ZBIG DEAL

As I am certain everyone is aware this month's reading is "The Choice" by Zbigniew Brzezinski. Finding additional information on the book, Zbig or his views is not too hard since the former NSA seems to be everywhere. Reviews of the book can be found here, here, here, here and here. Among the numerous interviews he had promoting "The Choice" my two favorites are his discussions with The American Prospect (TAP) and Ben Wattenberg.

Even before the book was released Brzezinksi had already started his comeback. A year before the presidential election Zbig appeared before a conference sponsored by TAP. In Slate Fred Kaplan noted the irony of a lefty Dem conference hailing Zbig as a conquering hero. Kaplan correctly notes that Brzezinski's critique is not leftist, but realist. Kaplan, however, does no one any favors by brushing off Bush's foreign policy as "callow, smug and reckless." Even Kerry admin wannabes Daalder and Lindsay understood that the Bush Admin policy has intellectual and ideological underpinnings that need to be addressed. A failure to engage in a debate about the ideas guiding our foreign policy does us all a great disservice. Anyway the text of Zbig's hard-hitting speech can be found here. It is interesting to note that the speech starts with a story about de Gaulle that Kerry almost quoted verbatim (scroll down to his discussion of the Cuban missile Crisis) during the first debate at UM. I say almost because Kerry confused Dean Acheson for Dean Rusk.

Recently Zbig made an appearance with fellow former NSA Brent Scowcroft at a luncheon sponsored by the New America Foundation. The luncheon drew the attention of the Washington Post (registration required). You can find links to both the presentation and the Q & A session here.