
I was very disappointed in the interview w/Dr. Brzezinski and Diane's lack of appropriate follow up ?s ... it seems apparent from his responses that he's now a supporter of Mitt Romney and will say anything critical of this administration to sell a book. Very, very troubling was his response re income disparities and taxes, etc. He shockingly stated: "Well Mitt Romney is beginning to talk about these very issues." With that one comment, he managed to insult all reasonably intelligent Americans, and this will no doubt negatively affect the sale of his book. You can go but so far on an outdated/expired reputation. He came across as arrogant and embittered. I have often wondered what was behind his regular appearances on MSNBC's morning joe. It is and was always about self-promotion and this book. Re the visceral comments always made about Pres. Carter, was insidiously insulting to anyone listening -- coupled with the lack of f/u from Diane was very revealing. Both his daughter and Scarborough are incapable of speaking extemporaneously w/o a teleprompter and manufactured content. They sell us out each and every day with their "set-piece/set-up" format -- of which Dr. Brzezinski is a part of shaping the narrative. And now he joins the ranks w/others who come on to promote books for the rest of us to purchase to make and keep them unnecessarily wealthy. His shifting perspectives, Disingenious is the word that comes to mind. His response to another caller re Scarborough's incessant criticisms of Pres Carter. Dr. B's response was nothing short of "denial" and an insult to reasonbly intelligent american public. On the one hand he borrowed Pres. Obama's words "the need for transparency," but today displayed an extreme lack of transparency in an attempt to sell his book.
Just an observation, the mullah mafia lobby is very active on this site.