Zbigniew Brzezinski, who helped topple economic barriers between the Soviet Union, China and the west under Carter, died on 26 May, 2017. (c) Keystone Press Agency/Zuma Press/PA Images. All rights reserved.There are a few Americans — though to be fair not so many outside Hollywood and pop culture — whose names are familiar to every Russian. Every Soviet citizen knew the name Zbigniew Brzezinski from childhood, from the 1970s when Soviet TV gave us daily updates on this enemy of Détente, the “rabid Russophobe” and anti-Soviet politician responsible for America ceasing to understand the Soviet Union once again.
For Russians, Brzezinski remained the embodiment of the America that didn’t, and doesn’t want to understand Russia and which still sees its role in the world in terms of containing and undermining Russian influence. Frequent references were made to Brzezinski’s Polish origins, which in the context of Poland’s centuries-old grievances towards Russia offered some explanation, if not justification, for his position.
The fact that over the last few days the Russian media are full of articles and obituaries for Brzezinski proves for the last time that he had become the incarnation of Russian perceptions of America’s policies towards our country: a man who, although he hadn’t held high office in decades, nonetheless remained in the eyes of the Russian public the chief spokesperson for the US and a symbol of its “permanent hostility” towards Russia. As often happens, there was more to this man than the role he came to play in Russian culture.
