The American Leadership Crisis

The political scientist and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski is still relevant in the American media and research institutes. His opinions still garner considerable attention especially in the uncertain transitional stage currently facing Washington after the fall of its unilateral hegemony.

In his most recent book "Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power," which the Lebanese paper al-Safir recently summarized, Brzezinski offers an insightful description of the state of affairs in Europe and America after the war in Iraq, saying that “the West is fatigued ... and Europe has lost a sense of global responsibility.” As for America, “[it has] embarked on a kind of self‑gratification and self‑satisfaction, almost acting as if it really thought that history had come to an end,” as the Japanese-American political thinker Fukuyama once noted.

In his analysis of the reasons behind America losing its legitimacy and Washington’s uncertain position in the world, Brzezinski said that the war in Iraq was a disaster. A disaster in the sense that it undermined American legitimacy worldwide, damaging the credibility of the president and contributing to a more unstable Middle East. [He makes an unfavorable] comparison to the era of Saddam Hussein, who was a strong source of containment of Iran's Middle Eastern ambitions, especially considering the state of things in Iraq and the region as a whole, which is unstable and subject to Iranian control.

Brzezinski is dumbfounded by the situation in the Middle East, especially concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In regard to the latter, he has become convinced of a fact that highlights the danger of the current situation in which “the time for a two-state solution has passed since Israel has no incentives to offer concessions to the Palestinians or the international community [and Washington] is not committed to advancing the peace process.”

This important conclusion reveals the reasons behind the failed negotiations and Washington’s position in support of the Zionist enemy. It is also a call to the Palestinians to carefully consider the current situation and to look for solutions to emerge from the quagmire they have found themselves in after the collapse of the two-state solution and the Zionist insistence on taking lands, Judaicizing Jerusalem and al-Aqsa and forcing the Palestinians to life in refugee camps and the diaspora.

As for the possibility of an attack on Iran, he compares the American and Israeli positions noting that it is far more likely that Israel, rather than America, will undertake such an attack. He has ruled out the possibility of an American strike for a number of reasons, the most important and dangerous of which is the rising cost of energy and the fact that its European allies are in Russia’s pocket, leaving Moscow as the primary source for ensuring the economic well-being of America and its citizens.

In short, Brzezinski’s book underscores America’s failures and its inability to rule the world. This is abundantly clear in Washington’s desire to postpone dealing with the Syrian Crisis, the Iranian nuclear issue, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and others until after the elections.