Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger attends a luncheon at the State Department in December 2022
Henry Kissinger, whose name is synonymous with US diplomacy, celebrates his 100th birthday on Saturday and is being hailed by America’s elite while others simmer that the ruthless Cold Warrior was never brought to justice.
From opening the door to Communist China to planning an end to the Vietnam War to uncompromising support for anti-Soviet dictators, Kissinger wielded influence like few before or since, serving as both top diplomat and national security adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford .
Initially an academic, Kissinger’s intellectual gifts are grudgingly recognized by even some of his harshest critics.
Since leaving office in 1977, Kissinger’s brand of realpolitik—the cold, cynical espousal of power and national interests—has largely fallen out of favor as his successors preached moralism, but Kissinger himself is held in greater esteem.
Ahead of his 100th birthday, Kissinger blew out candles on a cake at a celebratory luncheon at the Economic Club of New York, the city where he grew up after his Jewish family fled Nazi Germany.
Kissinger showed that his worldview had not changed since the 10th century, exhorting the United States to stay within “vital interests” and telling guests, “We must always be strong enough to withstand any pressure.” .”
Contrary to the opinion of most US policymakers, Kissinger called for diplomatic cooperation with Russia on a ceasefire in Ukraine, arguing that Moscow had already suffered a strategic defeat.
– “He got away with it” –
Kissinger, an unusual playboy in 1970s Washington, lives in a chic apartment on New York’s Park Avenue. Through his connections in China, he has built wealthy consulting firms – and warned the United States against treating Beijing as a new Cold War-style adversary.
Long despised by the left, Kissinger now enjoys the favor of the majority of the Democratic Party.
The story goes on
After serving as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton called Kissinger “a friend” and said she “trusts his advice,” while incumbent Antony Blinken teased Kissinger about his style when the elder statesman attended a State Department luncheon last year.
Yet for many, Kissinger was considered an unindicted war criminal for, among other things, his role in expanding the Vietnam War to Cambodia and Laos, supporting military coups in Chile and Argentina, authorizing Indonesia’s bloody invasion of East Timor in 1975 and you got the eyes sealed from Pakistan’s mass atrocities during the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence.
“There is no doubt in my mind that his policies have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and destroyed democracy in many countries,” said Reed Kalman Brody, a veteran human rights lawyer who has worked with victims of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, among others.
“I’m amazed he got away with it,” he said.
Kissinger has never faced serious legal danger since a US judge dismissed a lawsuit related to the assassination of the Chilean army chief in 2004 and the United States boycotted the International Criminal Court.
But Brody said there would be a serious legal battle in East Timor, with Kissinger not only authorizing the invasion but also ensuring that US arms continued to be supplied to the Indonesian military.
Brody also pointed to a recording, released despite Kissinger’s objections, in which Kissinger tells Nixon that the air force in Cambodia was under orders to “hit anything that moves.” Indiscriminate bombing of civilians is a war crime.
The late writer Christopher Hitchens published a book in which he called for Kissinger to be brought to justice for, among other things, his tacit support for the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
– Believe in bigger goals –
For Kissinger, the bigger goal was always the most important thing. Regarding Cyprus, he emphasized solid relations with Turkey. Regarding Bangladesh, Kissinger wanted to preserve Pakistan as a secret channel between the United States and China.
Muntassir Mamoon, a prominent history professor at Dhaka University, said Kissinger “actively supported the Bangladesh genocide.”
“I see no reason to praise Kissinger,” he said, adding that this view is shared in many other countries, including Vietnam.
Kissinger was controversially awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam, along with Le Duc Tho of Hanoi, who declined to accept the award.
“The irony is that he is remembered for making peace, but all the ways he contributed to the escalation of the war not only in Vietnam but also in Cambodia and Laos are lost,” said Carolyn Eisenberg, Historian at Hofstra University who wrote a book on Kissinger.
Eisenberg also downplayed Kissinger’s public image as “a Machiavelist genius,” saying transcripts showed China’s Premier Zhou Enlai playing him through flattery.
“Zhou Enlai knows that this guy has a big ego problem,” she said.
Despite his criticism of Kissinger, Brody acknowledged that he possessed a “level of seriousness and sophistication” that both eclipsed most US policymakers and endeared to many.
“Perhaps the reward of standing with the powerful is only to be angered and hated by the weak.”
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