{UAH} Elder statesmen: Zbigniew Brzezinski and Henry Kissinger analyze Syria deal

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By DAVID COHEN | 

9/15/13 10:39 AM EDT

Diplomatic elder statesmen Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski told Fareed Zakaria on Sunday that Russia's prime motivation in its Syria diplomacy was stability.

Speaking on "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on CNN, both said the superpower deal on Syria was designed to allow President Vladimir Putin to combat the tide of radical Islamic power in the region and also within his nation's borders - but that the U.S.-Russia deal on Syria also managed to extricate the United States from a difficult situation.

"Putin, in my opinion," Kissinger said, "considers radical Islam his biggest security threat. ... He saw an opportunity to perhaps to get into step with us, solving a common problem."

Brzezinski said the two nations don't have the exact interests but "compatible interests." He said Putin is particularly fearful that the Muslim population in Russia's Caucuses region "might explode."

Kissinger, 90, is a former secretary of state who served both President Richard Nixon and President Gerald Ford. Brezinski, 85, was President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser.

Brezinski told Zakaria he saw Putin as having a secondary motivation, the chance to reduce America's stature in the world. "Russia saw an opportunity to also become a significant player in this game," Brezinski said, but he didn't see that as a bad thing, since it helped the two nations solve a common problem.

Both said that American policy on Syria was headed down the wrong path before the deal was made. Kissinger said he thought the Obama administration had been focused too narrowly on efforts to drive President Bashar Assad out of power as opposed to "the historic conflict between Shiites and Sunnis."

Brezinski was even harsher, saying than an attack on Syria would have been "pointless."

He said: "Our actions were misconceived, badly calculated. This gets us off the hook."

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