The Grand Chessboard Quotes

“Too rich to be relevant to the world's poor, [Europe] attracts immigration but cannot encourage imitation. Too passive regarding international security. Too self-satisfied, it acts as if its central political goal is to become the worlds most comfortable retirement home. Too set in its ways, it fears multicultural diversity”
― Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives

“Russian commentators welcomed this development, viewing it as a positive shift in the global correlation of power and as an appropriate response to America’s sponsorship of NATO’s expansion. Some even sounded gleeful that the Sino-Russian alliance would give America its deserved comeuppance. However, a coalition allying Russia with both China and Iran can develop only if the United States is shortsighted enough to antagonize China and Iran simultaneously.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“Like so many empires before it, the Soviet Union eventually imploded and fragmented, falling victim not so much to a direct military defeat as to disintegration accelerated by economic and social strains. Its fate confirmed a scholar’s apt observation that [e]mpires are inherently politically unstable because subordinate units almost always prefer greater autonomy, and counter-elites in such units almost always act, upon opportunity, to obtain greater autonomy. In this sense, empires do not fall; rather, they fall apart, usually very slowly, though sometimes remarkably quickly.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“Geopolitical pivots are the states whose importance is derived not from their power and motivation but rather from their sensitive location and from the consequences of their potentially vulnerable condition for the behavior of geostrategic players.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives

“Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire. Russia without Ukraine can still strive for imperial status, but it would then become a predominantly Asian imperial state, more likely to be drawn into debilitating conflicts with aroused Central Asians, who would then be resentful of the loss of their recent independence and would be supported by their fellow Islamic states to the south.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“However, if Moscow regains control over Ukraine, with its 52 million people and major resources as well as its access to the Black Sea, Russia automatically again regains the wherewithal to become a powerful imperial state, spanning Europe and Asia.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“Expansion will happen if the United States and Germany jointly encourage the other NATO allies to endorse the step and either negotiate effectively some accommodation with Russia, if it is willing to compromise (see chapter 4), or act assertively, in the correct conviction that the task of constructing Europe cannot be subordinated to Moscow’s objections. Combined American-German pressure will be especially needed to obtain the required unanimous agreement of all NATO members, but no NATO member will be able to deny it if America and Germany jointly press for it.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“The prevailing wisdom that China is the next global power is breeding paranoia about China and fostering megalomania within China. Fears of an aggressive and antagonistic China that before long is destined to be the next global power are, at best, premature; and, at worst, they can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
― Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives

“Perhaps the highest compliment that the world pays to the centrality of the democratic process in American global hegemony is the degree to which foreign countries are themselves drawn into the domestic American political bargaining. To the extent that they can, foreign governments strive to mobilize those Americans with whom they share a special ethnic or religious identity. Most foreign governments also employ American lobbyists to advance their case, especially in Congress, in addition to approximately one thousand special foreign interest groups registered as active in America’s capital. American ethnic communities also strive to influence U.S. foreign policy, with the Jewish, Greek, and Armenian lobbies standing out as the most effectively organized”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“Економічне самозаперечення (тобто витрати на оборону) і людська самопожертва (втрати навіть серед професійних військовиків), чого вимагає таке напруження, — несумісні з демократичними інстинктами. Демократія ворожа імперській мобілізації.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives

“But in the meantime, it is imperative that no Eurasian challenger emerges, capable of dominating Eurasia and thus also of challenging America.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“American television programs and films account for about three-fourths of the global market. American popular music is equally dominant, while American fads, eating habits, and even clothing are increasingly imitated worldwide. The language of the Internet is English, and an overwhelming proportion of the global computer chatter also originates from America, influencing the content of global conversation. Lastly, America has become a Mecca for those seeking advanced education, with approximately half a million foreign students flocking to the United States, with many of the ablest never returning home. Graduates from American universities are to be found in almost every Cabinet on every continent.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“This remarkable economic dynamism was fostered by a culture that favored experimentation and innovation. America’s political institutions and free market economy created unprecedented opportunities for ambitious and iconoclastic inventors, who were not inhibited from pursuing their personal dreams by archaic privileges or rigid social hierarchies. In brief, national culture was uniquely congenial to economic growth, and by attracting and quickly assimilating the most talented individuals from abroad, the culture also facilitated the expansion of national power.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“France, Germany, Russia, China, and India are major and active players, whereas Great Britain, Japan, and Indonesia, while admittedly very important countries, do not so qualify. Ukraine, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Turkey, and Iran play the role of critically important geopolitical pivots, though both Turkey and Iran are to some extent—within their more limited capabilities—also geostrategically active. More will be said about each in subsequent chapters.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“Pe scurt, cel mai important defect geopolitic al priorității ”străinătății apropiate” era acela că Rusia nu era suficient de puternică politic pentru a-și impune voința și nici suficient de atrăgătoare economic pentru a putea seduce noile state independente...

O coaliție care să lege Rusia de China și Iran se poate dezvolta numai dacă Statele Unite sunt atât de mioape încât să își facă dușmani China și Iranul în același timp... Mai mult, China ar fi partenerul principal în orice efort serios..., ar fixa inevitabil Rusia într-un statut de partener subordonat... Rusia ar deveni astfel un stat-tampon între o Europă în dezvoltare și o Chină expansionistă…”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives

“America is too democratic at home to be autocratic abroad.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives

“În întreaga regiune strategii au început să își pună această întrebare esențială, dar rămasă fără răspuns: ”Pentru câtă vreme pacea în regiunea cea mai populată din lume și pe car să devină cea mai înarmată va fi asigurată de o sută de mii de soldați americani și pentru câtă vreme... e probabil ca ei să mai rămână?” Tocmai în această situație nesigură, creată de naționalisme care se intensifică, de creșteri de populații, de prosperitate din ce în ce mai mare, de speranțe exagerate... în peisajul... Asiei de Est apar schimbări cu adevărat spectaculoase”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives

“[...] a coalition allying Russia with both China and Iran can develop only if the United States is shortsighted enough to antagonize China and Iran simultaneously.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives

“Third, sustained inflation also undermined the capacity of the system to sustain itself without social sacrifice, which the citizens were no longer prepared to make. Cultural decay, political division, and financial inflation conspired to make Rome vulnerable even to the barbarians in its near abroad.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“The ultimate objective of American policy should be benign and visionary: to shape a truly cooperative global community, in”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“America’s political institutions and free market economy created unprecedented opportunities for ambitious and iconoclastic inventors, who were not inhibited from pursuing their personal dreams by archaic privileges or rigid social hierarchies. In”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

“Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives