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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?
Zbigniew Brzezinski
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote questions whether leadership based on fear can effectively guide a nation or the world.

Zbigniew Brzezinski emphasizes the need for citizens to reflect critically on the nature of global leadership. He challenges the idea that a world power can lead successfully if its approach is rooted in fear and anxiety, suggesting that true leadership should inspire cooperation and understanding rather than division and dread.

Themes

LeadershipFearCitizenshipAnxietyGlobalPower

In practice

Example use cases

In a political speech to address the nation's future.

More from Zbigniew Brzezinski

Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. 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.
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During the twentieth century, men fought on behalf of nationalism. Yet the wars they fought were also engendered by dislocations in world markets and by social revolution stimulated by the coming of the industrial age.
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Constant reference to a 'war on terror' did accomplish one major objective: It stimulated the emergence of a culture of fear.
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Iraq may have been a preview of that, but it's still redeemable if we get out fast. In a war with Iran, we'll get dragged down for 20 or 30 years. The world will condemn us. We will lose our position in the world.
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The congressional role in declaring war is especially important not when the United States is the victim of an attack, but when the United States is planning to wage war abroad.
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There may be circumstances in which damaging our relationship with countries over human rights is counterproductive and the benefits to human rights may be very small because of our limited capacity to enforce our stance. That was the dilemma the United States faced after Tiananmen Square.
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