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Henry Kissinger Has Died

nytimes.com

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Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#241

Post by the_af »

hammock wrote: post #161
Pxtl wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've already listened and it's excellent. Tl;dr version: Kissinger was an almost superhuman ass-kisser. He had an incredible knack for playing along with whatever insane idea somebody had and made everybody in the room feel goddamned brilliant. The richest, most powerful, and most beautiful people in the world just loved being around him because he consistently sounded interesting and made them feel intelligent. And…

>He had an incredible knack for playing along with whatever insane idea somebody had and made everybody in the room feel goddamned brilliant. The richest, most powerful, and most beautiful people in the world just loved being around him because he consistently sounded interesting and made them feel intelligent. You call that ass-kissing, others may call it diplomacy. He may have furthered his own interests but did he…

Diplomacy and "ass-kissing to stay in the halls of power forever" seem like they can have some nonempty intersection, but still are different concepts.

Diplomacy would further the needs of a state or at least a faction of people. Ass-kissing for personal gain seems like a different thing that may even hinder more genuine diplomatic efforts.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#244

Post by tw04 »

dccoolgai wrote: post #235

Before Henry Kissinger, there were walls in the world - just as there are now. The difference was those walls - by-and-large - were designed to keep people _in_. A very subtle but meaningful difference. The people who built _those walls_ wanted you inside with them. That was their dream - and they were quite frank about it. Just something to ponder.

Are you suggesting there aren’t today? You’ve never heard of North Korea? Xinjiang?

If you’re referring to the USSR - Jimmy Carter is the first president to arm the Mujahideen (for better and worse), without the help of Kissinger.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#245

Post by [deleted] »

cocacola1 wrote: post #15

I can understand why people despise Kissinger, but he’s a pretty interesting figure on the whole. Not the best diplomat or Secretary of State we’ve had, but certainly a seminal figure in American foreign policy.

[deleted]

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#246

Post by buildbot »

imgabe wrote: post #220
buildbot wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try listening to it

It’s co-hosted by the guys from The Dollop, who I’ve listened to quite a lot. They’re funny and entertaining, but they’re comedians not historians. Their whole schtick is just reading some book and incredulously saying “holy shit” about whatever it says, without any critical analysis. Edit: and there’s nothing wrong with that! Just recognize when something is entertainment vs. trying to be objective.

No, they are guests. They are not the people who did the research! Robert Evans is an excellent journalist.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#247

Post by marssaxman »

frob wrote: post #168

Not only was he a war criminal, but he was a major player on the Theranos board who brought in multiple investors and raked in over a half million a year between his board position and "consulting." https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/elizabeth-holmes-trial-ther...

I revised my opinion of Elizabeth Holmes somewhat for the better when I found out how much of Henry Kissinger's money she ran off with. Mixed with her fraud, a genuine public service!

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#248

Post by oska »

ksaj wrote: post #208
thesuperbigfrog wrote: post #13

Monty Python tribute to Henry Kissinger: https://youtu.be/ABeGhyAD_DM?si=6eAeatEaB7U_znd7

YouTube seems to have made it unplayable (for now). You get a vague error when you try to play it.

Alternative link :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVGV6lvNTR4

(Edit : added another)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En7bhLPso2Y

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#249

Post by 13of40 »

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…

I've listened to the podcast, but one Kissinger op I don't think was mentioned there that always stuck out to me was Operation Popeye. It was a real life attempt to extend the monsoon through cloud seeding so the Ho Chi Minh trail would get washed out and unusable. I think it might be the origin of the "chemtrails" conspiracy theory. (Not quite as evil as randomly picking out grid squares and bombing them of course.)
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