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" A waning United States would likely be more nationalistic, more defensive about its national identity, more paranoid about its homeland security, and less willing to sacrifice resources for the sake of others' development. "

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

Zbigniew Brzezinski

Feel Good

Good

Results

" 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. "

" The problem with the Iranian regime, of course is, one, its unsettling effects on the Sunnis, particularly Saudi Arabia, and, secondly, its potential threat to Israel. "

" I draw a very clear distinction between populism and democracy. "

" There's something troubling about a condition in which one country alone, which has roughly 5 percent of the world's population, spends more than 50 percent of the world's defense budgets. There's something weird about it. "

" The legitimacy of the leadership depends on what that country thinks of its leaders. "

" The external Soviet empire lasted 45 years. It is shattered, beyond redemption or repair. "

" Missing from much of the public debate is discussion of the simple fact that lurking behind every terroristic act is a specific political antecedent. That does not justify either the perpetrator or his political cause. Nonetheless, the fact is that almost all terrorist activity originates from some political conflict and is sustained by it as well. "

" 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. "

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

" It is in the U.S. interest to engage Iran in serious negotiations - on both regional security and the nuclear challenge it poses. "

" I think it is important to ask ourselves as citizens, not as Democrats attacking the administration, but as citizens, whether a world power can really provide global leadership on the basis of fear and anxiety? "

" Eurasia is the world's axial supercontinent. A power that dominated Eurasia would exercise decisive influence over two of the world's three most economically productive regions: Western Europe and East Asia. "

" We cannot have that relationship if we only dictate or threaten and condemn those who disagree. "

" Sovereignty is a word that is used often but it has really no specific meaning. Sovereignty today is nominal. Any number of countries that are sovereign are sovereign only nominally and relatively. "

" Yes, ISIS is a threat. It's more than a nuisance. It's also in many respects criminal violence. But it isn't, in my view, a central strategic issue facing humanity. "

Zbigniew Brzezinski

View

Yes

" 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. "

" Saddam Hussein was an odious dictator, but he was also a very effective opponent of Iran. He was also a very effective opponent of al-Qaida. "

Zbigniew Brzezinski

Opponent

Iran

" 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. "

" Americans must place greater emphasis on the more subtle dimensions of national power, such as innovation, education, the balance of force and diplomacy, and the quality of political leadership. "

" The costly unilateralism of the younger Bush presidency led to a decade of war in the Middle East and the derailment of American foreign policy at large. "

" We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. "

" Hard power makes sense under some circumstances. But there's not a universal solution to global problems. "

" Pakistan's political instability is its greatest vulnerability, and a decline in U.S. power would reduce America's ability to aid Pakistan's consolidation and development. "

" We don't have a public that really understands the world anymore, and in the age of complexity, that problem becomes much more difficult. "

" If we end up with war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran at the same time, can anyone see a more damaging prospect for America's world role than that? "

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

" The financial catastrophe of 2008 nearly precipitated a calamitous economic depression, jolting America and much of the West into a sudden recognition of their systemic vulnerability to unregulated greed. "

" Given the accelerating velocity of history, we should begin charting deliberately the next phase in its trajectory. "

" 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. "