12-01-2023, 08:02 PM
Henry Alfred Kissinger (/ˈkɪsəndʒər/ KISS-ən-jər;[3] born Heinz Alfred Kissinger;[a] May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat, political scientist, geopolitical consultant, and politician who served as United States secretary of state and national security advisor in the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford between 1969 and 1977.[4]
Born in Germany, Kissinger came to the United States in 1938 as a Jewish refugee from Nazi persecution. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and after the war was educated at Harvard University, where he became a professor of government and earned an international reputation as an expert on nuclear weapons and foreign policy. He frequently served as a consultant to government agencies, think tanks, and Republican presidential campaigns before he was appointed Nixon's national security advisor.
Kissinger pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, orchestrated an opening of relations with China, engaged in what became known as shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East to end the Yom Kippur War, and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, which ended American involvement in the Vietnam War. He has also been associated with controversial policies, such as the U.S. bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, Operation Condor, U.S. involvement in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, a "green light" to Argentina's military junta for their Dirty War, and U.S. support for Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War despite a genocide being perpetrated by Pakistan.[5]
Kissinger's legacy is a polarizing subject in American politics. He has been widely considered by scholars to be an effective secretary of state[6] and a practitioner of a pragmatic approach to politics called Realpolitik, but has been condemned for his role in U.S. actions in Indochina (including its bombings of Cambodia and Laos) and Latin America (including backing for the Chilean coup d'état and the Dirty War in Argentina), as well as support for dictatorial regimes and turning a blind eye to war crimes committed by allies.[7][8][9]
much more at Wikipedia
Born in Germany, Kissinger came to the United States in 1938 as a Jewish refugee from Nazi persecution. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and after the war was educated at Harvard University, where he became a professor of government and earned an international reputation as an expert on nuclear weapons and foreign policy. He frequently served as a consultant to government agencies, think tanks, and Republican presidential campaigns before he was appointed Nixon's national security advisor.
Kissinger pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, orchestrated an opening of relations with China, engaged in what became known as shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East to end the Yom Kippur War, and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, which ended American involvement in the Vietnam War. He has also been associated with controversial policies, such as the U.S. bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, Operation Condor, U.S. involvement in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, a "green light" to Argentina's military junta for their Dirty War, and U.S. support for Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War despite a genocide being perpetrated by Pakistan.[5]
Kissinger's legacy is a polarizing subject in American politics. He has been widely considered by scholars to be an effective secretary of state[6] and a practitioner of a pragmatic approach to politics called Realpolitik, but has been condemned for his role in U.S. actions in Indochina (including its bombings of Cambodia and Laos) and Latin America (including backing for the Chilean coup d'état and the Dirty War in Argentina), as well as support for dictatorial regimes and turning a blind eye to war crimes committed by allies.[7][8][9]
much more at Wikipedia
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.