Washington:
Henry Kissinger, whose name is synonymous with American diplomacy, will be celebrated Saturday the 100th by the American elite, while others see the ruthless Cold Warrior never held accountable.
From opening the door to Communist China to plotting an endgame to the Vietnam War to unapologetically supporting dictators who were anti-Soviet, Kissinger wielded influence like few before or after him, serving as both top diplomat and security adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
Instantly recognizable by his bookish thick glasses and an astute monotone that never lost a hint of his native German, Kissinger was an academic first and his intellectual gifts are grudgingly acknowledged even by some of his harshest critics.
Since he left office in 1977, Kissinger’s form of realpolitik—the coolly cynical championing of power and national interests—has largely fallen out of favor because his successors preached moralism, but Kissinger himself has, if anything, a greater reputation.
Ahead of his 100th birthday, Kissinger blew 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.
Showing that his worldview has not changed since the turn of the century, Kissinger warned the United States to stay within the boundaries of “vital interests”, telling guests, “We must always be strong enough to withstand any pressure.”
Against the views of most US policymakers, Kissinger called for diplomacy with Russia over a ceasefire in Ukraine, arguing that Moscow has already suffered a strategic defeat.
‘He got away with it’
Kissinger, an unlikely playboy in 1970s Washington, lives in an apartment on Park Avenue in New York. He has grown wealthy consultancies through his relationships in China — and has warned the United States not to treat Beijing as a new Cold War-style adversary.
Long despised by the left, Kissinger has come into the good graces of the Democratic Party mainstream.
Hillary Clinton, after serving as secretary of state, called Kissinger “a friend” and said she “trusted his advice,” while the incumbent president, Antony Blinken, teased Kissinger about his style when the elder statesman had a luncheon last year attended from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But to many, Kissinger was seen as an unindicted war criminal for his role in, among other things, expanding the Vietnam War to Cambodia and Laos, supporting military coups in Chile and Argentina, giving the go-ahead for the bloody invasion from East Timor by Indonesia in 1975 and turning a blind eye to Pakistan’s mass atrocities during Bangladesh’s 1971 war for independence.
“There is no doubt in my mind that his policies have killed hundreds of thousands of people 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 stunned he got away with it,” he said.
Kissinger has never been in serious legal jeopardy, with a US judge dismissing a 2004 lawsuit related to the assassination of Chile’s army chief and the US boycott of the International Criminal Court.
But Brody said there would be a strong court case in East Timor, where Kissinger not only approved the invasion, but kept American arms flowing to the Indonesian military.
Brody also pointed to a recording, released over Kissinger’s objections, in which Kissinger tells Nixon that the Air Force had orders in Cambodia to hit “anything that moves.” Indiscriminate bombing of civilians is a war crime.
The late writer Christopher Hitchens published a book calling for Kissinger to be brought to justice, including for his tacit support for Turkey’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus.
Believe in bigger goals
For Kissinger, the most important thing was always the bigger goal. As for Cyprus, he prioritized solid relations with Turkey. As for Bangladesh, Kissinger wanted to keep Pakistan as a secret conduit between the United States and China.
Muntassir Mamoon, a prominent history professor at the University of Dhaka, said Kissinger “actively supported the genocide in Bangladesh”.
“I don’t see any reason to praise Kissinger,” he said, adding that the view was shared in many other countries, including Vietnam.
Kissinger was controversially co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam alongside Hanoi’s Le Duc Tho, who refused to accept the award.
“The irony is that he is remembered for making peace, but all the ways he contributed to an escalation of the war, not only in Vietnam but also in Cambodia and Laos, are lost,” said Carolyn Eisenberg, a historian at the Hofstra University who wrote a book on Kissinger.
Eisenberg also downplayed Kissinger’s public image as “a Machiavellian genius”, saying that transcripts showed Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai deceiving him through flattery.
“Zhou Enlai knows that this man has a huge ego problem,” she said.
Brody, despite his criticism of Kissinger, acknowledged that he had a “degree of seriousness and sophistication” that both eclipsed most American policymakers and endeared many to him.
“Perhaps the reward of being on the side of the powerful is only to be hated and hated by the weak.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)