Realpolitics was Kissinger's area of expertise although it is easy to find fault with his approach, certainly as both delusion and simplification, but Kissinger developed American policies of the 1970s and 80s and many of the mistakes and illegitimate actions of the US can be placed at his door.
But he was Putin's mentor too, so was he responsible for both Vietnam, or its extension, Pol Pot, and Ukraine?
Never agreed to Kissinger and his primacy of geopolitics, although he was a very learned man; his ideological position can be regarded as an intellectual fashion.
Stephen, I tend to agree with you. There is a lot wrong with it. Apart from its obsession with stronger powers, puts overemphasis on military factors discounting everything else.
I am happy for people to push back on my conclusions, but if you read Christopher Hitchens The Trial of Kissenger, you find that in order to create a hegemony around USA, Kissenger backed up murderous rulers in South America for example and did not place first the welfare of people's within those countries. Long term resentment was created against the US that remains now.
Doug,
I did not say he did but certainly he was important in continuing it. His belief that American security was threatened by America not staying in the field, that the USAºs prestige was effected and thereby it was necessary to extend the war into North Vietnam with carpet bombing was to an extent down to his belief in the amorphous, indeed magical, nature of political/military efforts. in his massive book Diplomacy, page 773, he writes of humanitarianism as an ideological tool only, effectively weaponising it rather than seeing it as a component of peace and towards peace. He saw politics as a continuous conflict.
This I suggest is how Putin sees it, whereby all is a configuration towards conflict without end. Winning, getting on top is the important matter.
Accepting peace with Vietnam would have been accepting their rights and his perception, especially where Vietnam was concerned, of eternal oneupmanship was not only deadly but wrong. For him morality did not exist. Really, is this not Putin's position?
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