Henry Kissinger is dead.
An editorial in The Economist for November 30th (paywall) asked: "What does Henry Kissinger's diplomacy have to teach the world?" They regretted that Kissinger was "surprisingly misunderstood" since, beside his "realpolitik, ... his practice of diplomacy was shot through with idealism." He was committed, they said, to a peaceful world without repeats of the great wars of the twentieth century that shattered Europe. A central element of his goal was "to live and let live." However, he believed that "...what ultimately keeps the peace is the threat of war and the willingness to carry it through." While today's world is different from the Cold War era of "us good, them bad," they said, we still "...sorely need (Kissinger's) grasp of the subtle interplay between interests, values and the use of force."
Former treasurer and prime minister of Australia, Paul Keating wrote a brief commentary, on how he had known Kissinger for half a century. Throughout, Kissinger "...extoll(ed) the virtues of balance and restraint in foreign policy." Kissinger, Keating said, spent his life "...searching for the peace and equilibrium to which he was so dedicated." This included his efforts "...to negotiate a ceasefire and terminate the Vietnam War while engaging in Arab/Israeli peacemaking initiatives following the Yom Kippur War..."
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The term "psychopath" originally came from German psychiatrists in about 1850 but it was very broad and meant more or less anybody who wasn't quite right in the head: essentially, pathology of the psyche. Only gradually was it restricted to what was also known as "moral insanity," meaning a person who is morally bad but not crazy, to distinguish it from "psychosis," meaning mad in the common sense. During World War I, the German Army sorted recruits into three groups: verständig (normal), Welchling (weakling) and Zerstörer (wreckers or destroyers). You may think an army would like wreckers but they were a nuisance, more help to the Allies than to the Germans, because they were always causing trouble, fighting and arguing, refusing to follow orders, stealing, drinking, pushing the other troops around and so on.
As the concept of personality became more refined during the early part of last century, so the term psychopath came to mean a severe personality disorder. The central features were: failure to adhere to social norms, including serial dishonesty and aggression; intensely self-centred; remorseless and insensitive to the needs or rights of other people; unable to form stable, equitable adult relationships; impulsive and unreliable; scheming and manipulative, etc.
Like all personality factors, these features vary a lot from one person to the next but it's important to remember there is no cut-off point between normal and abnormal. Just as there's a range of height, or of intelligence, or fitness and so on, there is a range of personality. You can't say that a feature of personality disorder is found only in people with diagnosed personality disorders because each of us shows all the features, ideally in minor form. For example, we hear a lot about the obsessive personality but that's only the extreme. We're all obsessive to some extent or other, we have to be, but there comes a point where the obsessions are crippling. Similarly, most of us will experience a point in life where we have to be what others may feel is "heartless" but that doesn't mean we're psychopaths. It has to be extreme for that label, two standard deviations from the norm but, above all, it has to be a persistent part of that person's character.
Psychiatrists recognised three groups of psychopaths. First was what we normally think of when we hear the word, the aggressive psychopath, meaning demanding and aggressively controlling; explosively violent; dishonest; intolerant of any form of opposition or frustration; abusing drugs and alcohol; heartless and cruel, often for fun; remorseless; impulsive and doesn't learn from experience; etc. This is the man (the stereotype is male) who is in and out of prison, often for the same type of offence and usually with drugs or alcohol; violent and sexually aggressive to partners, or anybody; suspicious, jealous, vengeful and so on.
Next was what was called the inadequate psychopath, meaning constantly getting in trouble for the same stupid things such as petty thieving and cheating; dishonest, underhand and manipulative; unstable relationships; dependent and demanding of people, especially partners; dependent on drugs and alcohol to function normally; irresponsible and unreliable, especially with their children; outbursts of temper followed by pathetic weeping and apologies, then does the same thing again; jealous but also unfaithful; unable to hold jobs or pass courses due to unreliability, etc. but also failing to keep up to date with unemployment benefits and the like, then blames someone else.
These two groups were the obvious face of psychopathy: well-known to police, they often run in families; they were trouble at school and they're trouble as adults; and they're bringing up their kids to be the same. They are mostly unsuccessful criminals as they can't stick to a plan or keep their mouths shut or their fists to themselves. For women, the only advice was: If you see one of these men coming, run like hell. In that respect, these two groups are very unlike the last group, what was known as the "creative psychopath," because the central point of them is this: You never see them coming. The true creative psychopath is far too clever, far too alert, far too subtle to do anything dumb like get picked up by the cops.
These people (again, mostly men but there's no shortage of female psychopaths, of which more another day), these men were suave, well-presented, well-organised, well-connected, tough in their line of business (read: ruthless), intelligent, high-achieving, single-minded and, above all, charming and seductive. Never forget that. They usually worked and played very hard and they always got what they wanted. Normally, they had stellar careers, coming from nowhere to get to the top and everybody was in awe of them. They appeared on the covers of magazines, they were invited to sit on all the important committees, they donated to the right political parties, rubbed shoulders with the rich and powerful, entertained politicians on their estates or their yachts, flew them around on their private jets, and quietly built up favours with governments that they cashed out later, at huge profit. Every now and then one of them crashed, like Bernard Madoff, or Robert Maxwell, or Ken Lay, or Elizabeth Holmes, and then everybody said how unexpected it was and how genuine they seemed when they hosted the children's hospital Christmas parties and so on. The creative psychopath doesn't get caught picking your pocket. Nooo, he gets you to hand over your wallet and makes you think he's doing you a favour. Check (Jewish) Bernie Madoff, who calmly fleeced Holocaust survivors. They loved him.
The word 'psychopath' was never popular in the US, so when they issued their third diagnostic manual, DSMIII, in 1980, they dumped the label in favour of "sociopathic personality disorder." The sociopath was defined to include aggressive, law-breaking, dishonest, unreliable, drug- and alcohol-abusing people, and there was a reason they made this change. If they had applied the concept of the creative psychopath objectively, then a large part of the American political, financial, industrial, military, religious, academic, sporting, entertainment and any other elite you care to mention qualified for the label.
So back to the idealistic, balanced, restrained and peace-loving Heinz Kissinger (as he was born). Also the fabulously rich, infinitely-connected, infinitely-cunning, utterly ruthless and dishonest mover and shaker that he quickly became. Kissinger was the single most powerful architect of US foreign policy since Nixon took over in 1968. He was intimately involved in every war, coup, plot, assassination, betrayal and low-down treachery for well over half a century. There was never a war he didn't adore or the death of a foreign leader that didn't bring him to tears of laughter. Look at some of his better-known quotes relating to ...
... the US military that everybody worships: "Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy."
... Soviet Jews: “The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy. And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.” (link) (Kissinger was himself Jewish).
... the secret bombing of Cambodia: “[Nixon] wants a massive bombing campaign in Cambodia. He doesn't want to hear anything about it. It's an order, to be done. Anything that flies or anything that moves.” (link)
... the Christmas bombing of Hanoi: "It's wave after wave of planes. You see, they can't see the B-52 and they dropped a million pounds of bombs ... I bet you we will have had more planes over there in one day than (former US President) Johnson had in a month ... each plane can carry about 10 times the load a World War II plane could carry." (link)
... the Khmer Rouge: “How many people did (Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary) kill? Tens of thousands? You should tell the Cambodians (i.e., Khmer Rouge) that we will be friends with them. They are murderous thugs, but we won’t let that stand in the way. We are prepared to improve relations with them. Tell them the latter part, but don’t tell them what I said before.” (Nov. 26, 1975 meeting with Thai foreign minister)
... Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame: “Because that son-of-a-bitch—First of all, I would expect—I know him well—I am sure he has some more information---I would bet that he has more information that he’s saving for the trial. Examples of American war crimes that triggered him into it … It’s the way he’d operate….Because he is a despicable bastard.” (Oval Office tape, July 27, 1971)
... Robert McNamara (Secretary of Defence during the worst days of Vietnam war, who wrote a book regretting his decisions): “Boohoo, boohoo … He’s still beating his breast, right? Still feeling guilty. ” (Pretending to cry, rubbing his eyes.)
... assassinating foreign leaders: “It is an act of insanity and national humiliation to have a law prohibiting the President from ordering assassination.” (Statement at a National Security Council meeting, 1975)
... Chile, while organising the fascist Pinochet coup in 1973: “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.” (link)
... illegality and unconstitutionality: “The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.” (from March 10, 1975 meeting with Turkish foreign minister Melih Esenbel in Ankara, Turkey) (Most of these quotes come from Wikiquotes).
In his "bible" of neoliberalism, The Road to Serfdom, Friedrich Hayek, one of the main architects of neoliberal economics (the doctrine of "To hell with everybody else, gimme more"), castigated Hitler as a fool:
We should never forget that the anti-semitism of Hitler has driven from his country, or turned into his enemies, many people who in every respect are confirmed totalitarians of the German type (i.e. fascists) (Routledge, 1944/2001, p189-90).
The psychiatrist and convicted war criminal, Ernst Rüdin (1874-1952) was the principal behind the T4 Program, which murdered about 300,000 mentally impaired people in Germany and the occupied territories. In 1942, speaking about euthanasia, Rüdin emphasised "the value of eliminating young children of clearly inferior quality." He played a major part in designing and implementing the program of injecting then gassing the disabled, which was later modified and became the model for the slaughter of millions of Jews and other untermenschen, or "racially inferior people." The American investigative journalist Victor H. Bernstein said: "I am sure that Professor Rüdin never so much as killed a fly in his 74 years. I am also sure he is one of the most evil men in Germany."
The Kissinger family fled Germany in 1938 although it isn't clear how they gained entrance to the US, they would have needed good connections to do so. Once there, Henry had a meteoric rise but he seems to have charmed his way into everything rather than forcing the door. He was intimately involved in planning every war and murderous attack the US has mounted since 1968. It is beyond doubt that he was directly and personally responsible for the deaths of millions. There is also not the slightest doubt that if young Heini had been allowed to stay in Germany and join the SS, he would have done so and would quickly have reached the top. From there, he would have been in his element in the planned extermination of the Slavic people while Germany carved out its Lebensraum to build its Neues Reich. This is because Henry Kissinger met all the criteria for a creative psychopath. That he was able to fool Paul Keating, one of the smartest and toughest prime ministers this country has ever produced, is no surprise. That's what psychopaths do, they seduce people. It says only that Kissinger wasn't your average creative psychopath.
We now know that Kissinger was intimately involved in planning and approving the palace coup that forced Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam from office in November, 1975. One thing we can be sure of: If the young Paul Keating had got in the way of the CIA/MI6 machinations, then without a moment's hesitation Kissinger would have had him bumped off. However, I have no doubt that Kissinger was personally not violent. It seems unlikely he ever threw a punch in his life and certainly never killed anybody. Indeed, he was probably like SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler who, when he was shown how the SS shot prisoners in the back of the head, rushed outside and vomited. I also have no doubt that Henry Kissinger was one of the most evil people to have prowled the corridors of power since the death of Stalin. He was the ultimate narcisso-fascist, utterly obsessed with power. A full account of his crimes would fill volumes. What we are seeing in Ukraine and Gaza today are the direct result of policies and attitudes he put in place. We will live with his destructive legacy for generations to come.
The tragedy for the rest of us is that the Kissingers and their ilk actually run the world. They get to the top because they are utterly determined, utterly ruthless and totally unburdened by morals. In the race to the top, they will always beat well-meaning people who follow rules. Once at the top, they quickly join the secretive networks of creative psychopaths who wield the power around the world, carefully making sure that no decent person, such as Mohammad Mosaddegh, Patrice Lumumba, Salvador Allende or Jamal Kashoggi, ever gets a grip on the controls.
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Aah the rude awakening as life shakes one’s idealism to the core. The term Machiavellian comes to mind. Seems once again, the more we change the more we stay the same.Still carrying on with the same medieval nonsense in new wrapping. Thanks for a genuine Kissinger recap.
I apologise if this is too much off topic, but I’ve always been intrigued as to how you therapeutically practiced with psychopaths as I believe most therapists would not have a clue (besides drugs/lock them up) or be too scared. I think you describe how psychopaths are made in Anxiety (horrendous abuse/circumstances growing up etc) and mention a conversation with one, but I’ve always thought born psychopaths (if you believe in such a thing) present some problems for some of the ideas from your model.
For example, and this is a kind of biological reductionism to be sure, the consensus among most of my (admittedly psychology) lecturers (and I think also Hervey Cleckley) was that, whether we know why or not, some people are born without the capacity to feel empathy, or not care when they do which I think is the modern take on why psychopaths (the aggressive ones at least by the article definitions) act why they do.
Obviously, there is no empathy test for a new-born child and psychology lecturers are well, psychology lecturers, but I’ve also read numerous tales of parents who gave their child the best upbringing and they still turned out to be a psychopath.
So whilst I agree psychopaths can be made but if someone is born without the capacity to feel empathy (or a reduced ability), which must, be in some part at least, due to their grey matter then no matter how much therapy/drugs they have, they will never be able to feel empathy if the capacity is not there in the first place and thus a change in personality is impossible (if they just can’t feel empathy, how can they ever be empathetic?).