Ex-US diplomat Brzezinski dies

WASHINGTON: Former US President Jimmy Carter had been impressed with the views of foreign policy expert Zbigniew Brzezinski well before he won the presidency in 1980. That he immediately liked the Polish-born academic advising his campaign was a plus.

“He was inquisitive, innovative and a natural choice as my national security adviser when I became president,” Carter said in a statement following Brzezinski’s death Friday.

Earnest and ambitious, Brzezinski helped Carter bridge wide gaps between the rigid Egyptian and Israeli leaders — Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin — leading to the Camp David accords in September, 1978. Three months later, US-China relations were normalized, a top priority for Brzezinski. He also had a hand in two other controversial agreements: The SALT II nuclear weapons treaty with the Soviet Union and the Panama Canal treaties ceding US control of the waterway.

“He was brilliant, dedicated and loyal,” said Carter, who awarded Brzezinski the Presidential Medal of Freedom days before leaving office in 1981.

Brzezinski’s death at age 89 was announced on social media on Friday night by his daughter, MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski.

She called him “the most inspiring, loving and devoted father any girl could ever have.” Also surviving Brzezinski were his wife, Emilie and their sons Ian and Mark.