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ANDRZEJ LUBOWSKI: Zbig. Cz3owiek, który podminowa3 Kreml (Zbig. The Man Who Undermined Kremlin). Warszawa: Agora, 2011, 304 pp.
Andrzej Lubowski's Zbig is not a conventional biography. It is a fascinating story of Zbigniew Brzeziñski's career as a political science theorist and practician. The book is undoubtedly absorbing reading for both those interested in the history of the Cold War, as it provides a fresh view on the role in the decision-making process of one of the most influential political advisors to the president of the United States after World War II, and also as a source of inspiration for those interested in the essence and meaning of policy-oriented analysis. This second aspect of the book seems to be the most important one. It provides the reader with valuable insight into the basic values and principles of work of a "man who undermined the Kremlin."
Lubowski leads his readers through the most important moments of Professor Brzeziñski's professional life, basing them on rich sources of information-official documents, the memories of decision-makers and most important, on a number of interviews with Brzeziñski himself. The book presents Brzeziñski's first steps in the field of political advice, the rise of the political tandem of Brzezinski and Jimmy Carter, as well as the constant presence of his strategic thought in the policy-making discourse in Washington until today. Lubowski's story is not always linear, it concentrates on the most important milestones of Brzeziñski's career. In fact, the story is built around Brzeziñski's positions towards key challenges the U.S. administration had to face, both when "Zbig" played his most important roles as well as when he remained in the background of the political process.
Lubowski suggests that the key to Brzeziñski's success lay in the unique features of his personality. The most important was consistency, which was never blind but always based on thorough analysis. Brzeziñski studied the political system of the Soviet totalitarian regime as a student. A son of a Polish diplomat, he understood the essence of the Soviet regime perfectly and was aware of its fundamental weaknesses: economic inefficiency and frozen ethnic conflicts under the cover of an imperial monolith. According to Brzeziñski himself, he spent most of his...