The pair were famously close, in an operational sense, and both were keenly appreciative of the benefits of secrecy. Unsurprisingly, he hails his efforts in foreign policy, which were all but indistinguishable from Kissinger’s own. You sense that Kissinger, who has never undersold himself, admires De Gaulle’s gallĪs such, his portrait of Nixon is predictably sympathetic, while not hiding some of the man’s notable character flaws. And so there is an added layer of self-interest. Kissinger met or had dealings with all six of his subjects, most obviously Richard Nixon, for whom he was both national security adviser and secretary of state. Of course, how strategies actually play out in the real world, and to what degree the best-laid plans are post-rationalised, is a question that lends itself to creative interpretation or historical revision. At the heart of his political outlook is the notion of strategy, and that in turn is informed by a concept of national interest and power relations that hasn’t changed much since the mid-17th century and the Westphalian settlement.
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