New?

Zbignew Brzezinski has an op-ed in today's WaPo. In it, he takes Georgie to task for comparing Islamic Terrorism to world communism. And he's right. But you also get the sense that Soviet communism was the dragon that Zbiggy helped slay - don't go calling that dog that you're fighting a dragon, because it ain't. Don't compare the Joker to Dr. Doom, because Doom had an unbreakable force field, power armour, and the entire frickin nation of Latvaria. The Joker had gas.

But what was most startling in his piece was this paragraph:

The analogy to communism may have some short-term political benefit, for it can
rekindle the fears of the past while casting the president in the mold of the
historic victors of the Cold War, from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan. But the
propagation of fear also has a major downside: It can produce a nation driven by
fear, lacking in self-confidence and thus less likely to inspire trust among
America's allies, including Muslim ones, whose support is needed for an
effective and intelligent response to the terrorist phenomenon.

Is he new? Did he just crack his first newspaper? Because, for those of us who've been watching, it's pretty clear that fear is the entire basis of Georgie's ideology (such as it is).

"Short-term political benefit?" There's nobody on the planet more addicted to immediate gratification than the Junta. If there are benefits that go past 5:00 today, they don't want to hear about them. Nobody's planned anything long-term in Washington since Bubba was dropping trou in the Oval Office.

Tax cuts have been a long-term disaster to buy short-term happiness among wealthy donors. The Iraq invasion was rushed - started before the 4th Division could get in place - and carried no plan at all for reconstruction and occupation. Nothing.

And fear? Not to belabor the point, but Georgie spreads fear like the damn Grim Reaper. Fearful voters went for him after he Swift-boated Kerry in 04. In every meaningful respect, George Bush is the world's leading terrorist. His foreign policy is entirely focused on creating fear of the United States. His neocon handlers believe that an isolated America that has a missile shield and a powerful military will be safe.

So no treaties, no exchanges, no foreign alliances will be kept. John Bolton will be dropped into the UN to stop everything from working. America will become a black hole and the rest of the world will be the 'event horizon.'

None of which is terribly new to the rest of us, but apparently Zbiggy hasn't been keeping up.