January 18, 2012

Brzezinski on Execution of the Asia "Pivot"

Just by way of a quick follow up regarding the post immediately below, I did want to post this snippet from last weekend's "Lunch with the FT" feature, with Zbigniew Brzezinski. He states:

I push him further on Obama. Shortly before our lunch, the president returned from Australia where he announced plans to deploy 2,500 Marines there to shore up alliances in Asia. This is exactly the kind of move that baffles Brzezinski. What’s wrong, I ask, with Obama’s so-called pivot to Asia? Doesn’t it make sense to wind down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and shift attention to the rising east?

When Brzezinski feels strongly, he barely pauses between paragraphs. “I was not aware that Australia was about to be invaded by Papua New Guinea, or by Indonesia,” he replies. “I assume most people think Obama was thinking of China. What’s worse is that the Chinese will think he’s thinking of China and to define our engagements in the east in terms of China is a mistake. We have to focus on Asia but not in a manner that plays on everyone’s anxieties ... It becomes very easy to demonise China and they will then demonise us in return. Is that what we want?”

A good question. By the way, I have been very much wanting to post on the Republican primaries as well as an update on OWS (particularly Bloomberg's eviction action). I hope to have more soon.

Posted by Gregory at January 18, 2012 02:14 PM