Was Henry Kissinger just a Marwari without a conscience? Lest one accuse me of racism, I am a Marwari. And I would say the perception one gets of him is of a man who went about the business of statesmanship like a business, where the citizens were at best an inconvenience to be tolerated, and at worse, they were not American citizens. I read posts online that said things like “One must not speak ill of the dead, but in this case I am willing to make an exception”. My first reaction was to think, “Oh I see you were also a victim of the late Umesh sir’s coaching class. And his ASCM (Anti Student Chalk Missile)”. But, he was referring to Kissinger. Never has a man’s life been so fake celebrated after his death.
I listened to many articles and read a few interviews and found out what he did in Cambodia and what he prevented with China. What he did to Chile and what he prevented with Russia. What he did in Vietnam and what Watergate did to Nixon. It’s interesting that his death was being discussed as parallel to Charlie Munger, who got bowled on 99. So, did Kissinger win because he managed to hit a 100? Was that his Virat Kohli achievement in an otherwise chequered career check-marked with major foreign policy achievements?
I read about how he escaped to America at the age of 15 as a persecuted Jew from Germany. Did that have an impact on his psyche? Is that why he was so psyched about eliminating Communism, he did not mind eliminating a few communities in the process? On Cambodia, he made an interesting point that for some reason none of the countries who should have protested the US bombing of Cambodia: China, Russia, Vietnam, even Cambodia itself, did not do so hard. Today, one would question the lack of a trending hashtag as lack of evidence that the event even took place. I am happy to write this article in rainbow colours if that makes it more likely that you will share it.
Archival footage of Kissinger makes him look a bit like an evil version of Ashok Kumar meets Jay Pritchett from Modern Family. Perhaps, he was in some ways a more maniacal version of Ashok Kumar’s rendition of Hitch in Rajnigandha. Or, like the evil comic book store owner in Unbreakable. But quotes from former aides suggest that Kissinger is exactly what the world needed in a Nixon administration. That while many questioned Kissinger’s Nobel Prize, one only wonders what would have happened if Kissinger wasn’t around during Nixon’s binges. Kissinger was like the trusted aide who has to cover for the manager who has had a few too many drinks at the off-site. Except that this manager liked to threaten nuclear war instead of just singing Awara Hoon badly on the karaoke machine. You may want to think about that the next time you bitch about HR’s teambuilding activities at the Europa themed off-site in Lonavala.
They say the team ‘realpolitik’ is often attributed to Kissinger. So, whether he was a real statesman or a real politician remains a furious debate. But as he watched a peace that he somehow managed to negotiate in the Middle East unravel in 2023, will he find peace wherever he has gone? And more importantly, if our world order itself comes unravelled in 2024, will we realise that we needed the butcher of peace to keep the whole world from falling into pieces?
So, may I ask that you all hit like, share and comment on this article in the interest of peace? Or do I need to point a Kissinger-sized nuke at you to make the point?
The author, Vikram Poddar, is a Marwari investment banker turned corporate comedian. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the website.
