Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Henry Kissinger Has Died

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

431–440 of 673 posts

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#431

Post by varjag »

n9 wrote: post #314
imgabe wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You might listen to the podcasts. They are good and they are well researched. Listen: I met Kissinger a few times and spent a few decades of my life working with foriegn policy wonks. He was a monster beyond compare. And I'll just add this in. When I was 24 I got a job at the New York Times working on the tech team that would launch nytimes.com. The "web editor" was one Bernard Gwertzman. Look him up. He was the fore…

If Chomsky had known this...

Chomsky have denied genocide that Kissinger helped perpetrate, so he could have known.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#432

Post by picadores »

skrebbel wrote: post #418

I just can’t help think how much wider the global support for the west (incl eg ukraine) would be today if Kissinger’s “we can do war crimes and install dictators all we like cause we’re the good guys” doctrine hadn’t made it to the forefront of US policy. Even from a hardcore neorealist perspective, the harm has by now well outlasted the benefit.

Realpoliticans are always playing for the autoritarian team, as it flattens the playing field, giving up the moral high ground, one of the reasons russian bots desperatly push it as the "default" mindset. Got to turn everyone a psychopathic maniac out for themselves, to justify being one.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#433

Post by einpoklum »

skrebbel wrote: post #418

I just can’t help think how much wider the global support for the west (incl eg ukraine) would be today if Kissinger’s “we can do war crimes and install dictators all we like cause we’re the good guys” doctrine hadn’t made it to the forefront of US policy. Even from a hardcore neorealist perspective, the harm has by now well outlasted the benefit.

[flagged]

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#434

Post by vasco »

skrebbel wrote: post #407
mmpdev wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only would we not recommend our war criminals to the ICC, we have on the books the authorization to be able to invade the Hague in case any US person was being held or tried. Hague Invasion Act / ASPA is wild.

The rest of the west is allied with the US because they’re the least evil guys, not because they’re the good guys. I’m Dutch and knowing that the US has a constant threat of extreme violence against us written into their law scares the crap out of me. We’re supposed to be happy jolly NATO allies but srsly that shit is not cool.

US centered NATO imperialism sometimes shows itself amongst all the Hollywood and the international PR indeed.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#435

Post by close04 »

bgergen wrote: post #341
actuallyalys wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

13 years past how long a contributor to the obituary lived. The contributor may have started work on the obituary even earlier and probably did, as Kissinger was 87 and it probably would have made sense to pre-write the obituary sooner.

I wouldn't be surprised if a first draft of this one was written 50 years ago.

I wouldn't be surprised if the first draft was written as soon as he gained fame (notoriety?) and then it was just periodically updated to keep up with the times.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#436

Post by jrflowers »

reducesuffering wrote: post #428
jrflowers wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> meme-ing with little actual specific policy substance behind it. This is a good point. Can we really say for certain that “bombing noncombatant countries both during a war and after a treaty was signed” is a war crime, and even if it were would “coming up with the whole idea” even count as contributing to something like that? It is confusing stuff like this that has led to no person ever being convicted for war cri…

See, this is what I'm talking about. You can read about Operation Menu for yourself. "In 1966, Sihanouk made an agreement with Zhou Enlai of the People's Republic of China that would allow PAVN and VC forces to establish base areas in Cambodia and to use the port of Sihanoukville for the delivery of military material Before the diplomatic amenities with Sihanouk [and the US] were even concluded, Nixon had decided to…

Thanks for the quotes! Here is a collection of primary sources

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cold-war-henry-kissi...

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#437

Post by tgv »

warbaker wrote: post #393

Kissinger gets a lot of flak for the bombings in Cambodia and Vietnam, but... I mean, it was awful when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, and it was also awful when the Viet Cong took over Vietnam. The Khmer Rouge murdered 25% of the country! 2 million people!! https://sfi.usc.edu/collections/cambodian-genocide The Viet Cong were also horrible (excepting, of course, their intervention in Cambodia against the Khmer…

I don't think there's any evidence that Allende was worse than the regime that took over. You might argue Allende wasn't a communist (which would be true), but the coup was of Kissinger's making. Cuba was communist, and was absolutely not the hell-hole that Cambodia was or North-Korea is.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#438

Post by whycome »

AYBABTME wrote: post #307
mostly_lurks wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe every so often a conversation within a podcast episode contains some extraordinary analytical insight not found elsewhere Much like comments written on the internet. > That being said, it is probably correct to ignore most of them. See above.

Podcasts, like live news, radio talk shows, and other scheduled throughput based media, have to fill time with content. If there's nothing intelligent to say, they say stuff anyways.

Nah. Podcasts are one of the few mediums that don’t have set lengths. The one here goes to 6 parts because of the volume of material. And often I’ve heard podcasts do multiple episodes in one. There’s no time they’re trying to achieve as there’s no standard.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#439

Post by [deleted] »

skrebbel wrote: post #418

I just can’t help think how much wider the global support for the west (incl eg ukraine) would be today if Kissinger’s “we can do war crimes and install dictators all we like cause we’re the good guys” doctrine hadn’t made it to the forefront of US policy. Even from a hardcore neorealist perspective, the harm has by now well outlasted the benefit.

[deleted]

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#440

Post by [deleted] »

scandox wrote: post #413

> He has a brother who came to America when he did. Recently, the brother was asked why he had no German accent but Henry did. “Because,” said the brother, “Henry never listens.” https://jacobin.com/2012/08/gore-vidal-dead-and-yet-henry-ki...

[deleted]
Post reply on HN