Latest Zbigniew Brzezinski Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• The legitimacy of the leadership depends on what that country thinks of its leaders. When we lay off, more and more Iranians tend to be critical of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The more abusive we are and the more pressure we put on them, the more nationalism fuses with fundamentalism in Iran.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Country, Thinking, Leader

  "Here’s What Zbigniew Brzezinski Thought of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Iranian Nukes". Interview With Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. September/October 2008.

• It certainly would be possible for America to redefine its role in the world, especially if, in the short run, America is able to cope effectively with the ongoing dilemma in the Middle East.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Running, World, Dilemma

• If a new president personalizes a rather different concept of America and a different sense of America's mission in the world than has been the case with president George W. Bush, then that almost automatically will help to improve America's global image. But the tangibles involving the war and the economy are not going to be easy to fix.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  War, President, Different

• One thing we know: Things will become even more destabilized if we don't step up Sino-U.S. cooperation. If you want to envisage a worst-case scenario, it is that Putin reveals step by step the inner weaknesses of the West, particularly in Europe, and the Chinese see in that an opportunity for emulation in the Far East, and then step by step through a gradual process we will be witnessing the emergence of Sino-Russian partnership in favor of a drastic change in the global balance of power.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Opportunity, Chinese, Balance

  Source: www.politico.com

• Shared Sino-American global security goals would not mean that one partner dictates to the other. U.S.-PRC differences will persist, and on the Asian regional level they can even be a source of mutual irritation. Nor should it mean that we ignore the basic differences between our political systems and values.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Mean, Goal, Political

  Source: www.politico.com

• There is crisis in Europe, where Russia is the principle intriguer and player, which affects a major source of international business and flow of capital.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Player, Crisis

  Source: www.politico.com

• Global stability - economic as well as political - is at risk.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Political, Risk, Economic

  Source: www.politico.com

• Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Christian, Country, Islam

  Source: www.marxists.org

• The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border of Afghanistan, I wrote to President Jimmy Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  War, Opportunity, Giving

  Source: www.marxists.org

• Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war in Afghanistan, unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Breakup, War, Conflict

  Source: www.marxists.org

• I think the United States is currently a kind of wonder - wonderland with the president Trump speaking on subjects of his choice, some of which are entertaining, but none of which are very strategically substantive.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Thinking, Choices, President

  Source: www.npr.org

• Yes, ISIS is a threat. It's more than a nuisance. It's also in many respects criminal violence. But it isn't, in my view, a central strategic issue facing humanity.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Isis, Views, Issues

  "Zbigniew Brzezinski On Trump's Foreign Policy". "Morning Edition" with Rachel Martin, www.npr.org. March 17, 2017.

• Hard power makes sense under some circumstances. But there's not a universal solution to global problems. A major country like the United States has to have a broadly-conceived program for effective international action, influence and cooperation with others.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Country, United States, Cooperation

  Source: www.npr.org

• It's perfectly natural to desire more troops when engaged in a military operation facing serious obstacles, and the more troops you have, probably, the [lower the] risk of causalities.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Military, Risk, Desire

  Source: www.realclearworld.com

• Once the Eastern Bloc collapsed, what I call 'historical spontaneity' prevailed and the countries that were subject to Soviet control naturally gravitated to the West. That's where they sought their security; I don't think there was a way to avoid that. If we tried to exclude them, we would have today not one Europe, we would have three Europes: one in the West, one in the middle and one in the East, and the middle would be insecure and a tempting target. The insecurity felt [today] by Eastern Europe would be replicated on a much larger and more consequential scale.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Country, Insecure, Thinking

  Source: www.realclearworld.com

• The Israelis have taken a lot of security measures which reduce significantly the ability of Iran to inflict truly severe pain in Israel. But America is vulnerable with 100,000 troops in Iraq and more than half of that in Afghanistan, and we depend heavily on access to Middle Eastern oil. We're sitting targets for debilitating Iranian retaliation.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Pain, Taken, America

  Source: www.realclearworld.com

• The Eastern Europeans invested too many of their hopes in the notion that somehow or other the missile shield, even if directed at Iran, would reinforce their security links with the U.S. vis-à-vis Russia.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Russia, Iran, Links

  Source: www.realclearworld.com

• The president has to project to the American people a sense of demanding idealism. Idealism which is not based in self-indulgence, but on self-denial and sacrifice, and on this such an America is going to be credible to the world.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Sacrifice, Self, America

  Source: www.nytimes.com

• The American people have to think hard about their definition of the meaning of the good life, that hedonistic, materialistic society of high levels of consumption, increasing social inequality is not a society that can be part of the solution of the world's problems.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Good Life, Thinking, People

  Source: www.nytimes.com

• The United States wants to be part of the solution to its problems and not, in part, the maker of their problems.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Want, United States, Problem

  Source: www.nytimes.com

• The United States is prepared really to be engaged in the quest to get people in the world the dignities that they seek today, the social justice that they feel they're deprived of, and the common solution to global problems.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Justice, People, World

  Source: www.nytimes.com

• I think the sheer attrition of American global domination will create circumstances in which the Chinese will be tempted to reach out for more influence, including in regions in which we have special interests, such as the Middle East, from which they already obtain a great deal of their energy. And that region will be seeking some new superpower patron.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Thinking, Chinese, Special

  Source: www.nytimes.com

• I think if NATO haven't expanded, we would have a no-man's zone between the E.U. and NATO and Russia, and that would be very dangerous.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Men, Thinking, Russia

  Source: www.nytimes.com

• I can't believe that the Russians really think they're more insecure because Estonia is in NATO. And we don't have forces poised in Estonia to attack Russia.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Believe, Insecure, Thinking

  Source: www.nytimes.com

• Without Ukraine, Russia's imperial aspirations are essentially nostalgia, but it's not a real policy.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Real, Russia, Ukraine

  Source: www.nytimes.com