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" A president who aspires to be recognized as a global leader should not personally stake out a foreign-policy goal, commit himself eloquently to its attainment, and then yield the ground when confronted by firm opposition. "

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" Americans don't learn about the world; they don't study world history, other than American history in a very one-sided fashion, and they don't study geography. "

Zbigniew Brzezinski

History

Fashion

American

" The first 'world' war was in reality the last European war fought by globally significant European powers. "

" According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. "

" The public has been told repeatedly that terrorism is 'evil,' which it undoubtedly is, and that 'evildoers' are responsible for it, which doubtless they are. But beyond these justifiable condemnations, there is a historical void. "

" The potential for regional conflict in the absence of an internationally active America is real. "

" The Cold War did end in the victory of one side and in the defeat of the other. This reality cannot be denied, despite the understandable sensitivities that such a conclusion provokes among the tenderhearted in the West and some of the former leaders of the defeated side. "

" Because America is a democracy, public support for presidential foreign-policy decisions is essential. "

" We can't have an intelligent foreign policy unless we have an intelligent public, because we're a democracy. "

" The Soviet Union's termination, which brought to an end the bipolar world, ushered in an era of U.S. hegemony. Hegemony, however, should not be confused with omnipotence. Hegemony is not omnipotence but is certainly preponderance. "

" Neither the United States nor Israel has the capacity to impose a unilateral solution in the Middle East. "

" Rushing to war is not a wise course of action. "

" As America's nuclear strategic monopoly faded, the United States sought to create advantages elsewhere, notably in the peaceful cooperation between the United States and communist China under Deng Xiaoping. "

" Economically, we are, to some significant degree, interdependent with Chinese well-being. That is a great asset. "

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

" Waging a colonial war in the post-colonial age is self-defeating. "

" Foreign policy should not be justified through making oneself feel good, but through results that have tangible consequences. "

" If the United States and China can accommodate each other on a broad range of issues, the prospects for stability in Asia will be greatly increased. "

" America's decline would set in motion tectonic shifts undermining the political stability of the entire Middle East. "

" You know who's messianic? Netanyahu, because he talks that way. And that's a very risky position. "

Zbigniew Brzezinski

Position

Because

" I don't approve of the notion that we should be announcing who should step down from the position of a head of a state unless we are seriously prepared to remove that person. But if we are not, if we are being prudent and careful, then let's also be careful with how we talk. "

" The future is inherently full of discontinuities, and lessons of the past must be applied with enormous caution. "

" During the nineteenth century, men died believing in the cause of royalty or republicanism. In reality, much of their sacrifice was rendered on the altar of the new nationalism. "

" Commitment and credibility go hand in hand. "

" We should seek to cooperate with Europe, not to divide Europe to a fictitious new and a fictitious old. "

" I don't feel I was 'born American,' but my homeland was denied to me after the end of World War II, and I craved something I could identify with. When I became a student at Harvard in the 1950s, America very quickly filled the vacuum. I felt I was American, but I think it's more revealing of America how quickly others here accepted me. "

" Pessimism about America's future tends to underestimate its capacity for self-renewal. "

" I'm all in favour of grand important speeches, but the president then has to link his sermons to a strategy. "

" Fear obscures reason, intensifies emotions, and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue. "

" It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn't a global Islam. "

" Anniversaries are like birthdays: occasions to celebrate and to think ahead, usually among friends with whom one shares not only the past but also the future. "