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Henry Kissinger Has Died

nytimes.com

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Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#191

Post by thrway63245 »

627467 wrote: post #128
anigbrowl wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly, but lots of terrible people are also interesting. Kissinger strikes me as a prime example of Lord Acton's dictum at how power corrupts; by any reasonable standard he committed absolutely egregious acts, but because they inured to the USA's strategic benefit, there has never been any political will to hold him accountable. It's like how the US promotes the idea of a 'rules based international order' but hab…

Because "rules based international order" can only really be enforced by a hegemon, and obviously the hegemon can't really "be it" and "be in it" simultaneously

[dead]

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#194

Post by shimonabi »

waffleiron wrote: post #171
shimonabi wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If he was a "war criminal" as many here claim, why wasn't he ever prosecuted or convicted? Kissinger himself said many times that relations between states aren't based on morality, so people who act in the name of states can't be bound by international laws. It's an idea that is the basis of the realist philosophy. A lot of people in the the foreign policy establishment share that view. The USA for example supports…

> so people who act in the name of states can't be bound by international laws. I’d say exactly the same if I were a war criminal

Nixon once asked Kissinger if he should drown 200.000 people or just nuke them. Kissinger objected on the grounds that it would be bad for PR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGeLV7oL5gg

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#195

Post by reducesuffering »

protocolture wrote: post #157
anigbrowl wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly, but lots of terrible people are also interesting. Kissinger strikes me as a prime example of Lord Acton's dictum at how power corrupts; by any reasonable standard he committed absolutely egregious acts, but because they inured to the USA's strategic benefit, there has never been any political will to hold him accountable. It's like how the US promotes the idea of a 'rules based international order' but hab…

Theres a semi apocryphal story that one of Kissingers friends warned him before he started working under clearance, that once he had access to "Intelligence" that other people didn't have, he would lose his humanity to the spooks, and assume he was smarter than the people without clearance. Which seems to be sort of what happened.

> assume he was smarter than the people without clearance

Idk, it's actually wild how HN is almost entirely "Kissinger is a war criminal" meme-ing with little actual specific policy substance behind it. Meanwhile, if you read any Kissinger, you'd realize he understood history and the international relations better than 99% of these comments. Truly, word-for-word basis you will undoubtedly learn far more about history reading World Order than you will these HN comments. Personally, I have little hope in their uneducated decisions in a position of astronomical consequences and no 20/20 hindsight.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#196

Post by imgabe »

breput wrote: post #6

Do yourself a favor and listen to at least one of the six part series that Behind The Bastards podcast[0] did on Kissinger. It will give you a background, with sources, on the "controversial" statesman that you'll read eulogies about over the next few days. [0] https://omny.fm/shows/behind-the-bastards/part-one-kissinger [1] https://omny.fm/shows/behind-the-bastards/part-two-kissinger [2] https://omny.fm/shows/behind…

Reading through the descriptions of the episodes of this podcast it seems a lot like they start with a conclusion and then confirmation bias themselves (and everyone else who already agrees with them). Maybe not the most objective source.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#197

Post by CalChris »

hammock wrote: post #140
breput wrote: post #6

Do yourself a favor and listen to at least one of the six part series that Behind The Bastards podcast[0] did on Kissinger. It will give you a background, with sources, on the "controversial" statesman that you'll read eulogies about over the next few days. [0] https://omny.fm/shows/behind-the-bastards/part-one-kissinger [1] https://omny.fm/shows/behind-the-bastards/part-two-kissinger [2] https://omny.fm/shows/behind…

[flagged]

After failing in the prosecution of a dumb war, the Paris Peace Conference can’t be seen as any singular accomplishment.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#198

Post by buildbot »

imgabe wrote: post #196
breput wrote: post #6

Do yourself a favor and listen to at least one of the six part series that Behind The Bastards podcast[0] did on Kissinger. It will give you a background, with sources, on the "controversial" statesman that you'll read eulogies about over the next few days. [0] https://omny.fm/shows/behind-the-bastards/part-one-kissinger [1] https://omny.fm/shows/behind-the-bastards/part-two-kissinger [2] https://omny.fm/shows/behind…

Reading through the descriptions of the episodes of this podcast it seems a lot like they start with a conclusion and then confirmation bias themselves (and everyone else who already agrees with them). Maybe not the most objective source.

Try listening to it

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#199

Post by ksaj »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #12
arp242 wrote: post #5

I'm surprised at the extreme brevity of this obituary; were they taken by surprise someone could die of old age as young as 100 and didn't have anything prepared? I would have expected at least an brief summary of his career, highlights, major points of controversy, etc. e.g. like this: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/29/henry-kissin... (and undoubtedly many others). Also, this ruins my "Jimmy Carter v.…

> were they taken by surprise someone could die of old age as young as 100...? I doubt it. The economy of Henry Kissinger Grim Reaper claw machine memes has been going strong for the last four years at least.

I saw one that says "GOT HIM!"

That one might actually be new.

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