The Grand Chessboard
American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives
by Zbigniew Brzezinski · first published 1997
33% recommend62% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Geopolitical strategy book on US primacy and how the major Eurasian powers relate to each other; recommended for understanding US foreign policy and conflicts near Russia, and for its frank view of how countries think.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Brzezinski delivers a vision for American preeminence in the twenty-first century. The task facing the United States, he argues, is to become the sole political arbiter in Eurasian lands and to prevent the emergence of any rival power threatening our material and diplomatic interests. The Eurasian landmass, home to the greatest part of the globe's population, natural resources, and economic activity, is the "grand chessboard" on which America's supremacy will be ratified and challenged in the years to come. In this landmark work of public policy and political science, Brzezinski outlines a gr
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…do if Russia starts fucking around with Mexico? Read this book and understand the foreign policy of the US and all the conflicts happening near Russia (Georgia, Ukraine etc.) http://www.amazon.com/The-Grand-Chessboard-Geostrategic-Impe... Or a little bit information from "the other side" http://www.vineyardsaker.co.nz/ The EU has nothing to do in Ukraine. And if people want to secede, why not let them? Instead of…
on “Live map of Russia advancing into Ukraine” ↗Read The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski. He makes a very strong case for US hegemony. Btw, I do respect your points. I'm rather conflicted about this topic myself. We don't really know what the world would be like if…
on “Noam Chomsky: American Power Under Challenge” ↗> Yes, the United States replaced a friendly regime with a hostile one, that makes sense. Read up: https://www.amazon.com/Grand-Chessboard-American-Geostrategi... > SS and NKVD [and "brutal"] This sort of b.s. psychological manipulations could be passed around before the internet as agitprop but those days are over. SS ran concentration…
on “Iran has tried to suppress a video game about their Islamic revolution” ↗"The Grand Chessboard" by Zbigniew Brzezinski opened up my eyes to how countries think. It's a bit dry, but offers the kind of perspective that is normally missing from most people's everyday lives.
on “Computer Simulations Suggest War Drove the Rise of Civilisations (2013)” ↗…that maintain much of its current role in the int'l order. The Chinese are not thought to be interested in becoming a global hegemon / world police.[3] Anyway, I just came here to recommend a book, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives.[4] Reading it now and find that it puts a lot of things in perspective. [1] Fox Business News w/ Trump: https://youtu.be/K1qt6nQLoHI [2] Chaebol:…
on “U.S. Moves Forward on $200B China Tariff” ↗A book recommendation: The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives by Zbigniew Brzezinski [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Chessboard
on “A Citizen Is Suing the US for Putting Him on the 'Kill List'” ↗…reaching US shores (an evolution of the Monroe doctrine, which started back in the 19th century with keeping European conquest out of the immediate surroundings). I would highly recommend picking up 'The Grand Chessboard[0]' by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former counselor to Presidents Lyndon B Johnson and Jimmy Carter. It is an excellent light read on the landscape in the mid 90's in regards to US foreign policy and national…
on “Alexei Navalny has died” ↗…wasted the monumental accomplishment of the Sino-Soviet Split. The Eurasian landmass is now dominated by China-Russia-Iran, three powers with internal lines of communication. Read Zbigniew Brzezinski's The Grand Chessboard, and what we've done is exactly how to LOSE the game. https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/36/36669B789... Potentially, the most dangerous scenario would be a grand coalition of China, Russia,…
on “Young journalists expose Russian-linked vessels off the Dutch and German coast” ↗…don't really have a best book, for me. Recently read 'Emperor of all maladies' and found it a fascinating journey through cancer, both as an illness and as a research subject. Also recently read 'The Grand Chessboard' which was also fascinating for a completely different reason.
on “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” ↗In his 1997 book The Grand Chessboard Zbigniew Brzezinski did say that if Europe went to war again it would start in Ukraine. Some choice quotes: “Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical pivot because…
on “Russian forces invade Ukraine after Putin orders attack” ↗I'm not going to list all 42, but here are the highlights: How to Read a Book (Adler) World Order (Kissinger) Der Grundrisse (Marx) The Grand Chessboard (Brzezinski) Manufacturing Consent (Chomsky) Gulag Archipelago (Solhenitzyn) On War (Clausewitz) The Hidden Persuaders (Packard) Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking (Dennett) The Strategy…
on “Ask HN: What books have you read in the first half of 2016?” ↗> (...) always been at WA with Eurasia. That is an interesting formulation that reminds me former presidential advisor Zbigniew Brzeziński's book "The Grand Chessboard".
on “Why Europe Is Warning of Pax Americana's End” ↗…(That basically want Ukraine to be part of the EU) and Pro Russian groups (supported by good ol' Putin). Let's hope it all ends well. This is the Bozo who thought it all up: http://www.amazon.com/The-Grand-Chessboard-Geostrategic-Impe...
on “Revolution in Kiev” ↗Not to mention the fact that these sanctions are going to make poor people starve. Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine make up a huge chunk of world grain, fertilizer, oil, and gas exports. In the Grand Chessboard, former NSA Zbigniew Brzezinski openly talks about oil and gas pipelines and diverting them away from Russia. That's what this war is really about.
on “Why John Mearsheimer Blames the U.S. for the Crisis in Ukraine” ↗…and taking countries publicly stated goals and motives at face value. Zbigniew Brzezinski was one of our most influential contemporary foreign policy thinkers - here's the NYT reviewing his book 'The Grand Chessboard': Brzezinski ... describes a very forbidding situation in the years ahead if the United States does not make more permanent the dominance it now has over a vast area of the world. "This huge, oddly shaped…
on “In Africa, U.S.-Trained Militaries Are Ousting Civilian Governments in Coups” ↗