Kissinger at 100: the good really do die young
Kissinger lived to divide, conquer and destroy in the name of hegemonic American power. One could argue that he was one of the most effective statesmen in American history, and his affect was statesmanship. Kissinger worked to destabilise states across the globe through a method he called 'constructive ambiguity'. He would intentionally misguide, using ambiguous language to lead astray the nations he was working with - playing them for a power game that would benefit his political alignment and keep the opposition constantly confused. When Hafiz al-Assad looked to create a peaceful and unified pan-Arabic political climate, Kissinger set out to fracture the power of the Arab countries in the Middle East. He played them against each other; multiple agreements that contradicted one another were signed, ultimately positioning nations such as Egypt, Israel, and Syria against each other. He did so as not to allow the global hegemony to shift away from the USA, even marginally. As he said: "America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests." Nothing was sacred: not peace, security, development, progress, human rights, liberty - nothing any American on the ground would consider fundamental to the ideology of their nation-state. Kissinger's dream was simultaneously uniquely American and decidedly un-American. It depends on whom you ask. Ask Nixon, and he would say: "without Henry's creative ideas and diplomatic skill, we would never have succeeded with our China initiative, the Soviet SALT I agreement, the Vietnam Peace Agreement and the progress toward reducing tensions in the Middle East." Ask someone who hasn't consented to Kissinger's language game, and they might just point to irony.
Kissinger's approach unleashed, constructed and empowered anti-democratic, autocratic and dangerous political powers and movements across the globe, often intentionally but sometimes consequentially. It is arguable that the United States' gradual loss of hegemonic, even monolithic power seen since 2001 is a direct consequence of Kissinger's foreign policy. Leslie Gelb, former director of Policy Planning and Arms Control for International Security Affairs in the United States Department of Defense, said about the man: "The hallmark of Kissinger's thinking about international politics is its structural design. Everything is always connected in his mind to everything else. His first thoughts are always on that level, on this structural, global balance of power level. As he addresses questions of human dignity, human survival, human freedom, I think they tend to come into his mind as an adjunct of the play of nations at the power game."
Kissinger's approach, guiding Nixon in the Vietnam War, included the expansion of the conflict into neutral Cambodia. He claimed no American soldiers would be killed, which was proven to be false, and that it would be a boon for US intervention in the region. However, all it did was radically destabilise Cambodia, allowing for the rise of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, one of the most brutal regimes ever formed. His policies and rhetoric concerning the genocide in Cambodia, and for that matter East Timor, display a keen indifference to human suffering, as his former colleague Gelb elucidated.
Furthermore, Kissinger's alignment with Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War, despite evidence of mass atrocities, only further exposes his mindset. In Southern Africa, his involvement in regional conflicts, often prioritising anti-communist objectives, exacerbated violence and instability in Angola and South Africa, thereby prolonging apartheid. Kissinger created the conditions for Assad to take his regime to totalising brutality; the conditions for Afghanistan to become an opiate-producing banana state ruled by a fundamentalist mafia; the space for Pinochet and his death squads to take control of Chile; and the support necessary for Argentina's dictatorship to undertake Operation Condor. Kissinger's support for coups, authoritarian regimes, and repressive tactics in Latin America, particularly the aforementioned Operation Condor, directly contributed to human rights abuses, mass murder and political repression.
Operation Condor was a coordinated campaign of political repression and state terror in the 1970s and 1980s, primarily undertaken by the military dictatorships of South America's Southern Cone with the support of the United States. It aimed to eliminate socialist and communist influence and suppress opposition movements, leading to widespread human rights abuses, including the tracking, torture, and assassination of thousands of dissidents. This transnational effort, notorious for its brutal tactics and severe violations of human rights, exemplifies Kissinger's machiavellian prioritisation. He knew all of this, but it was all a power game. And he would come out on top.
Kissinger did engage in a series of clandestine negotiations that restored diplomatic relations between the United States and China. Additionally, his efforts in promoting détente with the Soviet Union led to various arms-control agreements and were part of a broader strategy to mitigate the tensions of the Cold War. However, as you can see, he only played fair with nations he considered to be global powers. He was not so open with smaller, less influential states - states that Kissinger looked to manipulate exclusively for the benefit of the United States. He also spearheaded the Paris Talks, which served as a tactical means to save face whilst the United States withdrew from their failed conquest of Vietnam. Not the victory the Americans had been promised but the escape they needed.
I'm sure some would claim realpolitik, but this is a baseless position formed by consenting parties, not by those under the heel of the state which believes it is pragmatic. Not to mention those who suffer serving the policy, the arms of the state - ruled by Kissinger- who die for a cause no one powerful feels anything for. All who died under his rule would be unknown to him, for they were pieces in the games he played, never people. Realpolitik excuses violence, misery and cruelty.
The good die young, and the bad live too long. Thank you for nothing, Mr Henry Kiss-my-ass.
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