Biden says he ‘often strongly’ disagreed with Kissinger after diplomat’s death

Henry Kissinger leaves behind a complex legacy, remembered as a master of global politics by some and an alleged war criminal by others

George Santos hints at possible future bid, says this isn’t ‘goodbye forever’

Henry Kissinger, a Holocaust survivor who became the US’s most influential – and divisive – diplomat, has died at the age of 100.

Kissinger leaves behind a complex legacy, remembered as a master of global politics by some and an alleged war criminal by others.

Born in Bavaria, his family fled to New York City to escape the Holocaust – an experience that would go on to shape his future foreign policy work.

As President Richard Nixon’s National Security Advisor, Kissinger was responsible for negotiating the US’s exit from the unpopular Vietnam War. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomatic work – but his legacy was then tainted when it emerged he had authorised the secret carpet-bombing of neutral Cambodia, which killed at least 150,000 civilians.

Beyond his diplomacy work, Kissinger briefly enjoyed a reputation as an unlikely ladies’ man and social butterfly in Washington DC, dating several stars of the time before marrying his second wife Nancy – who survives him.

Reactions from political and diplomatic allies and foes poured in after his death on Wednesday, with former president George W Bush remembering “his wisdom, his charm, and his humour”.

Joe Biden on Thursday said that he had “often strongly” disagreed with Kissinger but praised his “fierce intellect.”

Key points

• Influential US diplomat Henry Kissinger dies aged 100
• Obituary: The polarising architect of Cold War era American foreign policy
• Revisiting Anthony Bourdain’s long-time hatred of Henry Kissinger
• Biden says he ‘often strongly’ disagreed with Kissinger
• Chinese state media pays tribute to ‘old friend’ Kissinger

[30 November 2023 06:45 · Maroosha Muzaffar]

Chinese state media pays tribute to Kissinger: ‘The old friend of the Chinese people’

“Today, this ‘old friend of the Chinese people,’ who had a sharp vision and a thorough understanding of world affairs, has completed his legendary life,” China News said in an obituary.

On Weibo, the hashtag “Kissinger just came to China this year” went viral. Henry Kissinger visited China more than 100 times in his lifetime and more recently in July this year.

CCTV, the state broadcaster, called Kissinger a “legendary diplomat” and a “living fossil” who had been a witness to the development of China-US relationship.

[30 November 2023 07:45 · Maroosha Muzaffar]

ICYMI: Henry Kissinger death: Influential US diplomat, dead at 100

Henry Kissinger, the influential US diplomat who served under presidents Nixon and Ford, died on Wednesday, 29 November, according to his consulting firm.

Kissinger, who lived to be 100, died at home in Connecticut of unspecified causes, the firm said.

The diplomat, who served as Secretary of State in multiple administrations, “was a respected American scholar and statesman,” according to Kissinger Associates, Inc.

[30 November 2023 08:00 · Maroosha Muzaffar]

Henry Kissinger: Polarising architect of Cold War era American foreign policy

Influential US secretary of state to Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as arch practitioner of ‘realpolitik’ who was revered and reviled in equal measure, write Ariana Baio and Joe Sommerlad:

[30 November 2023 09:48 · Rachel Sharp]

VOICES: The death of Henry Kissinger – and why we will never see his America again

It seems highly fitting, almost poetic, that Henry Kissinger, the man who for so long embodied US foreign policy, should have died at the age of 100 in the midst of a conflict that testifies in many ways to the waning of US diplomatic power.

The arc of Henry Kissinger’s life – starting from service in the US army as a refugee from Nazi Germany, through his key role as US Secretary of State in President Nixon’s opening to China, his contribution to the Paris talks that ended the Vietnam War, and his part in negotiating the resolution of the 1973 Yom Kippur war that established the first lasting peace between Israel and the surrounding Arab countries – tracked the rise of the United States as it became the dominant, and then the sole, superpower, against the background of the Cold War.

So dominant a figure did Kissinger become, through his speaking and writing, through the advice that presidents continued to solicit, and his sheer longevity, that it is hard to believe that his formal government career actually began after the Cuban missile crisis and ended in 1977, long before the fall of the Berlin and the Soviet Union’s collapse. If he was not active in frontline diplomacy, however, his voice was still heard and his influence endured.

Mary Dejevsky writes:

[30 November 2023 10:13 · Rachel Sharp]

How Kissinger’s escape from the Holocaust as a child shaped his future foreign policy

Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born on 27 May 1923 in Furth, Bavaria to a Jewish school teacher, Louis Kissinger, and his wife, Paula.

Growing up in the Weimar Republic, his childhood was spent living under Nazi rule.

Then, in August 1938 – shortly before Kristallnacht – a teenage Kissinger and his family fled to New York City.

While the escape saved him from the Holocaust, at least 13 of his close relatives were unable to join them and were eventually killed in the Third Reich’s concentration camps.

This experience stayed with him and he often recalled the antisemitic abuse he and his family faced during their time living in Nazi-occupied Europe.

But, there was another personal experience of the Holocaust that Kissinger rarely spoke about during his decades of public service.

Back in April 1945, while serving in the US Army, the then 22-year-old Army Sergeant was part of the American 84th Infantry Division which helped to liberate a Nazi concentration camp in Ahlem.

In rare comments about that day, Kissinger went on to write: “I see the huts, I observe the empty faces, the dead eyes.

“You are free now. I, with my pressed uniform, I have lived in filth and squalor, I haven’t been beaten and kicked. What kind of freedom can I offer?

“I see my friend enter one of the huts and come out with tears in his eyes. ‘Don’t go in there. We had to kick them to tell the dead from the living.’”

Kissinger described what he saw as an embodiment of “humanity in the 20th century”

Kissinger was acutely aware that – had they not fled a few years earlier – he and his family could have been among the victims.

He would later call that day “one of the most horrifying experiences of my life”.

[30 November 2023 10:30 · Rachel Sharp]

Richard Nixon’s children pay tribute to his former security adviser

Richard Nixon’s children have paid tribute to his former national security adviser after his death on Wednesday.

“Dr. Kissinger played an important role in the historic opening to the People’s Republic of China and in advancing détente with the Soviet Union, bold initiatives which initiated the beginning of the end of the Cold War,” the Nixon daughters said in a statement.

“His ‘shuttle diplomacy’ to the Middle East helped to advance the relaxation of tensions in that troubled region of the world.”

[30 November 2023 10:50 · Rachel Sharp]

WATCH: Henry Kissinger, America's most famous diplomat, dies aged 100

[30 November 2023 11:10 · Rachel Sharp]

Benjamin Netanyahu says Kissinger’s death 'marks the end of an era’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Henry Kissinger’s death “marks the end of an era”.

“It is with a heavy heart that I mourn the passing of a great statesman, scholar, and friend, Dr. Henry Kissinger, who left us at the age of 100. Dr. Kissinger’s departure marks the end of an era, one in which his formidable intellect and diplomatic prowess shaped not only the course of American foreign policy but also had a profound impact on the global stage. I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Kissinger on numerous occasions, the most recent being just two months ago in New York. Each meeting with him was not just a lesson in diplomacy but also a masterclass in statesmanship. His understanding of the complexities of international relations and his unique insights into the challenges facing our world were unparalleled. Henry Kissinger was not just a diplomat; he was a thinker who believed in the power of ideas and the importance of intellectual capital in public life. His contributions to the field of international relations and his efforts in navigating some of the most challenging diplomatic terrains are a testament to his extraordinary capabilities. As we bid farewell to this giant of a man, I extend my deepest condolences to his family, friends, and admirers around the world. His legacy will continue to inspire and guide future generations of leaders and diplomats. May his memory be a blessing.”

[30 November 2023 11:30 · Rachel Sharp]

As controversial in death as in life: Tributes pour in for Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger has proven to be as divisive in death as in life, as the world reacts to his passing.

Tributes and statements have begun pouring in for the influential US diplomat after he died aged 100 at his Connecticut home on Wednesday.

Read more here:

[30 November 2023 11:50 · Rachel Sharp]

Ex-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says there is ‘no one like’ Kissinger

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that there is “no one like” Henry Kissinger following his death on Wednesday.

“There is no one like Henry Kissinger. From the first time I met him as a new Labour Party Opposition Leader in 1994, struggling to form views on foreign policy, to the last occasion when I visited him in New York and, later, when he spoke at my Institute’s annual gathering, I was in awe of him,” he said in a statement.

“The range of his knowledge, the insights which would tumble out of him effortlessly, the lucidity, the mastery of the English language which made him a joy to listen to on any subject, and above all the ability to take all the different elements of the most complex diplomatic challenge and weave from them something astonishing in its coherence and completeness, and, most unusual of all, leading to an answer and not just an analysis: no one could do that like Henry.

“ If it is possible for diplomacy, at its highest level, to be a form of art, Henry was an artist.”

US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger speaks to the press in Paris (AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Blair went on to address Kissinger’s controversies, pointing to the fact that he was “criticised at times, even denounced”.

“Of course, like anyone who has confronted the most difficult problems of international politics, he was criticised at times, even denounced. But I believe he was always motivated not from a coarse ‘realpolitik’; but from a genuine love of the free world and the need to protect it. He was a problem solver, whether in respect of the Cold War, the Middle East or China and its rise. And not once did he ever stop thinking about the future, reflecting on it, and proffering wisdom upon it, most recently on the technology revolution.

“I consider it one of the greatest privileges of my political life to have known him. From that first moment of meeting him to the last, he inspired me and taught me and I will forever be grateful to him.”