He was the US secretary of state in the 1970s who finally died today after far too long living free. The 3 page rolling stone article is about as quickly as somebody could summarize his more notable war crimes. Admittedly the article is pretty biased, but also fuck hearing the other side of the story about a man responsible for so much death and pain.

Tldr: he extended the Vietnam war for about 5 years because it benefited him personally, he convinced Nixon to bomb Cambodia and laos which were not involved in any combat with us, he was involved in the coups that overthrew the democraticly elected governments of Peru and Argentina, he encouraged the use of nuclear bombs in battle on numerous occasions, and that's just for starts. The rolling stone article claims he is indirecty responsible for about 4 million deaths. They don't list the directly responsible number, but its likely in the one million range.

[–] bort@feddit.de 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Also the entire "terrorists in the middle east" thing is on him.

[–] kboy101222@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Ehhh that's kind of a stretch. Blaming all the shit in the middle east on one person or country really ignores the century+ of bullshit western powers enacted on that region

[–] bort@feddit.de 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

There’s much more to this ugly story, all available at your local library. It can’t be said to be the worst thing that Kissinger ever did — but as you remember the extraordinary bill of indictment for him, make sure to leave a little room for it.

https://theintercept.com/2023/11/30/henry-kissinger-israel-egypt-soviet-union/

Kissinger was deemed a controversial figure in the Arab world for his role in shaping US foreign policy, particularly towards the Middle East. For many, his actions fuelled instability, favoured strategic interests over moral principles and left a legacy of geopolitical manoeuvring at the expense of justice and human rights.

https://www.newarab.com/news/why-was-henry-kissinger-hated-arab-world

You are right, that it is not on him alone. But he still played a significant role

[–] kboy101222@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

Oh yeah, he's a massive chunk of the reason that almost everything is as fucked today as it is, I just think trying to pick a singular villain to blame any thing this big on ignores the systemic issues spanning decades that enables this

[–] x4740N@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

He committed war crimes and there are still people who look up to him

I don't know how in the fuck people can look up to a war criminal

Society is fucked

I've already had to unfollow this account on Instagram

Screenshot_20231201-172422_Instagram

[–] pudcollar@lemmy.ml 7 points 11 months ago

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/henry-kissinger-war-criminal-dead-1234804748/