2023-11-30 21:35:21
WORLD – Genius of diplomacy for some, war criminal for others, Henry Kissinger died this Wednesday, November 29, 2023, shortly after celebrating his 100th birthday. The greats of this world pay tribute to him in their own way, while the newspapers sometimes recall his prowess, sometimes his… blunders.
A German Jew born in 1923, Kissinger grew up under Nazism, before embracing a diplomatic destiny. He joined the United States to become Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977, under Nixon. More than anything, the man marked the 1970s by whispering in the ears of the greatest.
In the midst of the Cold War, he was the architect of the rapprochement between the United States and China, the initiator of the policy of détente with the USSR and the voice of the Paris agreements which allowed the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. . It was this last action that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973.
It’s not all white though. Bombings in Cambodia, overthrow of Salvador Allende’s government in Chile in 1973, support for Operation Condor, a vast campaign of assassinations of opponents in six military dictatorships in Latin America in 1975… Kissinger is the incarnation of “realpolitik”, brutally effective. He calculated, he knew, he led.
Among all his adventures, the role he played during the Yom Kippur War will remain one of the most significant, especially since it is reminiscent of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that we know today. ‘today. At a time when the Soviet Union had more influence than the United States in the Middle East, Henry Kissinger achieved the feat of obtaining the ear of Egyptian President Sadat, while foreseeing with certain skill the powers of each. In October 1973, when Egypt and Syria went by surprise to the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights to reconquer them, they were supposed to pulverize the Israeli army. This is what initially appears to be happening, until Kissinger opens the floodgates for air support from the United States to support Israel, just in time. Finally, despite their thunderous departure, Egypt and Syria were easily pushed back. Still, morally, it is a small victory which opens the way to a settlement of the conflicts in the Middle East.
Even more, 1973 was also the year of the first oil shock, due to a peak in production in the United States, the abandonment of the Bretton Woods agreements, but also the Yom Kippur War. The interest for the United States in getting closer to the OPEC countries at that time. Henry Kissinger’s “Machiavellian masterpiece”, as described Raymond Aron in Le Figaro in January 1977will have been to see and predict, for better and for worse.
1973, the year of the Yom Kippur War: in the company of Richard Nixon, mired in the Watergate scandal, and Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Library of Congress, Washington).
With King Hussein of Jordan, in Amman, at the very end of 1973. (Library of Congress, Washington)
With the King of Saudi Arabia, Faisal, assassinated at the beginning of 1975. After the first oil crisis, Kissinger is said to have threatened the Saudis, who according to him were contributing to “the strangulation of the industrialized world”, with nuclear weapon. (Library of Congress, Washington)
Genius of diplomacy for some, war criminal for others, will history be able to judge? (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)
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