video: Zbigniew Brzezinski on Morning Joe

• MSNBC video: Zbigniew Brzezinski on Morning Joe
• Zbigniew Brzezinski to Mika: “.. I loved your introduction and I love to be hosted by you so that I’m not in the clutches of the dangerous Joe (Scarborough).”
• Brzezinski (on Secretary of Defense Robert Gates): “Gates is a terrific guy. I’ve known him for years. I worked with him. We jointly prepared a report on Iran several years ago. He was my Executive Assistant many years ago in the National Security Council. He’s top-notch.”

the CFR report on Iran is a hoot and worth checking out: “Page 63, Appendix A, Important Dates in US-Iranian History, 1985-86, Washington and Tehran engage in a complex scheme to fund assistance to Nicaraguan rebels through proceeds of US weapons sales to Iran.” – Translation: The Iran-Contra Affair

• Brzezinski (on Joe Biden): “Of course, Senator Biden knows everything that needs to be known about Foreign Policy.”

“needs to be known” does not sound like Brzezinski is an outside observer.  it sounds like Zbig is in a position of power much higher than Biden and tells him only what is necessary to further the group’s aims.  Translation: Biden knows enough for our purposes.

• Brzezinski (on strategic planning): “We have no mechanism for global political planning in the US government. We have one in the State Department. And, of course, the State Department thinks everything is diplomacy. We have one in Defense. They all think that all planning is, of course, military. We have to have high level systematic comprehensive long-range foreign policy planning in the White House, probably under General Jones”

No mechanism like the Council of Foreign Relations in the US government?

• Brzezinski (on Afghanistan): “I have been saying for some months now that we have to be very careful not to repeat the mistake the Soviets made. The Soviets went to Afghanistan on the illusion that a bunch of marxists, afghan marxists, sitting in Kabul could be helped by them to build a replica of the Soviet Republic in Afghanistan. And they went in with their military and they ended up with 150,000 – 180,000 military trying to fight the afghans who would simply not give up, who objected to a foreign presence, to an alien philosophy. We have to be very careful that we don’t push too hard the notion that we’re building a modern nation-state that is democratic and constitutional on the basis of support of pro western democrats, afghans in Kabul, that we have on our side while we’re doing it, essentially, with military power which the afghans resist. So, my view is that while some troops may be needed, more here or there to offset Taliban strength, we have to move more and more in the direction of trying to seek decentralized political accomodations in different parts of Afghanistan, with different segments of the Taliban in some places, in exchange for their pledge to have no relationship with, to expel, or even to extirpate any Al Qaeda presence in the area.”
• Brzezinski (on National Security Adviser General James L. Jones): “I don’t have any real sort of inside knowledge but judging him from an occasional conference with him, especially from his past, he was a person whose world view was presumably shaped to a great extent by the fact that he was an extremely successful NATO commander in Europe. He’s experienced in dealing with the Europeans. You know, he speaks remarkably good french, which is impressive. And I’m sure it’s going to make the french swoon. He has an Atlanticist viewpoint. He doesn’t have, perhaps, some of the feel for the third world, for the changing world, to the world that I call ‘globally politically awakened world’ that Obama has. I think one of the very specific qualities of Obama is that he has this feel for the 21st century. But working for Obama, he will certainly be solid on the fundamental issues of power, the relationship of the military and the political of dealing with the Allies, and he is a strong person. So, I imagine he’ll be imposing discipline on the other members of the team.”

A couple things come to mind here.  The “Globally Politically Awakened World” refers to us, the internet community.

General Jones, as an ex-NATO commander, is used to fighting Russia.  according to wiki: “The first NATO Secretary General Lord Ismay famously stated the organization’s goal was ‘to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down’” – Translation: This just points to more of what we already know, Russia is the enemy once again.

TIME: Brzezinski: Staring Down the Russians

Zbig threatens Russia over Georgia:

Russia’s powerful oligarchs have hundreds of billions of dollars in Western bank accounts. They would stand to lose a great deal in the event of a Cold War–style standoff that could conceivably result, at some stage, in the West’s freezing of such holdings.

Staring down the Russians, Zbigniew Brzezinski

Staring Down the Russians – Zbigniew Brzezinski – TIME – 2008.08.14

Brzezinski finds war “terribly exhilarating”, hates Russia, admits to controlling President Carter, and introduced US Military presence in the Middle East

The Grand Chessboard, Zbig & Israeli PM Menachem Begin play chess at Camp David in 1978

This is Zbigniew Brzezinski’s “Exit Interview” and was conducted by Marie Allen on 20 February, 1981, approximately one month after Carter left office and was replaced by Ronald Reagan.

video: Zbigniew Brzezinski, Russia-hating revanchist, on the Afghan war

this has to be from sometime in 1976-84 or so. If anyone can help me pin down the date, I’d appreciate it.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser:

“We know of their deep belief in God and we are confident that their struggle will succeed.”

“That land over there is yours. You’ll go back to it one day because your fight will prevail. And you’ll have your homes, your mosques back again because your cause is right and God is on your side.”

“The purpose of coordinating with the Pakistanis will be to make the Soviets bleed for as much, as long as possible.“

anything to inflict suffering on Russia no matter what the cost, eh Zbig?

Revanchism, from wikipedia:

Revanchism (from French revanche, “revenge”) is a term used since the 1870s to describe a political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war. Revanchism draws its strength from patriotic and retributionist thought and is often motivated by economic or geo-political factors. Extreme revanchist ideologues often represent a hawkish stance, suggesting that desired objectives can be reclaimed in the positive outcome of another war.

Revanchism is linked with irredentism, the conception that a part of the cultural and ethnic nation remains “unredeemed” outside the borders of its appropriate nation-state. Revanchist politics often rely on the identification of a nation with a nation-state, often mobilizing deep-rooted sentiments of ethnic nationalism, claiming territories outside of the state where members of the ethnic group live, while using heavy-handed nationalism to mobilize support for these aims. Revanchist justifications are often presented as based on ancient or even autochthonous occupation of a territory known by the German term Urrecht, meaning a nation’s claim to territory that has been inhabited since “time immemorial“, an assertion that is usually inextricably involved in revanchism and irredentism, justifying them in the eyes of their proponents.