Controversial US diplomat Henry Kissinger dies at 100
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Washington: The well-known US diplomat Henry Kissinger, whose foreign policy ideas in 1970s turned the country into ‘world police’ that it is since, died at his home in Connecticut. He was 100 years old.
The Nobel Peace Prize winning diplomat, who served under Republican President Richard Nixon and President Gerald Rudolph Ford, left behind some indelible often controversial marks on the US and global politics, according to Reuters.
As secretary of state under Nixon in 1970s, Kissinger triggered some ‘epoch-changing global events’, the report said.
His cunning moves helped the US to get a diplomatic opening with China. It was a momentous move at the peak of Cold War Era when the US military might was only matched by the challenges of the former USSR.
This diplomatic move was aimed as much at harnessing the USSR as bringing the emerging China under the US circle, according to the report.
He led the US-Soviet arms control talks at the time, alongside working out ties between Israel and Arab countries.
More important, Kissinger was the major force behind the Paris Peace Accords with North Vietnam.
After Nixon resigned in 1974, the US foreign policy architect continued his service under President Ford as well.
He was widely praised for his brilliance and tactics, nevertheless many call him a ‘war criminal’ on account of his anti-communist policies and moves.
He is accused of supporting military dictators to undermine communist regimes.
Years later he faced possible arrest or questioning in many nations over his US foreign policy during his days in office.
Kissinger was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 along with North Vietnam’s Le Duc Tho who declined it.
Awarding Peace Prize to Kissinger turned out to be the most controversial choice the Swedish Academy ever made.
Born in 1923 in Furth Germany, Heinz Alfred Kissinger moved to the US with his family in 1938.
Nazi campaign against European Jews were just about to begin and in the US Kissinger changed his name to Henry Kissinger to fit in.
He became a naturalized citizen in 1943, served in Army, and went to Harvard University earning a master’s and later doctorate in 1954.
He was on Harvard’s faculty for the next 17 years before turning to US diplomacy.
Though a towering figure in US foreign policy, Kissinger faced criticism in 1975 for his failure in forcing Israel and Egypt to ‘a second-stage disengagement in the Sinai’, according to the report.
More important, he was criticised for siding with Pakistan in the 1971 India-Pak war and calling Indians ‘ bastards’, which he later regretted.