Zbigniew Brzezinski feared Donald Trump would wreck valuable alliances

ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI, who died on May 26th, was a child of war. The smashing of his Polish homeland to rubble, first by Nazi invaders and then by the remorseless, brutish violence of Soviet communism, jolted him from a life of privilege—he was the son of a diplomat and nobleman—to one of uncertain exile. After that early brush with destruction and collapse, it is small wonder that the word “constructive” was among his highest praise for a policy.

The former national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter did not get every call right: he strongly backed a failed attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran in 1980, for instance. But he was prescient about the hidden divisions and weaknesses of the Soviet bloc in Europe. He was right about the risks of invading Iraq in 2003. He will be remembered as among the most eloquent champions of an American-led international order that took a generous view of the superpower’s self-interest. He often sounded like a master-builder when describing the global policy “architecture” needed to allow other nations to be free and to prosper. He saw America “buttressing” and stabilising a world being unbalanced by emerging powers.