It's a crying shame this POS got a century living in comfort. God knows we haven't been a bastion or morality the last 30-40 years or so...far from it. However some of the s**t we did at the peak of the cold war to "fight" communism makes my skin crawl. He was one of the chief architects. Go do all the war crimeing you want as long as it's convenient for us.
you do know that, in addition to negotiating the Paris Peace Accord w the Communist NVN, Kissinger was also the chief architect---brokering talks between Nixon & Mao--- for opening out the PRC, no? also, as recently as JUL 20 2023, Kissinger met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday during a surprise visit to Beijing one can infer that it paved the way for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Woodside, California, near SF., in Nov 2023 https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/china-centric-pacific-conflict-thread.318038/page-4#post-14925753
I don't know how to really summarize Henry Kissinger, he was a man of many talents but also a man that played a part in many terrible things. I don't think many people are truly going to morn his death - if there is a heaven, he isn't going to be found there - but I suspect he well aware of that fact. I guess the best thing to say about him is that he was an amazing story of someone that rose to significance in a way that only happens in the USA. He wasn't born in America - but had an odd love for HIS version of the USA... he rose because of hard work, ability and his astute political skills - and he had a huge influence on the current world - and some of that is good, but arguably a lot of that was very bad. Maybe he is in hell arguing with Bismark now - IDK.
I can see him and Mao eating a big bowl of bat soup in the depths of hell. We should have never opened relations with the CCP.
To say Kissinger’s legacy was complex is an understatement. There’s no doubt that he is responsible for a lot of blood that was shed in the latter 20th century. He also was responsible for opening up the PRC and did withdraw US forces from Vietnam (even as secret bombings were going on). And as the OP noted did start getting Egypt and Israel talking ultimately leading to peace. Another issue was the role he played at the end of the Nixon presidency. When Nixon was falling apart it did appear he was one of the figures who tried to prevent Nixon from doing the worst including making sure he wouldn’t do something like order a nuclear strike. He embodied the often amoral and compromised nature of the Cold War. It’s hard to say whether he was a person of that time or helped to create that time.
Old cons love him. Niall Ferguson, neocon diehard, is writing his biography for 3+ years, and strokes off to whatever agressive or bold moves US republicans want to make. I don't think Kissinger ever disrespected Trump directly, or if he did said it with words that sounded flattering. It'd be easy for tramp to fire back with Henry's rap sheet. Not worth the 90 yr olds time...
No doubt about that. Just wish he'd tone down the frequency of his partisan tirades while interviewing or giving analysis
"It would be easy to forget and forgive Henry Kissinger of his crimes, just as he forgave Nixon. Yes, we could do that — but it would be wrong. Kissinger is a slippery little devil, a world-class hustler with a thick German accent and a very keen eye for weak spots at the top of the power structure. Nixon was one of those, and Super K exploited him mercilessly, all the way to the end. Kissinger made the Gang of Four complete: Agnew, Hoover, Kissinger and Nixon. A group photo of these perverts would say all we need to know about the Age of Nixon." - Hunter S. Thompson
