Tag: Kissinger

  • Kissinger Sees Greater Role for Turkey

    Kissinger Sees Greater Role for Turkey

    By Joe Parkinson

    One of the eldest statesmen of international diplomacy, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, on Thursday offered some pearls of wisdom to one of the newest entrants to great power politics, Turkey.

    Speaking at a conference held by TPG Capital in Istanbul, Mr. Kissinger’s gravelly top line was that Turkey will fill part of a regional void left by the U.S. as it withdraws from Iraq and, eventually, Afghanistan. But Ankara, said Mr. Kissinger, should be careful not to cross Washington’s vital interests in the region.

    Associated Press
    Associated Press

    “Turkey’s influence is growing at a time that the U.S. is withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan, plus Libya is opening up – so Turkey can play a significant role,” Mr. Kissinger said. “It shouldn’t run across interests that the U.S. considers imperative. I expect relations will be constructive.”

    As evidence that the U.S.-Turkish relationship remained on a sound foundation, despite the potential for competition, Mr. Kissinger singled out Turkey’s recent decision to host a missile-defense radar, part of a U.S.-inspired system designed to protect the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from Iran.

    “I see this as an expression of the fact that on some issues the U.S. and Turkey have parallel interests,” Mr. Kissinger said.

    Relations between Turkey and Iran, which share a border, have become significantly complicated recently by the violence in Syria – a Turkish neighbor and Iranian client state – and by the rapidly shifting environment created by the Arab Spring. Only last year, Turkey incurred Washington’s wrath by voting against U.S.-backed sanctions on Iran at the United Nations Security Council.

    Turkey continues to say that the radar isn’t directed at any one country.

    Addressing the meltdown in relations between Turkey and Washington’s other strong ally in the region, Israel, Mr. Kissinger suggested both sides were at fault in their dispute over whether Israel should apologize for killing eight Turks and a U.S. citizen of Turkish extraction onboard the Mavi Marmara aid ship, as it sought to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza last year.

    “Both sides will have to make an adjustment in terms of their position – this is not just a problem of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. People know what the problem is, they know what the solution is, but they can’t bring themselves to do it,” Mr. Kissinger said.

    via Kissinger Sees Greater Role for Turkey – Emerging Europe Real Time – WSJ.

  • The Grievous Return of Henry Kissinger – An Analysis

    The Grievous Return of Henry Kissinger – An Analysis

    perceptionby Dr. Lawrence Davidson

    The gods protect us, Henry Kissinger is back!

    Henry Kissinger was President Richard Nixon’s National Security Advisor and then Secretary of State. He also held the latter position under President Gerald Ford. While it would be unfair to characterize him as someone who never gave a piece of good advice (he did encourage Nixon to engage in Detente with the Soviet Union), his record weighs heavily on the side of unwise counsel. As we will see he is back in exactly that role, plying bad advice that, in this case, could further erode America’s already messed up intelligence agencies.

    Kissinger was originally an academic. His doctoral dissertation was on the diplomacy of two early 19th century statesmen, Britain’s Viscount Robert Castlereagh and Austria’s Prince Klemens von Metternich. These men were major players at the great Congress of Vienna that took place after the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815. At that meeting Metternich argued for returning Europe to its pre French Revolution political status. Pursuing that impossible end, he backed repressive policies and regimes. One gets the impression that the history of Kissinger’s public service was, at least in part, an effort to achieve the stature of a Metternich. Toward this end Kissinger would pursue “realpolitik” which, more often than not in its American manifestation, entailed the backing of repressive policies and regimes.

    Here are some of the things Kissinger espoused: the bombing of North Vietnam in order to achieve “peace with honor;” support for the murderous, Fascist regime of Augusto Pinochet in Chile, and the equally bloody military dictatorship in Argentina; acquiescence in the annexation of East Timor by the Indonesian dictator Suharto, which was followed by genocidal massacres; acquiescence in the Serb and Croat wars against the Bosnian Muslims; support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq; and last but certainly not least, active lobbying for the admittance into the U.S. of the ailing Shah of Iran (yet another American supported dictator) which led immediately to the hostage taking of U.S. diplomats in 1979 and the continuing animosity and tension between America and Iran. I saved this piece of bad judgment till last because it of a piece with Kissinger’s latest excursion into playing the great statesman by pushing folly.

    Jonathan PollardSo what would Dr. Kissinger have us do now? Well, according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Kissinger has sent a letter to President Obama “urging him to commute the prison term of Jonathan Pollard, who is serving life term for spying for Israel.” Kissinger claims that he has consulted with others such as former Defense Secretary Weinberger, former Secretary of State George Schultz and former CIA Director Woolsey (all of whom are supporters of Israel) and found their “unanimous support for clemency compelling.” Kissinger’s letter follows on a lobbying effort by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has made an official request to Obama for the same granting of clemency. Here is what Netanyahu had to say, “Both Mr. Pollard and the Government of Israel have repeatedly expressed remorse for these actions [of spying], and Israel will continue to abide by its commitment that such wrongful actions will never be repeated.” There is something almost childish in this approach. Caught with Israel’s hand in the cookie jar, the spies and their handlers say ‘Oh I’m sorry. If you commute the punishment we promise to be good from now on.’ Actually, in the world of espionage, such promises aren’t worth the paper they are written on. Thus, in 2004 the FBI caught another government employee,, spying for Israel and using the Zionist American lobby AIPAC as the conduit through which to pass the stolen information. So much for promises of future good behavior.

    What Kissinger and the rest Pollard’s supporters seem not to find compelling, or even noteworthy, is the fact that ever since the 1987 trial that sent Pollard away for life, the career officers in the American intelligence services have quietly threatened mass resignation if this Zionist spy went free. Keep in mind that ever since George W. Bush and his neo-conservatives wrecked havoc with the CIA in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq, the one Kissinger so obligingly supported, the intelligence agencies of this country have found their morale at the sub-basement level. If Obama commutes Pollard’s sentence it will be yet another blow to their professional well-being.

    But what does Dr. Kissinger care about a bunch of government employees? In his realpolitik version of reality neither government servants nor ordinary citizens are worth much. Here are a couple of Kissinger quotes to show what I mean. Having helped condemn the Chilean people to 16 years under the murderous rule of Ernesto Pinochet, Kissinger rationalized the decision this way, “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.” And, as to the career analysts in the various intelligence agencies, most of whom really are experts in the countries they study, Kissinger just dismisses that expertise as inconsequential. “Most foreign policies that history has marked highly,” he tells us, “have been originated by leaders who were opposed by experts.” Well, that is all the “experts” except Dr. Kissinger.

    The real Henry Kissinger, who implausably received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, borders on being a war criminal. That should tell us what his advice is really worth. President Obama would be a fool to listen to a man whose blood stained career should have long ago come to an ignoble end.

    www.tothepointanalyses.com, 9 March 2011

  • Henry Kissinger asks Obama to release convicted spy for Israel

    Henry Kissinger asks Obama to release convicted spy for Israel

    Kissinger+MaoFormer US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger asks Obama to release convicted spy for Israel

    By The Associated Press (CP)

    JERUSALEM — Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is urging President Barack Obama to release an American convicted of spying for Israel 24 years ago.

    In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Kissinger wrote to Obama, “I believe justice would be served by commuting” Jonathan Pollard’s life sentence.

    Pollard, now 56 years old, was a civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy. He was convicted in 1987 of passing classified information to Israel.

    Kissinger’s March 3 letter joins other recent calls for Pollard’s release from former high-ranking American officials, including former CIA Director R. James Woolsey and former Secretary of State George Shultz.

    In January, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also called on the U.S. to release Pollard.

    Jonathan Pollard

    Kissinger: Release Israeli spy Pollard

    By Jeff Stein

    Saying he found the arguments of other top former U.S. national security officials “compelling,” former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on Monday called for President Obama to commute the remainder of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard’s life sentence.

    “At first I felt I did not have enough information to render a reasoned and just opinion,” Kissinger said in his Mar. 3 letter, released today by a public relations firm that has been lobbying for the release of Pollard, sentenced to life in prison for espionage in 1987.

    “But having talked with [former Secretary of State] George Shultz and read the statements of former CIA Director [R. James] Woolsey, former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman [Dennis] DeConcini, former Defense Secretary [Caspar] Weinberger, former Attorney General [Michael] Mukasey and others whose judgments and first-hand knowledge I respect, I find their unanimous support for clemency compelling.”

    Shultz was secretary at the time of Pollard’s sentencing.

    “I believe justice would be served by commuting the remainder of Pollard’s sentence of life imprisonment,” Kissinger wrote.

    The White House declined to comment on the Kissinger letter, referring to a statement by then spokesman Robert Gibbs on Jan. 15 in response to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s public petition for Pollard’s release.

    “Look, I think the — obviously the State Department answered this a little bit yesterday in saying that they received the request; they’ll take a look at it,” Gibbs said. “I think it is important to underscore that Mr. Pollard was convicted of some of the most serious crimes that anybody can be charged with.”

    Backed by major Jewish leaders, the campaign to free Pollard has been mobilized by David Nyer, a 25-year-old social worker in a New York health clinic.

    Beginning last summer, Nyer has bagged a number of big names in his effort, including former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.) who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee at the time of Jonathan Pollard’s sentencing; Lawrence J. Korb, assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration; former Clinton White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum and former Deputy Attorney General and Harvard Law Professor Philip Heymann.

    Apart from Woolsey, most other intelligence officials have been adamantly opposed to the release of Pollard, a Navy intelligence analyst who provided thousands of highly classified documents to his Israeli handlers. Former CIA Director George Tenet reportedly threatened to quit when the Clinton administration considered it.

    voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk, March 7, 2011