No more of Kissinger’s “charm”: Henry Kissinger, who served as secretary of state under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and national security adviser under Nixon, has died at 100.
“America has lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs with the passing of Henry Kissinger,” said former President George W. Bush in a statement last night, praising “his wisdom, his charm, and his humor.”
Others (Cambodians and Laotians, to name a few) have been less enamored with Kissinger’s “charm” and “humor.” For an alternative rundown of Kissinger’s legacy, read Sheldon Richman’s 2014 piece for Reason which eviscerated Hillary Clinton’s Washington Post review of Kissinger’s book, World Order.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect some pseudonymous writer of having fun with irony in this review,” said Richman, noting the use of a Barack Obama quote on how the U.S., post–World War II, “construct[ed] an architecture to keep the peace.”
That is, “if you don’t count the mass atrocity that was the Vietnam War, the U.S.-sponsored Israeli oppression of Palestinians, and various massacres carried out by U.S.-backed ‘leaders’ in such places as Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan), East Timor, Chile, and elsewhere,” added Richman. “One Henry Kissinger had a hand in all these crimes,” which went unmentioned by Clinton.
“If the U.S. empire is indispensable to justice and liberalism,” posited Richman, then “we are in trouble. The record is not encouraging. Kissingerian ‘realism’ creates global threats.”
Reactions to Kissinger’s death from around the web:
Preeminent foreign policy commentator Mia Khalifa decided to give her OnlyFans subscribers a discount in celebration of Kissinger’s death (discount code: ByeBitch), in a decidedly 2023 twist.
Strange times we live in. Contra Khalifa, I will just say this: Whatever you think of his record, condolences to his family. Further reading on his legacy here and here.
Trump doubles down on skipping debates: Republican presidential contenders keep taking the debate stage to jockey for attention, hoping their sparring moments go viral and can win them a boost in the polls. Just one is conspicuously absent.
Donald Trump will be skipping Wednesday’s debate, just as he’s skipped the other three, to attend a fundraiser for his PAC in Hallandale Beach, Florida, instead.