Welcome back to Lucid, and a big hello to all new subscribers. A reminder that because it’s the first week of the month our next Q&A will be on Sunday, Dec. 3, 8-9pmET. Our guest will be Gen Z activist Victor Shi. Paying subscribers will receive a link to register for the Zoom gathering at 5pmET on Sunday. If you’d like to join these stimulating and soulful gatherings you can sign up as paid or upgrade here:
I’m so happy the call is Sunday as I have a client meeting today and would have missed. And can’t wait for Victor Shi. I love his positive nature and insights
Kissinger's legacy, if ever honestly evaluated, will show that yes, he opened China to the US, but at the same time he is responsible for the deaths of close to 4M people. Vietnam, Cambodia, Chile, Bangladesh, the Middle East (yes, let's not forget he got a 1973 peace proposal quashed). The list is long. The war crimes are clear. And yet the US FP establishment, and too many US senior politicians, loved him. I, for one, never saw what he had done to deserve the acclaim. What I only saw was a Nixon accomplice who kept the Vietnam War going to get Nixon elected in 1968 and re-elected in 1972. And the guy who wanted to be friends with the Khmer Rouge, and turned a blind eye to repression of Jews in the Soviet Union.
Hi Ruth, thank you for the reminder that Kissinger encouraged Nixon to overthrow Allende in Chile and install a real dictator, Pinochet, instead. I believe Kissinger also encouraged the carpet bombing of Cambodia that massacred thousands, I imagine. I think too many of us have accepted that rulers will be rulers, so to speak, and the violence they perpetrate upon one another in the domination game is just something the rest of us have to tolerate. Ever since World War I and the advent of the airplane in warfare, greater proportions of civilians have been massacred in each successive war. Now, in Putin's war on Ukrainians and Hamas's atrocities on Israelis, civilians are the purposeful targets. It's time to delegitimize warfare altogether, in the public's mind. We don't have to tolerate continued subjugation to the grandiose ambitions of violence-prone men who talk a good game but care only about their own aggrandizement.
I'm looking forward to Victor on Sunday. Kissinger committed treason along with Nixon in 1968. LBJ had a peace treaty to end the war. Kissinger and Madam Chenault convinced South Vietnamese President Thieu to decline, telling him that Nixon would get a better deal and make Thieu rich. He also masterminded the bombing of Cambodia which set off a civil war in Cambodia, paving the way for the Kmer Rouge.
Right, Charlie, about Kissinger undermining LBJ's peace treaty. About 15 years later, Reagan did something similar, promising the Iranian Ayatollah something if he would hold onto the American hostages until after the American election, making Jimmy Carter look "weak" so Reagan could win the election. I have a sickening memory of Inauguration Day, Reagan's smug face and "aww shucks" B.S. smile, and almost immediately afterwards the American hostages were released, as if Reagan were a kind of god who commanded this to happen.
Thank you Prof Ruth for this forceful and moral comment . I remember the headlines and the train of violence and, death that ensued from the coup. Mothers marching and banging dish pans demanding justice for their disappeared children. And today our own fascist Proud Boy Squadrismo sport tees with anonymous persons falling from helicopters above.
And "Tricky Dick" running for president with a "secret plan" to end the war in Vietnam-which was nothing but more bombs and death- doubling the final number of American dead now memorialized on the Vietnam Memorial and the tenfold more dead Vietnamese .
Thank you for writing the Kissenger essay, Ruth! So true... I wished the obits and news reports on is legacy had focused more on his undermining of democracy in Chile . As always, Latin America gets short-shrift. And more importantly, Kissenger was always able to skate by his bad actions and continue to be the "revered" foreign affairs advisor for so many decades, after Viet Nam etc., too. It has always made me so mad. I even had a good friend at int'l relations grad school who went to work for his consulting firm in '82, and I remember having conversations with him of "how could you do this?"; "have you no morals?"...Needless to say, he didn't listen to me. Professional ambition won the day...
If memory serves me correctly, there are twelve, maybe thirteen countries, that Henry Kissinger could not set foot in because he was under indictment in those countries for war crimes. Besides the atrocities in Chile and the previously mentioned criminal acts in Viet Nam and Cambodia, we can point the finger at Henry K and Gerald Ford for their assistance with the massacres in East Timor. No need for Henry to wait in line to pass through the gates of Hell.
I am happy to know the Q& A will be on Sunday, 8-9. I would like to ask a Lucid scheduler or any member of Lucid to fill me in on the Lucid Schedule. Where do I go to look this up? I have missed several Zoom meetings because I did not realize the dates were variable. Please, help.
JA, my guess is that Kissinger's behavior can be understood better by understanding that he made decisions that would, in the end, benefit HIM. If he was Nixon's right-hand man , e.g. and got him into the White House, then he, Kissinger, would gain power and prestige. I can't say for sure, of course, but that would be my guess as to what kind of motive was really operating, as opposed to some sophisticated political strategy to benefit the 99%.
Recommend Seymour Hersh's book "The Price of Power" which chronicles Kissinger's dastardly exploits in foreign policy in detail including the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile.
Of course, our CIA was involved with that mess but the question then becomes who drives the CIA? Back then, the Council on Foreign Relations was the primary driver. It mostly consisted of business titans. Not sure what the structure is today.
The US rationalized coups in many countries by saying they were Communist or Communist leaning. What we were rationalizing was imperialism. From what I've heard, Kissinger was a part of Operation Condor, aimed at Chile. But the US involvement was deeper than just Kissinger. James Buchanan went there to assist the changeover in government by reworking their constitution to suit the US. Milton Friedman went there to form a neoliberal economic system that favored the rich and corporate power.
Kissinger lacked a conscience because he was a sociopath. It explains much of his foreign policy actions. He's no hero. The CIA director during the Truman/ Eisenhower administrations and part of the JFK admin was also a sociopath; Allen Dulles. His own wife called him a shark. Never should we allow people like this in power.
Between the extreme ideological beliefs of the hard-core "true-believers" and the expedience and cynicism of ultra-wealthy industrialists and the turmoil in the world, I am having trouble being at all optimistic. I wonder how we can truly engage American to take back our democracy the next elections. Are the democrats really "getting it"? Who is their strategist? What voices will be strident and powerful enough to engage the public. Help!
=]
I’m so happy the call is Sunday as I have a client meeting today and would have missed. And can’t wait for Victor Shi. I love his positive nature and insights
Kissinger's legacy, if ever honestly evaluated, will show that yes, he opened China to the US, but at the same time he is responsible for the deaths of close to 4M people. Vietnam, Cambodia, Chile, Bangladesh, the Middle East (yes, let's not forget he got a 1973 peace proposal quashed). The list is long. The war crimes are clear. And yet the US FP establishment, and too many US senior politicians, loved him. I, for one, never saw what he had done to deserve the acclaim. What I only saw was a Nixon accomplice who kept the Vietnam War going to get Nixon elected in 1968 and re-elected in 1972. And the guy who wanted to be friends with the Khmer Rouge, and turned a blind eye to repression of Jews in the Soviet Union.
Hi Ruth, thank you for the reminder that Kissinger encouraged Nixon to overthrow Allende in Chile and install a real dictator, Pinochet, instead. I believe Kissinger also encouraged the carpet bombing of Cambodia that massacred thousands, I imagine. I think too many of us have accepted that rulers will be rulers, so to speak, and the violence they perpetrate upon one another in the domination game is just something the rest of us have to tolerate. Ever since World War I and the advent of the airplane in warfare, greater proportions of civilians have been massacred in each successive war. Now, in Putin's war on Ukrainians and Hamas's atrocities on Israelis, civilians are the purposeful targets. It's time to delegitimize warfare altogether, in the public's mind. We don't have to tolerate continued subjugation to the grandiose ambitions of violence-prone men who talk a good game but care only about their own aggrandizement.
I'm looking forward to Victor on Sunday. Kissinger committed treason along with Nixon in 1968. LBJ had a peace treaty to end the war. Kissinger and Madam Chenault convinced South Vietnamese President Thieu to decline, telling him that Nixon would get a better deal and make Thieu rich. He also masterminded the bombing of Cambodia which set off a civil war in Cambodia, paving the way for the Kmer Rouge.
Right, Charlie, about Kissinger undermining LBJ's peace treaty. About 15 years later, Reagan did something similar, promising the Iranian Ayatollah something if he would hold onto the American hostages until after the American election, making Jimmy Carter look "weak" so Reagan could win the election. I have a sickening memory of Inauguration Day, Reagan's smug face and "aww shucks" B.S. smile, and almost immediately afterwards the American hostages were released, as if Reagan were a kind of god who commanded this to happen.
That was also treasonous.
Thank you Prof Ruth for this forceful and moral comment . I remember the headlines and the train of violence and, death that ensued from the coup. Mothers marching and banging dish pans demanding justice for their disappeared children. And today our own fascist Proud Boy Squadrismo sport tees with anonymous persons falling from helicopters above.
And "Tricky Dick" running for president with a "secret plan" to end the war in Vietnam-which was nothing but more bombs and death- doubling the final number of American dead now memorialized on the Vietnam Memorial and the tenfold more dead Vietnamese .
Thank you for writing the Kissenger essay, Ruth! So true... I wished the obits and news reports on is legacy had focused more on his undermining of democracy in Chile . As always, Latin America gets short-shrift. And more importantly, Kissenger was always able to skate by his bad actions and continue to be the "revered" foreign affairs advisor for so many decades, after Viet Nam etc., too. It has always made me so mad. I even had a good friend at int'l relations grad school who went to work for his consulting firm in '82, and I remember having conversations with him of "how could you do this?"; "have you no morals?"...Needless to say, he didn't listen to me. Professional ambition won the day...
23,000 American GIs needlessly died because Nixon sabotaged LBJ's peace talk breakthrough.
If memory serves me correctly, there are twelve, maybe thirteen countries, that Henry Kissinger could not set foot in because he was under indictment in those countries for war crimes. Besides the atrocities in Chile and the previously mentioned criminal acts in Viet Nam and Cambodia, we can point the finger at Henry K and Gerald Ford for their assistance with the massacres in East Timor. No need for Henry to wait in line to pass through the gates of Hell.
I am happy to know the Q& A will be on Sunday, 8-9. I would like to ask a Lucid scheduler or any member of Lucid to fill me in on the Lucid Schedule. Where do I go to look this up? I have missed several Zoom meetings because I did not realize the dates were variable. Please, help.
Feel strongly that Kissinger was a very complicated mystery man!
His goals were not clear or easy to understand!
JA, my guess is that Kissinger's behavior can be understood better by understanding that he made decisions that would, in the end, benefit HIM. If he was Nixon's right-hand man , e.g. and got him into the White House, then he, Kissinger, would gain power and prestige. I can't say for sure, of course, but that would be my guess as to what kind of motive was really operating, as opposed to some sophisticated political strategy to benefit the 99%.
I remember the “12 more bombing days until Christmas” headlines in my college newspaper.
I have little good to say about the man. No wonder the Blob/NYimes/CFR crowd loves him.
Recommend Seymour Hersh's book "The Price of Power" which chronicles Kissinger's dastardly exploits in foreign policy in detail including the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile.
Of course, our CIA was involved with that mess but the question then becomes who drives the CIA? Back then, the Council on Foreign Relations was the primary driver. It mostly consisted of business titans. Not sure what the structure is today.
The US rationalized coups in many countries by saying they were Communist or Communist leaning. What we were rationalizing was imperialism. From what I've heard, Kissinger was a part of Operation Condor, aimed at Chile. But the US involvement was deeper than just Kissinger. James Buchanan went there to assist the changeover in government by reworking their constitution to suit the US. Milton Friedman went there to form a neoliberal economic system that favored the rich and corporate power.
Kissinger lacked a conscience because he was a sociopath. It explains much of his foreign policy actions. He's no hero. The CIA director during the Truman/ Eisenhower administrations and part of the JFK admin was also a sociopath; Allen Dulles. His own wife called him a shark. Never should we allow people like this in power.
Between the extreme ideological beliefs of the hard-core "true-believers" and the expedience and cynicism of ultra-wealthy industrialists and the turmoil in the world, I am having trouble being at all optimistic. I wonder how we can truly engage American to take back our democracy the next elections. Are the democrats really "getting it"? Who is their strategist? What voices will be strident and powerful enough to engage the public. Help!
Not sure when you normally send out the signin for today's 8pm session. Nothing in my email yet at 3:40 EST.