Henry Kissinger Gets It... US
‘Exceptionalism’ Is Over
Editorial
November 28/29, 2019 "Information
Clearing House"
- Former US Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger made prudent remarks
recently when he said the United States is
no longer a uni-power and that it must
recognize the reality of China as an equal
rival.
The
furor over a new law passed by the US this
week regarding Hong Kong and undermining
Beijing’s authority underlines Kissinger’s
warning.
If
the US cannot find some modus vivendi with
China, then the outcome could be a
catastrophic conflict worst than any
previous world war, he admonished.
Speaking
publicly in New York on November 14, the
veteran diplomat urged the US and China to
resolve their ongoing economic tensions
cooperatively and mutually, adding: “It is
no longer possible to think that one side
can dominate the other.”
A
key remark made by Kissinger was the
following: “So those countries that used to
be exceptional and used to be unique, have
to get used to the fact that they have a
rival.”
In
other words, he is negating the erroneous
consensus held in Washington which asserts
that the US is somehow “exceptional”, a
“uni-power” and the “indispensable nation”.
This consensus has grown since the early
1990s after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, when the US viewed itself as the sole
super-power. That morphed into a more
virulent ideology of “full-spectrum
dominance”. Thence, the past three decades
of unrelenting US criminal wars and
regime-change operations across the planet,
throwing the whole world into chaos.
Kissinger’s frank assessment is a breath of
fresh air amid the stale and impossibly
arrogant self-regard held by too many
American politicians who view their nation
as an unparalleled power which brooks no
other.
The
seasoned statesman, who is 96-years-old and
retains an admirable acumen for
international politics, ended his remarks on
an optimistic note by saying: “I am
confident the leaders on both sides [US and
China] will realize the future of the world
depends on the two sides working out
solutions and managing the inevitable
difficulties.”
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Aptly,
Kissinger’s caution about danger of conflict
was reiterated separately by veteran
journalist John Pilger, who
warned in
an exclusive interview for Strategic Culture
Foundation this week that, presumed
“American exceptionalism is driving the
world to war.”
Henry Kissinger is indeed a controversial
figure. Many US scholars regard him as one
of the most outstanding Secretaries of State
during the post-Second World War period. He
served in the Nixon and Ford administrations
during the 1970s and went on to write tomes
about geopolitics and international
relations. Against that, his reputation was
badly tarnished by the US war in Vietnam and
the horrendous civilian death toll from
relentless aerial bombing across Indochina,
believed to have been countenanced by
Kissinger.
Kissinger has also been accused of
supporting the military coup in Chile in
1973 against elected President Allende, and
for backing the dirty war by Argentina’s
fascist generals during the 1970s against
workers and leftists.
To
his credit, however, Kissinger was and is a
practitioner of “realpolitik” which views
international relations through a pragmatic
lens. Another realpolitik US state planner
was the late Zbigniew Brzezinski, who died
in 2017 at the age of 89. Both advocated a
policy of detente with the Soviet Union and
China.
President Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking
visit to China in 1972 is credited to the
advice given by Kissinger who was then
National Security Advisor to the White
House.
That same year, the US and the Soviet Union
signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM)
treaty, also under the guidance of Kissinger
on the American side. The US would later
withdrew from the treaty in 2002, a move
which has presaged a long deterioration in
bilateral relations between the US and
Russia to the present day.
For
all their faults, at least people like
Kissinger and Brzezinski were motivated by
practical goal-orientated policy. They were
willing to engage with adversaries to find
some modus vivendi. Such an attitude is too
often missing in recent Washington
administrations which seem to be guided by
an ideology of unipolar dominance by the US
over the rest of the world. The current
Washington consensus is one of
hyper-ideological unrealism and hubris,
which leads to a zero-sum mentality of
antagonism towards China and Russia.
At times,
President Donald Trump appears to subscribe
to realpolitik pragmatism. At other times,
he swings to the hyper-ideological mentality
as expressed by his Vice President Mike
Pence, as well as Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mike Esper.
The latter has
labeled
China as the US’s “greatest long-term
threat”.
This week
President Trump signed into law “The Human
Rights and Democracy Bill”, which will
impose sanctions on China over alleged
repression in its Hong Kong territory.
Beijing has reacted furiously to the
legislation,
condemning
it as a violation of its sovereignty.
This is exactly the kind of baleful move
that Kissinger warned against in order to
avoid a further poisoning in bilateral
relations already tense from the past 16
months of US-China trade war.
One
discerns the difference between Kissinger
and more recent US politicians: the former
has copious historical knowledge and
appreciation of other cultures. His shrewd,
wily, maybe even Machiavellian streak,
informs Kissinger to acknowledge and respect
other powers in a complex world. That is
contrasted with the puritanical banality and
ignorance manifest in Trump’s administration
and in the Congress.
Greeting Kissinger last Friday, November 22,
during a visit to Beijing, President Xi
Jinping thanked him for his historic
contribution in normalizing US-China
relations during 1970s.
“At present,
Sino-US relations are at a critical juncture
facing some difficulties and challenges,”
said Xi,
calling on the two countries to deepen
communication on strategic issues. It was an
echo of the realpolitik views Kissinger had
enunciated the week before.
While sharing a public stage with Kissinger,
the Chinese leader added: “The two sides
should proceed from the fundamental
interests of the two peoples and the people
of the world, respect each other, seek
common ground while reserving differences,
pursue win-win results in cooperation, and
promote bilateral ties to develop in the
right direction.”
Likewise, China and Russia have continually
urged for a multipolar world order for
cooperation and partnership in development.
But the present and recent US governments
refuse to contemplate any other order other
than a presumed unipolar dominance. Hence
the ongoing US trade strife with China and
Washington’s relentless demonization of
Russia.
This “exceptional” ideological mantra of the
US is leading to more tensions, and
ultimately is a path to the abyss.
Henry Kissinger gets it. It’s a pity
America’s present crop of politicians and
thinkers are so impoverished in their
intellect.
