Zbig: a bracing life of Carter's abrasive national security adviser

Double-digit inflation, high unemployment and the Iranian hostage crisis left Jimmy Carter a one-term president. Still, his watch was consequential. The US and China normalized relations, Egypt and Israel made peace and Russia invaded Afghanistan. Beyond that, the US returned the Panama canal and in Iran the shah fell to the Islamic revolution. After 444 days in captivity, 53 American hostages were freed moments after Ronald Reagan became president. Carter died in December, at 100. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who died in 2017 aged 89, was Carter's national security adviser. Like his boss, who came from rural Georgia, Brzezinski was a Washington…