LAST CHANCE FOR US TO REGAIN WORLD STANDING: BRZEZINSKI
Khalid Hasan
Daily Times
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Former US national security adviser says US leadership has not only
failed to win allies’ confidence, but has emboldened adversaries
WASHINGTON: The people of the world are growing very impatient with
the United States and this might be the last chance for America to
regain its international standing, according to Zbigniew Brzezinski,
national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter.
He told Washington Diplomat, a local publication, that since 1990,
the US leadership has not only failed to win the confidence of
allies, but has emboldened adversaries. US leadership has varied
from competent but not visionary, to visionary but not disciplined,
to utterly catastrophic.
The net result, according to this former national security adviser, is
that the United States has squandered almost two decades during which
it could have helped build a strong and secure global structure. "We’ve
missed a great opportunity, but more importantly we’ve damaged our
position in the world very grievously. We’re neither as liked as
before, nor as feared as before, nor as respected as before," he said.
Brzezinski recently argued in a book that the presidencies of George
HW Bush, Bill Clinton, and George Bush have all failed to adequately
to meet the challenges they faced, although he singles out the first
Bush as the best of the three post-Cold War presidents, calling him
a superb crisis manager who handled the collapse of the Soviet Union
with skill and dealt with Saddam Hussein with toughness and adroit
coalition-building. He blasts the present Bush presidency for becoming
so preoccupied with terrorism after 9/11 as to have lost sight of
other issues.
Catastrophic mistake: He calls the decision to invade Iraq a
catastrophic mistake that has seriously damaged America’s image
and power in the world. He calls it a geopolitical disaster that
has diverted resources from the real terrorist threat brewing in
Afghanistan and conversely increased terrorism in many parts of the
world, most notably in Iraq. "September 11 was a horrible event, but
the administration has certainly exploited it to instil a degree of
fear that is historically unprecedented. Never in its entire history
has America been so prone to fear and so subjected to such intensive
brainwashing that we are going to get hit at any moment.
And the fear of the unknown is the worst of all," according to
Brzezinski.
Not war: He also disagrees with Bush for framing the battle against
terrorism as a war. "The so-called war on terrorism is a fiction
to some extent because the enemy is not a technique. The enemy has
to be identified. It has been waged in America in such a way that
has made it much more difficult to adopt a steady, persuasive and
constructive world course which others could follow willingly and
not by intimidation," he argues.
All of this has added up to a string of major geopolitical trends
lining up against the United States, Brzezinski says, citing Islam’s
growing hostility to the West, an explosive Middle East, an Iran
dominant in the Persian Gulf, a disaffected Europe, a resentful Russia,
China’s creation of an East Asian community, a more isolated Japan,
a strong wave of anti-Americanism in Latin America, and the breakdown
of the non-proliferation regime.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
