Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger turns 100 this Saturday. The man, who fascinates and divides as always, retains the ear of the greats of this world and skilfully distills his advice in geopolitics.
Visionary for some, “war criminal” for others, the “wise man” with a curved silhouette but still recognizable by his large frame of dark glasses remains active. Henry Kissinger took part in a 100th birthday tribute at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday.
Public appearances by the former head of American diplomacy have become rare over the years and they most often take place by videoconference, such as at the World Economic Forum in Davos last January. But for someone who left his mark on the foreign policy of the United States in the second half of the 20th century, this longevity is exceptional.
And he maintains, from his offices in New York and his consulting firm Kissinger Associates, a relative aura with the elite in Washington and abroad, including among Democrats like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who said one day “to rely on the advice” of his “friend”.
American “Realpolitik”
A key player in world diplomacy during the Cold War, this Nobel Peace Prize laureate initiated the rapprochement with Moscow and Beijing in the 1970s, armed with a pragmatic vision of the world, a sort of “Realpolitik” at the American.
In a sign that his vision of the world has hardly changed, he felt on Tuesday in front of his guests that the United States had to defend their “vital interests”. “We need to be ever stronger in order to resist any pressure,” he said.
But the image of the man with the gravelly voice and the strong accent inherited from his German origins remains tarnished and linked to dark pages in the history of the United States, such as support for the 1973 coup in Chile. , the 1975 invasion of East Timor and, of course, Vietnam.
“There is no doubt in my mind that his policies have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and destroyed democracy in many countries,” notes Reed Kalman Brody, a human rights lawyer. “I’m amazed he got away with it,” he added.
Bombings in Cambodia and Genocide in Bangladesh
Henry Kissinger has in fact never been worried by justice, a complaint having been dismissed in 2004.A recent investigation asserts that the American bombing campaign in Cambodia, of which Henry Kissinger was the architect, had been largely underestimated. [AP Photo – Keystone]
In a survey released Wednesday, The Intercepta journalistic investigative site, claims on the basis of Pentagon archival documents and testimonies from survivors that the American bombing campaign in Cambodia between 1969 and 1973, of which Henry Kissinger was the architect, had been largely underestimated. estimated to cause far more civilian deaths than previously admitted.
Dhaka University historian Muntassir Mamoon points out that Henry Kissinger “actively supported the genocide in Bangladesh” in 1971. “I see no reason to praise Kissinger,” he says, adding that his point of view was shared in many countries, including Vietnam.
“The irony is that we remember that he made peace, but we forget all that he did to prolong the war not only in Vietnam, but in Cambodia and Laos”, adds historian Carolyn Eisenberg , from Hofstra University in the United States.
Nobel Prize in 1973
The young German Jew Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born on May 27, 1923 in Fürth, Bavaria. He took refuge at the age of 15 in the United States with his family, before being naturalized American at the age of 20. The son of a teacher, he joined the military counterintelligence and the American army before beginning brilliant studies at Harvard, where he also taught.
Under Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger becomes National Security Advisor, then Secretary of State. [AP Photo – Keystone]
He established himself as the face of world diplomacy when Republican Richard Nixon called him to the White House in 1969 as national security adviser, then as secretary of state.
It was then that he launched the détente with the Soviet Union and the thawing of relations with Mao’s China, during secret trips to organize Richard Nixon’s historic visit to Beijing in 1972.
He also conducts, always in the greatest secrecy and in parallel with the bombardments of Hanoi, negotiations with Le Duc Tho to end the Vietnam War. The signing of a ceasefire won him the Nobel Peace Prize with the North Vietnamese in 1973, one of the most controversial in the history of the Nobel.
>> The portrait of Henry Kissinger in a Present Time of 1977:
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2023-05-27 09:57:27
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