Zbigniew Brzezinski: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia


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'''Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|b|ɪ|ɡ|n|j|ɛ|f|_|b|r|ə|ˈ|z|ɪ|n|s|k|i}} {{respell|ZBIG|nyef|_|brə|ZIN|skee}},<ref>{{cite news |title=Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski And His Life On The World Stage |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INswfDcNa0o&t=4m12s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/INswfDcNa0o| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|work=[[Morning Joe]] |agency=[[MSNBC]] |date=May 30, 2017 |time=4:12}}{{cbignore}}</ref> {{IPA|pl|ˈzbiɡɲɛf kaˈʑimjɛʐ bʐɛˈʑij̃skʲikaˈʑimjɛʐ‿bʐɛˈʑij̃skʲi|lang|Zbigniew Brzeziński audio.ogg}};{{efn|In isolation, ''Kazimierz'' is pronounced {{IPA|pl|kaˈʑimjɛʂ|}}.}} March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), known as '''Zbig''', was a Polish-American diplomat and [[political scientist]]. He served as a counselor to [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] from 1966 to 1968 and was [[Jimmy Carter]]'s [[United States National Security Advisor|National Security Advisor]] from 1977 to 1981. As a scholar, Brzezinski belonged to the [[Realism (international relations)|realist school of international relations]], standing in the geopolitical tradition of [[Halford Mackinder]] and [[Nicholas J. Spykman]],<ref>Sabine Feiner: Weltordnung durch US-Leadership? Die Konzeption Zbigniew K. Brzezinskis. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2001</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Revisiting the Geo-Political Thinking of Sir Halford John Mackinder: United States–Uzbekistan Relations 1991–2005 |url=http://globalengage.org/attachments/771_seiple_dissertation.pdf |first=Chris |last=Seiple |date=November 27, 2006 |access-date=August 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828230451/https://globalengage.org/attachments/771_seiple_dissertation.pdf |archive-date=August 28, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> while elements of [[Idealism in international relations|liberal idealism]] have also been identified in his outlook.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|date=May 28, 2017|title=Zbigniew Brzezinski obituary|url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/28/zbigniew-brzezinski-obituary|access-date=December 17, 2021|website=The Guardian}}</ref> Brzezinski was the primary organizer of [[The Trilateral Commission]].<ref name=sklar>[[Holly Sklar|Sklar, Holly]]. "Founding the Trilateral Commission: Chronology 1970–1977". ''Trilateralism: The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management''. Boston: [[South End Press]], 1980. {{ISBN|0-89608-103-6}} {{ISBN|0-89608-104-4}} {{OCLC|6958001}} 604 pages. [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Trilateralism/Trilateralism_Sklar.html Excerpts available].</ref>

Major foreign policy events during his time in office included the normalization of [[Sino-American relations|relations with the People's Republic of China]] (and the severing of ties with the [[Republic of China on Taiwan]]); the signing of the second [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks|Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty]] (SALT II) with the [[Soviet Union]]; the brokering of the [[Camp David Accords]] between Egypt and Israel; the overthrow of the US-friendly [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] and the start of the [[Iranian Revolution]]; the United States' encouragement of dissidents in Eastern Europe and championing of human rights<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Schmitz|first1=David F.|last2=Walker|first2=Vanessa|date=2004|title=Jimmy Carter and the Foreign Policy of Human Rights: The Development of a Post-Cold War Foreign Policy|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24914773|journal=Diplomatic History|volume=28|issue=1|pages=113–143|doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.2004.00400.x|jstor=24914773|issn=0145-2096|quote=The call to overcome the nation's 'inordinate fear of communism' was not, [Brzezinski] wrote, 'a dismissal of the reality of Soviet power but an optimistic recognition of the greater appeal of liberty and of the superiority of the democratic system.'}}</ref> in order to undermine the influence of the Soviet Union;<ref name=":0">{{cite web|last=Sargent|first=Daniel|title=Postmodern America Didn't Deserve Jimmy Carter|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/24/postmodern-america-didnt-deserve-jimmy-carter/|access-date=November 21, 2021|website=Foreign Policy|date=July 24, 2021 |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Operation Cyclone|supporting]] the [[Afghan mujahideen]] against the Soviet-backed [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan]] and, ultimately, Soviet troops during the [[Soviet–Afghan War]];<ref name="Tobin 2020"/> and the signing of the [[Torrijos–Carter Treaties]] relinquishing U.S. control of the [[Panama Canal]] after 1999.

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{{main|Camp David Accords}}

[[File:Begin Brzezinski Camp David Chess.jpg|thumb|235px|Israeli Prime Minister [[Menachem Begin]] engages Brzezinski in a game of chess at Camp David]]

On October 10, 2007, Brzezinski along with other influential signatories sent a letter to President [[George W. Bush]] and Secretary of State [[Condoleezza Rice]] titled "Failure Risks Devastating Consequences." The letter was partly an advice and a warning of the failure of an upcoming<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-15-us-mideast_N.htm |work=USA Today |title=Bush announces Mideast peace conference |first=David |last=Jackson |date=July 17, 2007}}</ref> U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference scheduled for November 2007 between representatives of [[Israelis]] and [[Palestinians]]. The letter also suggested to engage in "a genuine dialogue with [[Hamas]]" rather than to isolate it further.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20750|title='Failure Risks Devastating Consequences' by Zbigniew Brzezinski |author=Paul Volcker|journal=The New York Review of Books|date=November 8, 2007 |volume=54 |issue=17 |access-date=May 25, 2016}}</ref><!--

[[To be written]]...

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Brzezinski left office concerned about the internal division within the Democratic party, arguing that the [[dovish]] McGovernite wing would send the Democrats into permanent minority. [[Ronald Reagan]] invited him to stay on as his National Security Adviser, but Brzezinski declined, feeling that the new president needed a fresh perspective on which to build his foreign policy.<ref>{{cite news|date=May 29, 2017|title=Reagan poprosił Brzezińskiego, by został także jego doradcą|publisher=TVN24.pl|url=http://www.tvn24.pl/wiadomosci-ze-swiata,2/john-hamre-reagan-chcial-by-brzezinski-zostal-jego-doradca,743913.html|access-date=June 1, 2017}}</ref> He had mixed relations with the [[Reagan administration]]. On the one hand, he supported it as an alternative to the Democrats' [[pacifism]]. On the other hand, he also criticized it as seeing foreign policy in overly black-and-white terms.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

By the 1980s, Brzezinski argued that the general crisis of the Soviet Union foreshadowed communism's end.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

He remained involved in Polish affairs, critical of the imposition of [[martial law in Poland]] in 1981, and more so of the Western European acquiescence to its imposition in the name of stability. Brzezinski briefed U.S. vice president [[George H. W. Bush]] before his 1987 trip to Poland that aided in the revival of the Solidarity movement.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}}

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In 1990, Brzezinski warned against post–Cold War euphoria. He publicly opposed the [[Gulf War]],{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}} arguing that the United States would squander the international goodwill it had accumulated by defeating the Soviet Union, and that it could trigger wide resentment throughout the [[Arab world]]. He expanded upon these views in his 1992 work ''Out of Control''.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}}

Brzezinski was prominently critical of the [[Clinton administration]]'s hesitation to intervene against the [[Army of Republika Srpska|Serb forces]] in the [[Bosnian war]].<ref>[https://archive.today/20120715143345/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n32_v11/ai_17210365/ "Brzezinski on isolation: former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brezinski warns of the failures of Clinton foreign policy"], ''Insight on the News'', August 21, 1995</ref> He also began to speak out against Russia's [[First Chechen War]], forming the [[American Committee for Peace in Chechnya]]. Wary of a move toward the reinvigoration of Russian power, Brzezinski negatively viewed the succession of former KGB agent [[Vladimir Putin]] after [[Boris Yeltsin]]. In this vein, he became one of the foremost advocates of [[NATO expansion]]. He wrote in 1998 that "Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire."<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20140228190911/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-27/the-new-great-game-why-ukraine-matters-to-so-many-other-nations The New Great Game: Why Ukraine Matters to So Many Other Nations]". Bloomberg. February 27, 2014.</ref> In 1997 he advocated for a "loosely confederated Russia — composed of a European Russia, a Siberian Republic, and a Far Eastern Republic" as a "decentralized Russia would be less susceptible to imperial mobilization".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brzezinski |first1=Zbigniew |title=A Geostrategy for Eurasia |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/1997-09-01/geostrategy-eurasia |work=Foreign Affairs |date=1 September 1997}}</ref> He later came out in support of the [[1999 NATO bombing of Serbia]] during the [[Kosovo war]].<ref>[http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/4378 "A conversation about Kosovo with Zbigniew Brzezinski"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008003709/http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/4378|date=October 8, 2012}} ''Charlie Rose'', March 25, 1999</ref>

==Later years==

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Brzezinski died at Inova Fairfax Hospital in [[Falls Church, Virginia]], on May 26, 2017, at the age of 89.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/26/zbigniew-brzezinski-dies-238879|title=Carter adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski dies at 89|publisher=Politico|date=May 26, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/zbigniew-brzezinski/528405/|title=Zbigniew Brzezinski|magazine=The Atlantic|date=May 26, 2017|author=James Fallows}}</ref> His funeral was held June&nbsp;9 at the [[Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle (Washington, D.C.)|Cathedral of St. Matthew]] in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite news|title=Pogrzeb Zbigniewa Brzezińskiego odbędzie się 9 czerwca|url=http://www.tvn24.pl/wiadomosci-ze-swiata,2/pogrzeb-zbigniewa-brzezinskiego-9-czerwca-w-waszyngtonie,745203.html|access-date=June 1, 2017|publisher=TVN24.pl|date=June 1, 2017|language=pl}}</ref> Former President [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] and former Secretary of State [[Madeleine Albright]] were among those who gave eulogies, while attendees included international diplomats and emissaries; journalists [[Carl Bernstein]], [[Chuck Todd]] and [[David Ignatius]]; 100-year-old Gen. [[Edward Rowny]]; former National Security Adviser [[Susan E. Rice]]; and former National Security Advisor, Lt. Gen. [[H. R. McMaster]].<ref name="The New York Times">{{cite news|last1=Flegenheimer|first1=Matt|title=Washington Remembers Brzezinski, and a Very Different Era|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/us/politics/zbigniew-brzezinski-funeral.html|access-date=June 9, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=June 9, 2017}}</ref>

"If I could choose my seatmate, it would be Dr. Brzezinski," Carter said of his international flights on [[Air Force One]]. Former National Security Advisor [[Henry Kissinger]], aged 94, was unable to attend, but a note he sent was read during athe eulogy said: "The world is an emptier place without Zbig pushing the limits of his insights."<ref name="The New York Times"/>

==Honors==