As soon as I steel myself for a heavy dose of realism, I'm off to see former national security adviser Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski. No, it's not a private dinner. Besides I don't think he even eats dinner, only lunch, and then, only Russians.
Brzezinski is the first speaker in this year's Cleveland Council on World Affairs lecture series. If he says anything of relevance to the issues we discuss on this blog, I'll update this post.
UPDATE: I should have realized there would be few specifics in what was only a half hour talk, followed by another 25 minutes or so of Q&A. Brzezinski made no mention of export controls, nonproliferation, arms control or practically anything else. So if your interest in international relations doesn't go beyond how today's Federal Register notice impacts your ability to export widgets to Timbuktu, feel free to stop reading here. No one will think any less of you for it (well I might, but how will I ever know?)
In the limited time he had, Brzezinski attempted to explain, at a very high level, what's generating all the instability in the world today. He called this phenomenon a "global political awakening", pointing to a stirring of resentment created by inequality and with world's university students as its foot soldiers. He noted that for most of human history the vast majority of the population has been politically passive. It is only in the last few decades this has begun to change.
Brzezinski then took his countrymen to task for the culture of fear that has gripped the US since even before 9/11, asking pointedly "Can you be a global leader if you're fearful?" and decrying the "propensity toward cumulative self-deception" that has taken hold here, something that is obvious if you cast even a moderately critical eye on the events leading up to the war in Iraq.
Brezezinski lamented the gross ignorance most Americans have of the world outside their borders, a failing which inevitably contributes to our incredibly superficial level of public discourse today on international relations. If more Americans would just put down the latest Sean Hannity or Michael Moore opus and pick up a newspaper with decent overseas coverage or tune in to the BBC World Service, it would be quite a bit more difficult for interest groups and politicians to get one over on them.
Cleveland's daily newspaper, The Plain Dealer, has its own write-up of the lecture.
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