Customer Reviews

Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the 21st Century

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Although I have never been anything of a Brzezinski-admirer, I cannot help expressing my deep respect of this piece. "Out of Control" is a thoughtful and greatly written analysis of the current state of global politics, drawing on numerous past examples to make the ultimate point that the world is going out of control due to a multitude of reasons, and unless urgent measures are taken to prevent such developments, the most dismal misgivings of mankind may come true. If you don't feel intimidated by Brzezinki's language and style at the very beginning of the book, you'll probably enjoy it quite a lot.

Brzezisnki starts with a ghastly overview of the world's (read Europe's) 20th century, figuratively depicting it as the century of "megadeaths and metamyths." He occasionally breaks his typical dry academic style to make a number of strong emotional points, which in a way distinguishes "Out of Control" from anything else I have read by him. Nazism and Communism, Hitler and Stalin, are depicted as monstrous as one may expect them to be, and by doing so Mr. Brzezinski prepares the ground for his further claims that humanity is at peril.

As one can rightfully expect him to do, Zbigniew Brezinski does not fail to discuss widely America and its role in current international politics. But this time he not only points out America's supremacy, but also pinpoints a number of fundamental drawbacks and faults of American cultural and social life, the grass-root debasement of principles and values, as well as certain economic weaknesses which might ulimately take global leadership out of US hands. The most seroius concerns, however, are raised not just by America's inability to tackle its economic problems and thus its failure to stand firmly in a world of ever rising significance of the markets, but rather by its decreasing ability to provide global leadership and contribution in the creation of globally shared set of values. And, what is even worse, at this precise moment there is no viable alternative to this; no other power is ripe enough to bear the challenges of such a burden. Given that America's own society is gradually degrading, driven by omnipresent and omnipowerful consumerist culture, it is hard to believe that America can offer universally valid human values, which might evetually lead to a "clash of civilizations" (to use Huntington's term). In light of the September 11 events, one may only admire Brzezisnki's tremendous scope of political insight.

Consistent with the above, "Out of Control" is also interesting in that it provides a profound discussion of the basic philosphical stives of modern man: who am I, where do I come from, where am I going? Brezisnki correctly points out that "for mankind the gap between enhanced expectations and actual capabilities may have never been as great as it is today." Modernization has increasingly being causing frustration of individuals, which in turn produces aggression. This is what ultimately might lead to a world impossible to control, although Brzezinksi does not explicitly state it.

Another discussion so typical for this author is also the one about global power distribution and the viability and competitiveness of other political actors. He offers something similar in "The Grand Chessboard," and it is shaping up as one of his trade marks. In "Out of Control," however, the options open for the establishment of a new world order are somewhat modified by the pace of globalization. The rivalry we have been witnessing recently is not one between nation-states, but rather one of the rich vs. the poor. The latter, however, because of growing anxieties over inequality, are becoming increasingly susceptible to mass mobilization: another token that something is going wrong in world affairs. And again the fresh memories of the attacks on the WTC come to mind; they are reminiscent of Brzezinski, aren't they?

"Out of Control" is indeed a great book; although it adopts a somewhat Hobbesean view (by implying that human nature is inherently aggressive) and a marked instrumentalist perspective, it is a perfect depiction of the state of modern global politics, with its possible negative implications. It was written almost ten years ago; nevertheless, it sounds just as thoughtful and live today as it has probably been back then.

To understand this book, its contents, or its significance, one must first understand its author. This is not always important, but in this case, it is essential. Zbigniew Brezinski, or Zbig for short, is the former National Security Advisor for the U.S. government, a Council on Foreign Relations member and former co-director, the co-founder with David Rockefeller of the Trilateral Commission, and probably the leading intellectual of the reigning political and economic power elite, to use a phrase coined by sociologist C. Wright Mills. In other words, he is the voice of the reigning powers, to a very large degree.
In that sense, his books are well worth reading - but not for the reason of wanting to take his advice, but for seeing what the power elite are up to. He stated his goals and values very clearly in an earlier book, Between Two Worlds: America's Role in the Technotronic Era, when he unequivocally stated that it would soon become possible to maintain continuous surveillance on virtually every person on the planet, and that this would support the overall goal of eliminating national sovereignties and democracies, under the leadership of an international elite-ruled global governance. He is, in short, a closet fascist. He wants, and advocates, an Orwellian society of technological surveillance under an elite-run global feudalism. I'm sure he would choose more pleasant euphemisms for global totalitarian dominance by a few wealthy bankers, financiers and intellectuals, but I will call it what it is: fascism. Read his books. But don't forget the infantile grandiosity, the supreme hubris, and the Orwellian dreams of technological global totalitarianism that is the motive behind them. His books and his own words will make that clear, if anyone is willing to wade through them.

This book is a great overview of 20th Century geopolitical history. I agree with much of what Mr. Brzezinski has to say about the "metamyths" surrounding the totalitarian regimes that killed millions: Stalin, Mao, and Hitler. But out of those flurished a new world order that essentially kept Fascism, the worst kind of totalitarian regimes from rearing its ugly head.
Now that the Soviet system has collapsed 20 years ago, we see new Fascist movements coming alive, especially here in America via the rightwing. Other places are experiencing this, like the rightwing skinhead movements in Europe.

I like the book. It has insights about the world of the 20th century, and where we will go into the future, but as in everything one reads no one is always correct 100% of the time.

I recommend this book highly.

"The danger is not that conservative policies will succeed....The danger is that when the inevitable failure of conservative governance occurs, an angry populace will conclude that mainstream conservatism as well as liberalism has been discredited--and that the extremists of the populist and fundamentalist right will be well placed to take advantage of popular alienation and wrath.... Make no mistake, the present Republican spree on behalf of the corporate elite will sooner or later provoke a backlash...

...Indeed, it seems increasingly likely that the now moribund mainstream conservative movement of 1955-1992 will be viewed by historians as nothing more than the icebreaker for a resurgent radical right. Historians of the next century may well record that the conservatism of [William F.]Buckley, Kristol and Podheretz was an ephemeral offshoot from the main line of descent on the American right, a line that leads from [the anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist and radio priest of the 1930's] Father Coughlin through [1950's communist hunter] Joe McCarthy and [1960's racial segregationist] George Wallace to Pat Robertson and Patrick Buchanan. Though they claim to be students of the French and Russian revolutions, all too many of the thinkers and strategists of the conservative movement appear to have forgotten that those who begin revolutions are seldom the ones who finish them. Indeed, they are often among the first victims of the brutal forces they unleash upon the world."

Michael Lind
UP FROM CONSERVATISM
From the Introduction

Only one who has read the modern psychological work of Alice Miller can imagine how Freud's heart must have broke years after writing THE AETIOLOGY OF HYSTERIA in 1896. In this book, which Freudians still try to pretend he never wrote, he actually proved children are not sexually promiscuous by nature; they creatively express their suffering from forms of sexual abuse-usually experienced at the hands of adult guardians and parents-via cryptic fantasies. (He abandoned this work after extreme protest from pedophiliac colleagues in 1897 and invented the destructive Oedipal Conflict myth in its place; which has caused a century of psychological agony to millions of children and adults around the world.) Similarly, one can almost see "Zbig" crying the same kind of tears Freud must have cried after writing OUT OF CONTROL: the kind of tears cried when one realizes that, as with every Faustian contract, the devil is eventually coming to collect on the soul you sold him for power and success.

"Enlightenment," the Buddha said, "is progressive disillusionment." Ironically, the progressive disillusionment demanded by OUT OF CONTROL is a product of what it reveals in that context: Dr. Z's other books--and those who created public and foreign policy through them--are among the greatest contributors to the violent, materialistic and immoral side of our national character AND the virtually inevitable American Empire apocalypse he, with OUT OF CONTROL, so deftly details. The sacred iconoclasm of historian Gore Vidal, among others, gives us a new look at Truman, Stalin, World War II Japan, the Dulles Brothers and the Cold War in its entirety. Zbig, in his historically erudite but sadly cryptic way, acknowledges this with OUT OF CONTROL via acknowledging what it all has produced.

But never does Dr. Brzezinski tell us the complete truth, historically or personally. (For example, see Mossadeq Ahmed's THE WAR ON FREEDOM [where Brzezinski's THE GRAND CHESSBOARD is quoted voluminously] for his chronicling of both US involvement in the Islamic resistance to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and what it has produced today. The CIA under Dr. Brzezinski during the Carter Administration, in order to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, helped create "The Base": a collection of CIA-trained Islamic militants known in Arabic as *Al Qaeda*. I'll let you guess who one of their Sau'di leaders was.) What, for example, can Dr. Z say to us regarding the discoveries of investigative journalist Gerard Colby, author of THY WILL BE DONE, THE CONQUEST OF THE AMAZON: NELSON ROCKEFELLER AND EVANGELISM IN THE AGE OF OIL:

"Nelson Rockefeller, who died in 1979, owned vast Latin American real estate and cattle ranching, mining, industrial and financial interests centered in Brazil... Rockefeller-a top Latin American adviser to presidents from FDR to Nixon, and Ford's vice-president-played a dominant role in shaping the U.S.'s interventionist policy in Latin America, according to this blistering expose based on 18 years of research...Colby...and his wife, Dennett, a freelance journalist, charge that Rockefeller, his banks and their allies, working with the CIA, bolstered repressive regimes in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay. Forcible dislocation of native peoples, hunger, disease, genocide and the ongoing destruction of the Amazon rain forest are the legacy of these policies, in the authors' analysis..."

Review from Publishers Weekly

"...the authors document the deaths or uprooting of hundreds of thousands of Amazonian and South and Central American tribal peoples. They describe an unlikely and sinister alliance among the Rockefeller family, America's largest missionary organization, and the American government-an alliance formed to benefit each of its members. The Rockefellers wanted oil and other natural resources; the Wycliffe Bible Translators wanted to spread the Word of God; and the American government wanted to fight communism. This is a disheartening, tragic story that needs to be told and will attract much attention."

Review from Booklist

Will "Zbig" fully admit and detail how recent history shows to what degree we in the democratic/"free market" West have become exactly what Marx and Engels said we were, before, during and after our fight to rid the world of the political philosophies created in their name? Or his role in it? This, not cheap sex, reality TV and the 60's, lay at the core of the American moral identity like a virus--as shown by real history; the history not found in our children's propagandistic textbooks.

OUT OF CONTROL could be evidence of what Zbig saw on his road to Damascus. The important question, however, is this: to whom does he and our current Administration really pray to now...and why?

An ironically important book.

This is a good book, by the Polish-born national security advisor to Jimmy Carter, who called him "Zbig." We'll just say Z. Z has a great summary of the essentially religious nature of communism, and opens with a great, nearly Solzhenitsyn-esque sweeping condemnation of the whole communist enterprise, ending with a math exercise of all the people who have been killed by communism.

Now that communism is flying apart, he previews some of the challenges facing the world, focusing on what Z refers to as the "oblong" of instablility covering the Middle East on the West, and swinging South and East to cover the areas including Armenia and the various "Stan" countries around there, Iraq, Iran, and East to India. It is here, says Z, that the first Post-Hiroshima/Nagasaki nuclear weapons will probably be used.

He also meditates on the challenges posed by genetic engineering.

Zbig is a serious guy, as he implies by informing us that the book's introduction was written in Northeast Harbor, ME, which gives away the Rockefeller antecedents to his career, and achieves harmonic convergence with the John McCloy-esque brand of service-provider to the establishment.

This book came out almost the same time as Bill Clinton's "health security card" State of the Nation address, and to me, this highlighted the essential role that Zbig has played in helping us to realize the relative triteness of so much domestic U.S. political pandering (especially by Democrats like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton) compared to the harrowing problems facing us and everyone else internationally. Zbig's particular tragedy was having to mount his platform of international advice-giving at the pleasure of these destructive, immature half-statesmen who generally made the world more dangerous by ignoring or talking past real problems.

Mr. Brzezinski feels that America must be replaced as a global village. How I and 250 million other people disagree must be beyond his puny immagination. A one-world governemnt is easier to conquer and force socialism by making the Global Community "hell on earth" where only a few thousands engineers run a billion slaves. Zbiginiew, The Trilateral Commission founder and member and long time anti-american elitest and CFR member I have one question. How did a clown like you ever land a job as Professor of John Hopkins University?