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Zbigniew Brzezinski

Zbigniew Brzezinski Quotes

Former National Security Advisor

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Famous Zbigniew Brzezinski Quotes

“According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahideen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise. Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.”

FirstsRealityPresidentSecretOpinionMilitaryArmyNotesAidsVersionsOpponentsOfficialsAfghanistanSovietRegimesInterventionJulyCiaCarterGuardedKabulMilitary InterventionPresident CarterMujahideen
Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski
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“Too rich to be relevant to the world's poor, [Europe] attracts immigration but cannot encourage imitation. Too passive regarding international security. Too self-satisfied, it acts as if its central political goal is to become the worlds most comfortable retirement home. Too set in its ways, it fears multicultural diversity”

IfsWorldWaySelfHomePoliticalGoalPoorRichSecurityComfortableDiversityEuropeInternationalImmigrationSatisfiedRetirementRelevantPassiveImitationNational SecurityMulticulturalRetirement Homes
Book:Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power
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“Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.”

WantGivingYearsIdeasWarGovernmentOpportunityPresidentSecretEffectsRegretConflictDrawingExcellentOperationsBordersBreakupEmpiresVietnamSovietWant MeTrapsVietnam WarCarterYou Want MeMoscowAfghanUssrDemoralizationPresident CarterMujahideen
Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski
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“In the long run, global politics are bound to become increasingly uncongenial to the concentration of hegemonic power in the hands of a single state. Hence, America is not only the first, as well as the only, truly global superpower, but it is also likely to be the very last.”

FirstsWellsLongStatesHandsRunningLastsAmericaBoundsConcentrationLong RunsSuperpower
Book:Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power
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“Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multi-cultural society, it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues, except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat.”

MayAmericaDifficultIssuesFashionPolicyCircumstancesDirectThreatMassiveForeign PolicyConsensusGeopolitics
Book:The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives
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“Moreover, they [the Central Asian Republics] are of importance from the standpoint of security and historical ambitions to at least three of their most immediate and more powerful neighbors, namely Russia, Turkey and Iran, with China also signaling an increasing political interest in the region. But the Eurasian Balkans are infinitely more important as a potential economic prize: an enormous concentration of natural gas and oil reserves is located in the region, in addition to important minerals, including gold.”

ImportantPoliticalThreeInterestNaturalPowerfulEconomicSecurityAmbitionGoldImportanceHistoricalIncludingChinaOilNeighborRussiaEnormousGasConcentrationRegionsPrizeIranRepublicReservesTurkeysAsianStandpointMineralsNatural GasBalkans
Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski
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“America is now the only global superpower, and Eurasia is the globe's central arena. Hence, what happens to the distribution of power on the Eurasian continent will be of decisive importance to America's global primacy and to America's historical legacy.”

HappensAmericaImportanceHistoricalLegacyContinentsGlobesArenaDistributionSuperpowerPrimacyDistribution Of Power
Book:The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives
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“Never before has a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public's sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties, even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization.”

HumansWellsSelfPassionGoalChallengesEffortDemocracySacrificeEconomicConditionsThreatDemocraticInstinctSoldierInternationalSpendingDefensePursuitCommandWell BeingDenialSupremacyCasualtiesPopulistSelf-denialMobilizationDefense Spending
Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski
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“The momentum of Asia's economic development is already generating massive pressures for the exploration and exploitation of new sources of energy and the Central Asian region and the Caspian Sea basin are known to contain reserves of natural gas and oil that dwarf those of Kuwait, the Gulf of Mexico, or the North Sea.”

EnergyNaturalKnownSeaEconomicSourceDevelopmentPressureOilGasRegionsMassiveExplorationMexicoReservesExploitationAsiaAsianMomentumEconomic DevelopmentDwarfsDwarvesNatural GasKuwaitGulf Of MexicoCentral AsiaNorth SeaCaspian Sea
Book:The Grand Chessboard
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“An arc of crisis stretches along the shores of the Indian Ocean, with fragile social and political structures in a region of vital importance to us threatened with fragmentation. The resulting political chaos could well be filled by elements hostile to our values and sympathetic to our adversaries.”

WellsPoliticalValuesSocialElementsOceanImportanceCrisisFilledStructureChaosIndianRegionsShoreFragileThreatenedHostileAdversariesSympatheticArcsFragmentation
Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski
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“Because when you kill 300 people, 400 people, who have nothing to do with the provocations Hezbollah staged, but you do it in effect deliberately by being indifferent to the scale of collateral damage, you're killing hostages in the hope of intimidating those that you want to intimidate. And more likely than not you will not intimidate them. You'll simply outrage them and make them into permanent enemies with the number of such enemies increasing.”

PeopleWantNumbersEnemyEffectsKillingScalesPermanentDamageIndifferentOutrageIntimidatingHostageProvocationCollateralHezbollahCollateral Damage
Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski
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“To put it in a terminology that hearkens back to the more brutal age of ancient empires, the three grand imperatives of imperial geo-strategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together.”

AgeTogetherThreeSecurityStrategyAncientEmpiresProtectedBrutalDependenceImperativesBarbariansComing TogetherTerminologyCollusion
Book:The Grand Chessboard
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“More directly linked to the impact of technology, it involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled and directed society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite whose claim to political power would rest on allegedly superior scientific know-how. Unhindered by the restraints of traditional liberal values, this elite would not hesitate to achieve its political ends by using the latest modern techniques for influencing public behavior and keeping society under close surveillance and control.”

KnowsEndsWould BePoliticalValuesTechnologyKnow HowInfluenceModernAchieveBehaviorClaimsImpactAppearanceTechniqueSuperiorsTraditionalControlledElitesRestraintLinkedSurveillancePolitical Power
Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski
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“We look a little bit disorderly, indecisive, leaderless. That's a real problem, and that's a problem that concerns me particularly on foreign affairs. The presidency, not just President Obama, but the presidency in recent years has lost some of the terrain that they used to dominate in the making of foreign policy. I think President Obama has to make a serious effort to regain it because he lost some of it himself.”

ThinkingYearsLooksLittlesRealProblemUsedLostBitsPresidentEffortPolicySeriousLittle BitConcernAffairPresident ObamaForeign PolicyPresidencyReal ProblemsTerrainForeign AffairsIndecisive
Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski
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