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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKerry Consults Kissinger on Getting to Yes With Russians
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan
Secretary of State John Kerry is consulting Henry Kissinger, the 90-year-old embodiment of Cold War foreign policy, before heading off to negotiate with his Russian counterpart over Syrias chemical weapons.
After meeting today with former Secretary Kissinger at the State Department, Kerry will bring other U.S.-Russia specialists on his plane when he flies to Geneva for two days of meetings starting tomorrow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to a U.S. official who asked not to be identified because he wasnt authorized to comment.
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Though the meeting with Kissinger was planned before the latest developments in Syria, Kerry was eager to draw on the older mans experience in communicating effectively with Russian diplomats, the U.S. official said. Kissinger pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union and served as secretary of State and national security adviser to Republican President Richard Nixon. The U.S. official described Kerry as a fan of Kissingers 1994 book, Diplomacy.
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Early last year, Kissinger met in Moscow to discuss world affairs with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whose press secretary described the men as old friends and said that they had previously met eight to 10 times, including over dinner at Kissingers home in New York...In Putins book First Person, he recounted a conversation with Kissinger in the early 1990s when Putin, then an aide to the mayor of St. Petersburg, picked up the German-born American diplomat at the airport.
Kissinger impressed Putin by saying that he too got his start as an intelligence specialist, and that former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev withdrew his nations forces from Eastern Europe too quickly.
I told him what I thought and I will repeat it now: Kissinger was right, Putin wrote.
- more -
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-09-11/kerry-consults-kissinger-on-getting-to-yes-with-old-foe-russians
Putin says he, Obama discussed control over Syrian chemical arms
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023640131
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)He helped facilitate assassinations on US soil and destroyed peace talks in the Vietnam conflict, among many other things.
That Kerry would seek advice from such a disgraceful human being is telling.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Such is diplomacy.
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)He has a track record of using "diplomacy" as a cover for further violence and death.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Maybe that's why Putin likes him.
I'm fairly certain that diplomacy means talking to people, even some bad ones. He knows Russia and has the confidence of Putin so there maybe some insight to be gained.
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)His entire life image is constructed upon a foundation of falsehoods. I would never trust anything he says and that is why I do not think using him is a remotely good idea. Who knows what kind of tricks he has up his sleeves. Who knows what despots he truly answers to. We may just end up losing out on a peace deal precisely because he answers to individuals who want conflict.
Would you go to the devil to seek advice on how to avoid going to hell? Probably not.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Putin likes him, and the reality is that Putin is the other key player in reaching a diplomatic solution.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)would rationalize the whatever Pres Obama does is good, therefore you lose all credibility. Kissinger is a war criminal. There is no acceptable rationalization to involve him.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)That is all.
Bjorn Against
(12,041 posts)DURHAM D
(32,617 posts)Maybe it will work out better than the last time a Democratic President took Henry's advice on such matters.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Tveil
(108 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)...I guess he's next on Kerry's consultant list.
Hell, lil' Kim is a big fan of Dennis Rodman...should he be a consultant on N Korea? Is that how Obama picks diplomats? By how popular they are with the other countries? Geesh, what is Obama running...a Justin Bieber fan club?
Kissinger is a war criminal...a stake should have been driven through his heart decades ago. Adm has no business seeking advice from Neo-Cons. Sickening....
ProSense
(116,464 posts)The fact is that he knows Russia and Putin likes him.
"Hell, lil' Kim is a big fan of Dennis Rodman..."
Kissinger is evil, not stupid. Assad is accused of a war crime. Putin is a major player in the negotiations, and he values Kissinger's opinion.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,411 posts)This is not a question of Clarice Starling going to interview Hannibal Lecter to get an insight into the mind of a serial killer. Kissinger is evil, and Kerry is a fan of his book.
JI7
(89,287 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)It's used in IR departments all over the place.
Have you read this book you're complaining about?
muriel_volestrangler
(101,411 posts)It may be great at showing how to get away with supporting coups, and get away with bombing neutral countries, but that doesn't make it something to use for guide on how to conduct an ethical foreign policy.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,411 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)So, no.
I also read Guevara's book. He also killed people, and also wrote a very good book. The author's morality doesn't affect a book's usefulness.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,411 posts)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy_%28book%29
It lists a maximum of 8 chapters before 1914, and 23 that look like they are concerned with events after 1914. Maybe you should edit Wikipedia to set them straight?
If an American Secretary of State could go to Guevara for advice on foreign relations, and did so, I'd be alarmed. That's what this thread is about - Kerry going to Kissinger for advice.
I'm guessing Kissinger didn't apologise, or it would be better known - like McNamara's reflections.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)An evil genius is still a genius.
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)He's less of a criminal than Kissinger and he also has decades of experience. He's obviously playing the international game far better than other dictators on the U.S. regime change list. And he's even closer to Putin, I hear. In fact, a deal with him fixes the works. So why not meet Assad face to face? It couldn't be that saving face is any kind of consideration, after meeting Kissinger there is no face to save.
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)No, the parallel doesn't work without Kissinger in prison, but I can dream of the way things should be.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)with a self-inflicted bullet to the head.
But nope. This fascist is supported and celebrated and promoted on Democratic Underground.
RandiFan1290
(6,261 posts)bobduca
(1,763 posts)polichick
(37,152 posts)Really? Are these consultants the best our country has to offer?
bigtree
(86,016 posts). . . murderous pig.
Not worth one word out of his mouth is worth listening to. He should be rotting in jail.
Didn't you spend the best part of yesterday and today telling everyone here how horrible Putin is?
" . . . press secretary described the men as old friends".
Charming.