zbigniew brzezinski held that position with president carter. he's now a counselor at the center for strategic and international studies. stephen hadley served under president george w. bush. he's currently a senior adviser at the united states institute of peace. welcome to both of you. first zbigniew brzezinski your thoughts on john kerry as nominee for secretary of state? >> i think he's an absolutely top-notch choice. very good. experienced, solid energetic with a broad vision and with a strong focus on trying to stabilize those parts of the world that are especially dangerous. i think he's practical intelligent well informed. >> brown: stephen hadley? >> he's in a way spent his whole life preparing for this job and it's good he did because he takes in the a very challenging time and i think he's going to have a lot of challenges before him. i think one of them is to prioritize where he's going to put his time. >> brown: well you know he spoke about the economy getting the economy right first and foremost. he said "more than ever foreign pol

zbigniew brzezinski held that position with president carter. he's now a counselor at the center for strategic and international studies. stephen hadley served under president george w. bush. he's currently a senior adviser at the united states institute of peace. welcome to both of you. first, zbigniew brzezinski, your thoughts on john kerry as nominee for secretary oftate? >> i think he's an absolutely top-notch choice. very good. experienced, solid, energetic with a broad vision and with a strong focus on trying to stabilize those parts of the world that are especially dangerous. i think he's practical, intelligent, well informed. >> brown: stephen hadley? >> he's in a way spent his whole life preparing for this job and it's good he did because he takes in the a very challenging time and i think he's going to have a lot ochallens bere him. i thk onef the is to prioritize where he's going to put his time. >> brown: well, you know, he spoke about the economy, getting the economy right first and foremost. he said "more than ever foreign policy i

first, zbigniew brzezinski, your thoughts on john kerry as nominee for secretary of state? >> i think he's an absolutely top-notch choice. very good. experienced, solid, energetic with a broad vision and with a strong focus on trying to stabilize tho parts the wold tt are especially dangerous. i think he's practical, intelligent, well informed. >> brown: stephen hadley? >> he's in a way spent his whole life preparing for this job and it's good he did because he takes in the a very challenging time and i think he's going to have a lot of challenges before him. i think one of them is to prioritize where he's going to put his time. >> brown: well, you know, he spoke about the economy, getting the economy right first and foremost. he said "more than ever foreign policy is economic policy." did that sound right to you? >> i think that's ght and i think this is a man who's grown up, really, in the political military side of foreign policy and national security and i think one of the challenges will be for him to recognize that the economic instrument in trade is really very impor

zbigniew brzezinski helped to normalize relations with china as jimmy carter's national security adviserain challenge that the united states faces at a broad level is the shift of power to asia, both a challenge and an opportunity. >> that's correct. i think our policy, historically has been europe-focused. today the center of political gravity shifted from europe to asia in the sense that both are now important. we ought to think of our role in asia not in the fashion because of two world wars, we are compelled to think of it in europe, but more in the fashion that is similar to british role in europe in the 19th century. britain was not protagonist but a balancer in europe and i think that's the model for us in asia. we should avoid getting involved in mainland contests. for example, the vietnamese when they offered us the use of cam rahn bay, they were not acting out of charity. they were trying to get us to be in cam ranh bay so our navy would be a form of support for them against the chinese. >> so the danger is -- >> involvement which is not of the size of importance. i think what

secretary of state nominee john kerry, two former national security advisers stephen hadley and zbigniew brzezinski weigh in. >> brown: paul solman looks at china's fast growing economy and asks, is it headed for a crash? >> wages are rising for the burgeoning middle class, but for hardscrabble factory workers: mounting protests against unlivable wages and working conditions. >> ifill: and vice president joe biden hangs out with hari sreenivasan on google plus to talk about gun violence. >> make your voices heard. this town listens when people rise up and speak. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour."

zbigniew brzezinski, general john johns, brent scowcroft, as well as colin powell and former defense secretary bob gates. the senate has rejected only nine cabinet nominees to will chuck hagel be the 10th? >> i don't think so. i thought he would have an easier time that he has, but when all is said and done, there are lots of people from the bush administration, high-visibility people -- npr on friday morning , one spoke extreme in the -- extremely well of hagel but the way that republicans are approaching cabinet appointments at the moment is different from what we've seen and the past. i am not sure whether it is a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, and they will have their day in the sun, or whether they are serious about this. if they are, then harry reid has a proposal to change the rules and the senate and it might -- there are a few democrats who might have reservations about it. >> will take a week confirmed, evan -- chuck hagel be confirmed, evan? >> i think he will. he has a proud guy, but he doesn't like to be muzzled. he has a sort of assertive, ornery side to him,

zbigniew brzezinski and thank you for being nice to dan. >> i was nice to him, too. >> i tried hard.d. >> he was actually, just so you know, you were on right before thanksgiving and i joked because my dad was so cutting to you. i said see you at thanksgiving dinner. my dad e-mailed me. he was worried you were coming. >> i actually contemplated coming. >> that would have been fun. >> you would have been cool with that? >> you would have been down with me showing up at thanksgiving. >> thanksgiving spirit would have prevailed. >> 2013, good year for us. >> could i come to festivus at your house? >>> taking on sugar and processed food. our next guest is one of the leading voices on the swwidesprd dangers of the sweet stuff. there is no mass-produced human. so we created the extraordinarily comfortable sleep number experience. a collection of innovations designed around a bed with dualair technology that allows you to adjust to the support your body needs - each of your bodies. our sleep professionals will help you find your sleep number setting. exclusively at a sleep number store. sle

joining us from skype is zbigniew brzezinski.is a counselor and trustee at the senator for strategic and international studies. dr. brzezinski thank you so much for being inside of our "war room." >> it's very nice to be in that war room. >> jennifer: thank you. it is great to have you. on this issue, will a strategy to help spread economic prosperity work in regions like the middle east or in china? >> it will take time. it will take a lot of time. but in the meantime i'm afraid some of the tendencies politically will be increasingly extremist and potentially violent. more so in the middle east than in china. the middle east is much more volatile with the exception of perhaps egypt which is a fragmented region of tribes, quasi states, and it has yet to settle down. >> jennifer: i'm really curious about the my l east, because the middle eastern countries where the dictators have recently been thrown from power, many are saying now they pose more of a security threat to the u.s. than they perhaps even did before because of that in

zbigniew brzezinski former u.s.ural security adviser to jimmy carter, thank you for joining us first of all we really appreciate it. >> glad to be with you cenk. >> cenk: now, i want to ask you about hagel first, we'll get to brennan second. on the issue of hagel what's the real beef that the republicans have with hagel? what is their real concern with him? >> i think he's very independent-minded, very independent, and i don't think they like that. secondly he broke ranks over the iraq war which he rightly described as a horrible error a massive strategic mistake and something that did not serve american interests. they didn't like that. >> cenk: something strange is going on here. we have republicans opposing a nominee who is a republican, who agreed with the president. who else would he agree with? >> i think ultimately a great many of them because ultimately most of them are sensible people are going to vote for him. we have some people stepping into the fight and encouraging extremeist vile statements about hage

zbigniew brzezinski, bob woodward and david gregory.n "morning joe." [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. in the middle of the night it can be frustrating. it's hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine you don't take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat ma

of quiet diplomacy, even secret diplomacy, that you saw with henry kissinger, with your dad, zbigniew brzezinskind, trying to set up deals that would foster u.s. security interests. i think we'll see more of that with this group. again, that's part of the design. >> david ignatius, great to have you on the show. thank you very much. >> great to be here. thanks. >>> coming up next, editor in chief of buzzfeed, ben smith is here. also chuck todd joins the conversation. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ [ male announcer ] the distances aren't getting shorter. ♪ the trucks are going farther. the 2013 ram 1500 with best-in-class fuel economy. engineered to move heaven and earth. guts. glory. ram. the new ram 1500. motor trend's 2013 truck of the year. thor gets great rewards for his small business! your boa! [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! ahh, the new fabrics. put it on my spark card. ow. [ garth ] why settle for less? the spiked heels are working. wait! [ garth ] great businesses deserve great rewards. [ male announcer ] the spark