At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on threats to US national security, former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski repeatedly claimed that Russia "seized" Crimea and could soon attack the Baltic states, urging American policy-makers to increase NATO military presence in Latvia and Estonia.
The former national security advisor stressed that "the only sensible step" was to amass NATO military forces near the Russian border. He said that he also considered some "actions of a semi-military type" as well as "occasional military engagement" of NATO's forces in armed confrontation with Russia.
According to Brzezinski, deterrence is the only way to peace, so far Washington should send arms and troops to Eastern Europe in order to prevent World War III.
"I wonder how many people in this room or this very important senatorial committee really anticipated that one day Putin would land military personnel in Crimea and seize it. I think if anybody said that's what he is going to do, he or she would be labeled as a warmonger. He did it. And he got away with it. I think he’s also drawing lessons from that. And I'll tell you what my horror, night-dream, is: that one day, I literally mean one day, he just seizes Riga, and Talinn. Latvia and Estonia. It would literally take him one day," the old hawk Brzezinski underscored during the hearing.
Eric Zuesse, an American political analyst, exposed the hypocrisy of Zbigniew Brzezinski pointing out three serious falsehoods in the former national security advisor's testimony.
Eric Zuesse cited the founder of Stratfor, "the private CIA firm," who dubbed the event as "the most blatant coup in history." Predictably, Washington's move was qualified by Moscow as a hostile action directly threatening Russia's security. Surprisingly, Zbigniew Brzezinski did not say a word about it, although he had repeatedly claimed in his publications that without Ukraine Moscow would be unable to ensure its security and would lose a chance become a truly global player.
The analyst even went so far to claim that Brzezinski could have intentionally deceived US congressmen, by not shedding light on the historical background of the event.
Eric Zuesse also pointed to the fact that Gallup polls both before and after the Crimean vote on March 16, 2014 indicated an overwhelming majority of the population of the region (more than 90 percent) demonstrated their strong determination to be part of Russia. The analyst emphasized that Crimea had been a Russian territory from 1783 to 1954 and so far its inhabitants always considered themselves Russian, not Ukrainian nationals.
Zuesse called into question the thesis of Brzezinski that Russia "land[ed] military personnel in Crimea and seize[d] it," pointing to the fact that Russia's Black Sea Fleet has been stationed in the region since 1783. The Russian military were ensuring security in Crimea during the peaceful vote. Therefore, the idea put forth by Brzezinski that Russia was preparing for a quick military assault against the Baltic states was completely divorced from reality, the analyst underscored.
Zuesse also pointed out that the NATO Treaty is a mutual-defense provision, and denounced Brzezinski's idea that US should send weaponry and troops to all Eastern Europe NATO member states – Russia's former allies – in order to "prevent Putin to invade NATO" as ridiculous.
He underscored that the alarmist statements made by the former national advisor are evidently directed to provoke a confrontation between Moscow and Washington. The question remains open, whether Brzezinski is demonstrating his ignorance as a geostrategist or whether he wants to trigger a possible military conflict between the global powers intentionally.
