Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Last Realist

Fellow foreign policy junkies will appreciate the discussion yesterday on Morning Joe.  A number of the usual suspects were in attendance--Richard Haas, Carl Bernstein, Dan Senor, David Ignatius, and my favorite, Zbigniew Brzezinski.  Some may fault him for his connection with the Carter years, or for laying the groundwork for our involvement in Afghanistan in the 1980s, or for supporting our bombing in Bosnia and Serbia in the 1990s.  But in the early winter of his life (he is 84), his vision and voice is crystal clear. 

Syria was the subject that they had gathered to discuss.  Joe Scarborough, for once, was unusually quiet and let the guests do the talking.  Nearly every one of them struck some variation of  "We Have to DO Something!"  Dr. Brzezinski was the lone voice of dissent (and reason.)  He repeatedly inquiry was to the effect of "Do what, exactly?"  None of them gave a convincing answer to his question--not even David Ignatius, a noted disciple of Dr. Brzezinski.

Two themes caught my attention.  I found it interesting to see how very eager the rest of the pundits were to poke the post-Soviet bear with a sharp stick.  Also, seeing Carl Bernstein and Dan Senor, of all people, as two sides of the same neo-con coin was pretty enlightening.

Dr. Brzezinski speaks truth about Syria and the world.  He is masterful here (particularly in his exchange with the pompous Bernstein.)

"The world is as it is.  Just moralistic sounding off is not a solution to the Syrian problem."

Check it our here.



No comments:

Post a Comment