It’s hard to overestimate the role Henry Kissinger played in Chile. A former Chilean diplomat describes the mark that the powerful statesman made in his country and elsewhere in the Global South.
Henry Kissinger, whose death has just been announced.
Everett Collection/Alamy
Former US secretary of state, Henry Kissinger has died, aged 100. His legacy, including his involvement in the Vietnam war, is long, complicated and divisive.
The aftermath of U.S. bombs in Neak Luong, Cambodia, on Aug. 7, 1973.
AP Photo
The Nobel Peace Prize has recognized some legendary leaders and peace activists, but it has a mixed track record of recognizing people who actually deserve the prize.
In this 1979 photo, Mother Teresa receives the Nobel Peace Prize during a ceremony at Oslo University. At right is the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, John Sanness. In subsequent years, Mother Teresa has faced criticisms.
(Henrik Laurivik/NTB via AP, File)
Peace can become political when advocates oppose or try to reform governments and societies pursuing hostile foreign relations — or when these societies perpetuate injustice and oppression at home.
Elder statesman: Henry Kissinger addresses the 2023 Davos World Economic Forum via videolink.
EPA-EFE/Gian Ehrenzeller
Foreign Minister Penny Wong is travelling to China to mark the half-century anniversary of a relationship that has ridden the vicissitudes over that time.
President Richard Nixon, left, speaks with national security adviser Henry Kissinger at the White House in September 1972.
AP Photo
Henry Kissinger’s influence on US foreign policy was profound. His transactional approach – avowedly values free – included support of murderous and genocidal foreign leaders.
Joe Biden, then-Vice President meets with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2011.
AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Joe Biden is set to make his first visit as president to the Middle East, during which he will meet the Saudi crown prince the US accuses of ordering the murder of a journalist.
Supporters of Ukraine, like these demonstrators in Boston on Feb. 27, 2022, are likely to be disappointed by any peace deal.
Vincent Ricci/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The US frequently chooses to put its own interest ahead of its professed values. That approach to foreign policy is called ‘realpolitik’ and it may lead to an unsatisfying peace deal in Ukraine.
The US ambassador to the USSR, George Kennan, chats with a reporter in 1952 after the Soviets told the US State Department that Kennan must be recalled immediately.
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Stephen Hoadley, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Kennan was one of America’s few true experts on Soviet affairs. He famously urged a “Containment” strategy to prevent Soviet expansionism, advising against military responses and arms build-ups.
US President Ronald Reagan meeting with Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov in the Oval Office in 1988.
White House Photographic Collection/Wikimedia Commons
Andrei Sakharov was one of the most brilliant scientists of the nuclear age. But he is best remembered today as one of the most fearless defenders of human rights around the world.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, is visible as President Joe Biden holds a virtual meeting with the Mexican president at the White House in March 2021.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Four years of ‘America First’ has seen the US retreat from the world. But as a scholar of international relations explains, Biden could return Washington to the role of a more moral global leader.
Vice President Spiro T. Agnew on Aug. 8, 1973 at a Washington news conference.
AP/file
Sue Onslow, School of Advanced Study, University of London and Martin Plaut, School of Advanced Study, University of London
The April 1994 election proved to be a watershed for South Africa.
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who have tracked over 100 children stolen by Argentina’s 1976-1983 military junta, were among the human rights activists that pushed the US to declassify intelligence documents related to the dictatorship.
Reuters/Marcos Brindicci
Traveling death squads. Sadistic torture techniques. Stolen babies. The US helped it all happen by aiding Argentina’s military regime in the 1970s, according to newly declassified documents.