As covered below, Joseph S. Blatter beat an army of hungry and ethical aspiring FIFA heads in today's election. By that, of course I mean he beat himself to capture his 4th term as the head of football's governing body.
Amidst much speculation and finger-pointing concerning allegations of unethical and corrupt practices, Blatter announced today that he has asked former Secretary of State and controversial proponent of Realpolitik Henry Kissinger to be on a "committee of wise persons."
You can read more about the appointment of Mr Kissinger here [ESPN] - but my interest is not in taking an objective approach like our friends at the World Wide Leader.
Before I delve into my opinion of Henry Kissinger, I'd like to preface the entire discussion by pointing out that Kissinger is German-born, an avid supporter of the beautiful game and in 1978, was appointed the Chairman of the North American Soccer League [NASL] Board of Directors and had a part in the U.S. bid for the 2022 World Cup. Motivations are clear - he has his experiences with soccer and is fit for a bi-annual conference call with a hefty stipend; while a corrupt body like FIFA is surely seeking to improve it's tattered image by hiring a renowned political mind and mediator like Kissinger.
What does irk me about the whole situation is the bizarre impression people have of Kissinger. His opinion seems to be of the utmost importance to people far more intelligent and powerful than Blatter and he is paid exorbitant amounts of money to speak at colleges and before groups. The problem I have with all of this is that he has had his hand in genocides, ethnic cleansings, government over turnings and coups that have been wisely veiled and celebrated by many American policy makers and Presidents. Sure, it is not as easy to find direct evidence of all of his human rights violations and practices of sacrificing innocents for the greater good of the implementation of democratic governments, and we owe much of that to aforementioned politicians who chose to seek acclaim than responsibility, but he is a controversial figure nonetheless.
Much of my opinion of Kissinger stems from two experiences.
Firstly, during a 4th year International Diplomacy class, we were asked to compose a lengthy thesis-like argument for or against a significant diplomat or politician by comparing the chosen subject to others. I compared Henry Kissinger with Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet and Serb tyrant Slobodan Milosevic. The more I researched the more I began to realize that the only thing that separated these three individuals was their relation to the U.S. Government.
The three men all had their rotund hands in the same cookie jar, yet Kissinger is regarded in a far more positive light than the others in the annals of time because he was protected by the American heads of state that employed and consulted Kissinger.
Winning the Nobel Peace Prize in hindsight may have been better awarded elsewhere.
The second reason I have a strong opinion of Henry Kissinger is because I was heavily influenced by the prose of no-nonsense writer Christopher Hitchens in his scathing tour-de-force The Trial Of Henry Kissinger. In his text, Hitchens is able to eloquently describe the prevalent double-standard that I am currently struggling to emulate; Kissinger is an evil man who is praised because his radical decisions brought about change. For the most part, this change was influential and reared the U.S. and other nations in a direction of political and diplomatic responsibility and sobriety. However, there are the other instances where Kissinger's consultations proved costly for other parties involved. In Hitchens' book, he plays the role of the prosecution with Kissinger on trial for his human rights violations in Indochina, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Chile and East Timor.
Kissinger was the Secretary of State between the years 1973 - 77 under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
In lieu of time constraints, rather than list his positive contributions with thorough explanations, I'll attempt to truncate this entire mess by pointing-out that detente policies strengthened Soviet- U.S. relations and led to increased channels of discussion with Mao's China. Strategic relations and meetings concerning disarmament proved fruitful and there's really no way of knowing long-term just how beneficial such relations were. Before this, the path to China was an uncertain one, and without a doubt, Kissinger's involvement did pave the way for discussions between the U.S. and its Cold War opponents.
Beyond this, Kissinger's influence on the state of world politics cannot be denied; unfortunately, many of his consultations have led to human rights violations and the deaths of countless innocent people.
During the Vietnam war, Kissinger worked under Richard Nixon and assisted the president in fulfilling the primary postulate of his platform by pulling American troops out of Vietnam and entrusting power and in increased enabling in the hands of the South Vietnamese Army. In order to do this, Kissinger advised Nixon to debilitate the opposing forces of the North Vietnamese army (Vietnam People's Army of PAVN) and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, a Communist guerrilla organization. To do so, Kissinger ordered a secret bombing campaign in Cambodia to disrupt PAVN and Viet Cong forces striking South Vietnam from its southern border shared with Cambodia. The attacks killed an estimated 40,000 Cambodian combatants and innocent civilians and despite fracturing the Communist encirclement of Phnom Penh, which gave rise to an increased participation from Cambodia militant Khmer Rouge. As Hitchens argues, the long-term effects of the decision are still visible today with regards to the state of Cambodia and militant factions in southeast Asia.
In 1970, Chile elected Socialist Party nominee Salvador Allende president, causing serious concern in Washington concerning his socialist platform. Beyond the threat a Socialist government caused to the West, the U.S. had a stake in Chile with American owned and regulated copper mines and the feared nationalization of such resources. A 40-chair committee led by Kissinger elected to surreptitiously promote a coup in Chile to oppose Allende's tenure. Soon enough, the Chilean Supreme Court accused Allende of numerous infractions including the support of armed groups, torture, illegal arrests, muzzling the press, confiscating private property and not allowing nationals to leave the state. The accusations were deemed unconstitutional and were dropped for lack of evidence, but despite this, the seeds of overthrow had been planted, and during a military coup in 1973, Allende committed suicide. With Allende out of the picture, the man who led the group, General Augusto Pinochet took control of the country. What was initially a planned intervention to suppress the potential threats of socialism, turned into a 20+ year reign of terror at the hands of Pinochet and his oligarchic rule. Thousands of human rights violations in Chile have been reported, not the least of which were unconstitutional executions without proper evidence and a slew of other violations that crippled the Chilean state. Even with all the documentation that depicts Pinochet's support from Kissinger and his committee and the numerous human rights violations, Pinochet died without even a slap on the wrist and Kissinger lives to influence FIFA and drive people like myself absolutely ape shit.
As Hitchens suggests, there were countless other incidents in Bangladesh, Cyprus and East Timor that have forever tarnished Henry Kissinger's legacy; I unfortunately do not have the time to account for all of these, nor am I seeing one red cent for this extended diatribe.
The point I hope to have adequately conveyed is that while many place Kissinger on a pedestal reserved for the masters of diplomacy and influence of modern history, the man is as guilty of as many human rights violations and inexcusable sacrifices as many of the world leaders we have crucified for their acts - and now the prick is working for the most corrupt non-governmental organization this side of the Russian Mob.
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