Monday, September 19, 2011

Some Observations by Dr. Brzezinski

I always enjoy when Mika's dad is a guest on the show. Just returning from overseas, he touched on a number of subjects in a 14-minute interview. Dr. Brzezinski requires little coaxing to say what is on his mind. Often too much a globalist for my taste, his plain-spoken realism, however, is in short supply these days. His comments--while sobering--are a welcome antitode to the usual blather.

Russia:
In a "state of unease, uncertainty"

Germany:
"a sense of uneasiness" about America

the Middle East:
entering era of "populism, not democracy"
"we've missed the boat here"

Our Middle East policy:
"disintegrating before our eyes"
"absence of any sense of strategic direction"

Our opposition to Palestinian statehood in U.N.:
a "tragic historical error"
"blind people looking at today and mostly at yesterday are leading"
"an evasion of historical responsibility"
"both the United States and Israel with be totally isolated in the Middle East"

Israel:
"isolating itself by an increasingly self-destructive policy"
"6 million people are ruling 5 million other people--that's not stable"
"in the long run, not a formula for survival"
"perpetual conflict and eventual fading of the security of Israel and its prospects for survival"

Pakistan:
"we are willing to be part of the solution, but we are not going to be there eternally, solving the problem for the region, if they are not willing to participate with us...we are going to pack up and leave...throw the ball to the Chinese...and it will be their problem"

The American Rich:
"who whoop it up without any responsibility--social responsibility--for our lives here in America"
"cannot have society in which 1% owns so much"

The American Poor:
"the remnants...are deprived"
"prescription for social conflict, in addition to economic paralysis"

GOP Candidates:
"going through kind of a lunatic phase in our politics"
"living in a never-never land of illusions, slogans, passions, convictions--very unrelated to reality"
"literally frightening"

President Obama:
"Pity...very, very dramatically atttractive leadership which doesn't really go far beyond speeches, that's part of the problem"

2 comments:

Milton T. Burton said...

He is right on the money about Obama, I am sorry to say. But I would like to point out that there was little reason to expect anything else. I am not particularly moved by oratory. Probably the two greatest orators of the century just past were Hitler and William Jennings Bryan. The first was a monster and the second was an insufferable ass.

James the Thickheaded said...

The only Morning (show) Joe I've ever watched or thought worth watching. Especially loved Joe's comments about Cam Newton!!! But seriously, Joe remains a rep of a time when Republican didn't mean checking your brain at the door.