Islamabad:
Henry A.Kissinger is considered one of the most powerful diplomats in US history and died on 29th November 2023 at the age of 100. He was regarded as a war criminal by some and praised by others for his deft dealings in international relations with the United States. Henry Kissinger was most consequential in opening the relationship with China at the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Additionally, he also employed the approach of detente with the Soviet Union which paved the way for many arms control agreements between two countries.
Source: New York Times
China
He joined the White House in 1969 when Richard Nixon was president as a National Security advisor. Later on he also kept the title of Secretary of State in the year 1973. He became the most powerful man next to only President Richard Nixon at the time. One of the consequential moves in the cold war with the Soviet Union which earned him a lot of praise as it led to normalization of relations between two countries later on.
Shuttle Diplomacy
In the Arab-Israeli war in 1973, Kissenger through Shuttle diplomacy tried to build lasting peace between Syria and Israel who had occupied the Golan Heights. His work as diplomat built a lasting border for decades to come and gave the US the position of master negotiator in the Arab-Israeli conflict. However, the issue of Palestininas remains unresolved which is why these agreements that he helped forge are still debated and questioned in the larger context of peace.
Follower of RealPolitik
Henry Kissinger was the staunch follower of the Realist School of thought in International Relations. For archiving the interests of the United States he followed more of the strategies based on power tactics rather than values based or liberal ideals. He once said, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac”. A supporter of the military dictatorship of Indonesia in the invasion of East Timor, and encouragement in overthrowing the government of the President of Chile are some of the prominent examples where he used tactics to achieve desired goals. He even supported George W Bush’s Iraq War in the beginning of the 21st century.
A controversial Nobel Peace Prize
In 1973 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Le Duc Tho who rejected it on the grounds of no peace in Vietnam in reality. Kissinger accepted the prize for his diplomatic efforts in working towards ending the Vietnam war. He was heavily criticized for the catastrophic bombing of Cambodia which killed thousands of people. Kissienger was also held responsible for killings in Bangladesh and for role in extending the Vietnam War which led to killings of thousands of innocent lives. According to Greg Grandin , the biographer of Henry Kissienger, he is responsible for a minimum of 3 million deaths reported in The Intercept. With the fall of Saigon in 1975 finally the US involvement in Vietnam ended at the high cost as 58,000 American lives were also lost.
Basic Intro
He was born on 27 May, 1923 in the German city of Furth. A Jewish by birth he fled Nazi’s Germany at the time and moved to the United States and became a citizen in 1943. Later he also joined the army in WWII and after joined the prestigious Harvard University and finished his doctorate then started teaching in the Department of Government and Center for International Affairs.
Prolific till the end
Kissinger had a scholastic aptitude and he remained active till the very end giving his opinion on important matters and meeting world leaders like Xi Jinping. His last book was Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy (2022) where he discussed the craft of state leadership by the examples of six leaders of the world. A year before that he along with Daniel Huttenlocher and Eric Schmidt wrote a book titled “The Age of AI: And Our Human Future” where he shared insights on how Artificial Intelligence will transform the society completely in a great depth and detail. Other prominent books include World Order (2014), Diplomacy (1994) and On China (2011).
