Zbigniew Brzezinski Tells Morning Joe Obama Didn’t Really ‘Blow It’ On Egypt

Mediaite ^ | 12/15/11 | Mark Joyella

[Nachum]

On the heels of Monday’s lively discussion with Niall Ferguson, whose cover story in Newsweek brands President Obama’s handling of the uprising in Egypt a failure, MSNBC’s Morning Joe returned to the question Tuesday morning with former national security adviser–and Mika Brzezinski’s Dad–Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski dismissed the suggestion that Obama necessarily “blew it.”

“The fact is the United States and the White House weren’t all that central to the events in Egypt,” said Brzezinski, who credits coverage of the uprising by Al Jazeera and the extensive use of social media by protesters for the rapid pace of events in Cairo. “We weren’t that central to these events.”

“We don’t know how this is going to turn out, so let’s be very careful whether it’s a triumph or a massive setback. We just don’t know.”

Watch it here, from MSNBC:

[Nachum]

Guess it all depends on what the meaning of "Blow" is...

[cripplecreek]

Now that the Egyptian military has decided to include the muslim brotherhood in setting up the government, I’d say blowing it is understating the fact.

[kbennkc]

Try to educate Mika and she'll tell her daddy and give him the show uninterrupted and unchallenged to contradict you.

[rarestia]

The fact is the United States and the White House weren’t all that central to the events in Egypt.

We weren’t that central to these events.

We don’t know how this is going to turn out, so let’s be very careful whether it’s a triumph or a massive setback. We just don’t know.

In linguistics, these are called hedge words or phrases. They usually indicate that the speaker does not have confidence in what they are saying. Other examples are actually and basically.

[skeeter]

Zbigniew - not much smarter than his daughter.

Why would anyone turn to this proven loser for analysis?

[tumblindice]

“Hi there. I’m Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski. But my friends, former president Carter
and others just call me: Zigrkwxzlqhtkviewrltujvzxwaplekberlaxpretzlpwyrie’.

[de.rm]

Berserksy was one of the architects of the last big overthrow operation (Iran / Shah / Kohmeany).

[seoul62]

The line from the Movie the Godfather comes into play when Michael Corleone tells Frank Pentangeli, that his Late Father gave him this advice: “Son, keep your friends close but your enemies closer”. Just a guess but I think this might be a strategy that the Egyptian Military is adopting.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

"Daddy...a mean guy made me look stupid yesterday...(sniffle, sniffle)"

[Palmetto Patriot]

“The fact is the United States and the White House weren’t all that central to the events in Egypt."

Translation: We were powerless to influence events in the Middle East.

This did not go unnoticed by either our friends or our enemies.

[McGruff]

So Dr. Brzezinski, would you call this a success? Would you say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?

[Walts Ice Pick]

Much as I dislike Newsweek, I'll read this guy's article to see what he thinks we should have done/do in Egypt. I know he just left Israel and I suspect he thinks that Israel and the U.S. should have sent in troops to protect the Mubarak regime, which is probably the only way the regime could have been saved.

Obviously, Israel decided against that strategy and I support Israel in that decision.

[DannyTN]

He effectively said "We didn't blow it, because we weren't relevant."

Which is to say, we blew it.

[Dr. Ursus]

Happy Hour starts when we say so!

[RitaOK]

What a predictable rebuttle! Mika phones home.

[DouglasKC]

Guess it depends on who your daughter is.. :-)

[milwguy]

Jimmy Carter did and look what happened in Iran. In all fairness to Daddy Brzezinski, we still don’t know how Iran will turn out either. It was only in 1979 that the Shah got booted while Zbiggie and Jimma did nothing. Who knows, in another 35 years or so Iran may be a success. More likely it will be a nucelar wasteland when Israel is forced to take Ammanutjob and the mullahs out in a pre-emptive strike.

[FromLori]

He’s a piece of crap he belongs to the International Crisis Group with soros, elbaradei.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=AFAAD992BC154C93B71B1E76D6151F3F&_z=z

http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/board.aspx

[rbmillerjr]

Carter didn’t REALLY blow Iran, either.

[skeeter]

Who knows, in another 35 years or so Iran may be a success.

There are thousands in the streets over there right now trying to help the process along, but if one listens only to this administration and the mainstream news media one would never know.

I guess they're tired of 'pro-democracy' rallies now.