Henry Kissinger, February 6, 2023
Henry Kissinger, one of the most controversial and influential US secretaries of state, has died at the age of 100.
The statement issued by the political consulting firm Kissinger Associates said that the former diplomat died at his home in Connecticut.
During his long political career, Kissinger played key roles, some controversial, in American foreign policy.
He served as United States Secretary of State from September 1973 to January 1977, during the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
He also served as National Security Advisor between 1969 and 1975.
Kissinger was US Secretary of State during the 1974 Turkish Cyprus operation.
Kissinger, who was alleged to have secretly supported the Chilean coup and turned a blind eye to the Argentine army’s “dirty war” against the people, was criticized for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for enabling the United States to leave Vietnam.
Henry Kissinger and Bulent Ecevit
Escape from Nazi Germany
Kissinger, who was born in Germany in 1923, fled Nazi Germany with his family and settled in the United States in 1938.
Kissinger, who became a US citizen at the age of 20, served in the US Army for three years and then worked in the Army Intelligence Service.
After obtaining his doctorate, he taught international relations at Harvard University.
In 1969, then US President Richard Nixon appointed Kissinger as National Security Advisor. This position, which he held until 1975, gave him significant authority in determining US foreign policy.
Kissinger, who was later appointed Secretary of State, established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China and had an influence on the negotiations that ended the Arab-Israeli War (Yom Kippur) in 1973 and the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement that ended the war. Vietnam War.
US President Nixon and Kissinger
The controversial Nobel Peace Prize
Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his role in signing the armistice agreement in the Vietnam War, but this award has become among the most controversial awards in Nobel history.
Giving the award to a man involved in some of the most criticized moves in US foreign policy, such as secret bombings in Cambodia and support for murderous military regimes in South America, has drawn much criticism.
Kissinger was considered deserving of the award along with North Vietnamese leader Le Duc Thu.
1973 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to North Vietnamese leader Le Duc Tho and Kissinger
While the Vietnamese leader rejected the award, two members of the Nobel Prize Committee resigned in protest against awarding the award to Kissinger.
The New York Times called the award the Nobel War Prize.
As Secretary of State, Kissinger agreed with Nixon to carry out secret bombings of neutral Cambodia in order to deprive the Communists of soldiers and supplies, while he negotiated with North Vietnam (the Viet Cong) the US military’s withdrawal from South Vietnam.
This policy led to the deaths of at least 50,000 civilians and led to instability, civil war, and the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.
Kissinger “humbly” accepted the award and donated the prize money to the children of American soldiers killed in action. He tried to return the award two years later when communist forces took over South Vietnam.
Support for Pinochet’s coup in Chile
Pinochet and Kissinger
The election of socialist Salvador Allende as president of Chile alarmed the United States. The new pro-Cuban government nationalized American companies.
The US intelligence service, the CIA, conducted covert operations in Chile to help opposition groups overthrow the new government. Kissinger chaired the committee that authorized this operation.
“I don’t understand why we should stand idly by and watch a country become communist because of the irresponsibility of its people,” he said. “The issues are too important to be left to Chilean voters to decide,” Kissinger said.
Eventually, the army staged a coup and Allende died in a violent coup that led to General Augusto Pinochet seizing power. It turned out that most of his soldiers were being paid by the CIA.
In subsequent years, Kissinger himself was prosecuted by a series of tribunals investigating human rights violations and deaths of foreign nationals under the military regime.
His controversial statements after leaving office
Kissinger and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Although Kissinger left his duties in the US government in 1977, he continued to be a prominent commentator on social and political issues. The consulting firm he founded, Kissinger Associates, worked closely with US administrations.
He also served on the boards of several companies and wrote 22 books.
However, controversy and criticism continued to haunt him.
An offer of a chair at Columbia University has been withdrawn after protests from students.
He became a vocal critic of the foreign policies of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, arguing that the presidents wanted to make a leap too quickly toward peace in the Middle East. According to Kissinger, this could only happen “inch by inch.”
After September 11, George W. Bush asked him to head the investigation into the attacks in New York and Washington, but he was forced to step down within weeks when he refused to disclose his consulting firm’s client list and answer questions about conflicts of interest. .
He held meetings with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to advise on Iraq policy after the 2003 invasion. He added that “victory over the insurgents is the only exit strategy.”
Always influential, he briefed Donald Trump on foreign affairs after his election in 2017 and suggested, among other things, that he accept Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Crimea.
However, in 2023 he changed his view on Ukraine. After the Russian invasion, President Zelensky said that his country should join NATO after achieving peace.
But Kissinger did not listen to the criticism.
“It is a reflection of their ignorance,” Kissinger said in an interview with CBS shortly before his 100th birthday.
In an interview with ABC during a book tour in 2022, Kissinger said when asked if there was a decision he would reverse if given the chance:
“I’ve been thinking about these problems all my life. This is my hobby as well as my profession. The advice you gave was the best I could have done at the time.”
Relations with China
After Kissinger turned 100 years old, he went to Beijing last July and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The fact that this visit took place at a time when relations between the United States and China were tense caused criticism.
The visit angered the White House, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby calling it unfortunate that an unofficial “ordinary citizen” has access to Chinese leaders but the US government does not.
Kissinger also became the only American to deal directly with all Chinese leaders, from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping.
Winston Lord, a former special assistant to Kissinger and former US ambassador to China, announced Kissinger’s death, saying: “America has lost a figure extremely important to its national interests.”
CCTV TV from China described Kissinger as a “legendary diplomat” who played an important role in US-China relations.