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Salon Book Review: Zbig: Israelis “bought influence” and outmaneuvered Obama
Salon Book Review ^ | January 20, 2012 | By Jordan Michael Smith

Posted on 01/22/2012 6:03:57 PM PST by Nachum

I’m quite sure Brzezinski and Obama’s views on Israel are in complete alignment.

(Salon) — Zbigniew Brzezinski’s new book, “Strategic Vision,” imagines a world without American power. He envisions profound instability, faltering international cooperation and weak states falling prey to their more dominant neighbors. Describing the dystopia that would emerge if America goes under is a trick British historian Niall Ferguson pioneered. Unlike the jingoistic Ferguson, however, Brzezinski is able to envision China replacing America as the stabilizing force in world affairs. “I don’t think liberal states are more restrained or stabilizing,” he says. “The United States’ actions in the last 20 years, especially with the war in Iraq, do not give reassurance on that score.”

In a telephone interview from his office at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., Brzezinski has both praise and criticism for the president: “He was an improvement by a very large score over his predecessor, but he could have been better.” He thinks the Obama administration “should have stuck to its guns in promoting a fair settlement” in the Middle East. A longtime foe of Israel’s partisans in the United States, he says the Obama team “fumbled by getting outmaneuvered by the Israelis.” Then he gets blunter: “Domestic politics interceded: The Israelis have a lot of influence with Congress, and in some cases they are able to buy influence.”

(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Israel; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: brzezinski; israelis; obama
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

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21 posted on 01/23/2012 5:33:40 AM PST by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn't do !)
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To: SJackson

How about “Israelis Outmaneuvered Dumbo Without Even Breathing Hard”?


22 posted on 01/23/2012 8:31:59 AM PST by Eleutheria5 (Diplomacy is war by other means.)
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To: musicman

another leftist fool. There may be a kernel of truth in the idea that the Iraq war didn’t turn out the way it was hoped - but to say that it is an example of America’s “destabilizing influence” is sheer poppycock. The whole ideology behind the war was to create more stability in the region. Today the left is creating destabilization because they took up opposition to the war as an ideological mission, rather than a political mission. Now as we are faced with revolution throughout the middle east and a nuclear armed Iran backing most of the revolutionary forces the left is paralyzed to inject any stabilizing measures... They literally support chaos as a result.


23 posted on 01/23/2012 8:23:32 PM PST by monkeyshine
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To: Nachum

“Describing the dystopia that would emerge if America goes under is a trick British historian Niall Ferguson pioneered. Unlike the jingoistic Ferguson, however, Brzezinski is able to envision China replacing America as the stabilizing force in world affairs”

Zbig couldn’t wipe Ferguson’s boots. Further Ferguson sees America as an essential force of good in the world. The author translate that to “jingoistic.” Tells you where he’s coming from.


24 posted on 01/23/2012 9:44:16 PM PST by dervish (female candidates: the last frontier)
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