Henry Kissinger has abandoned realism

and no, it's not RealPolitik

Henry Kissinger threw in his belief that Ukraine should cede land for peace¹ in its 8 year old war with Russia. It’s almost as if the former Secretary of State for Presidents Nixon and Ford does not remember how badly that went for the nations that negotiated with Hitler rationalizing the same concept.

Land for peace only works if it what is being ceded was never legitimately possessed. Otherwise, it’s a recipe for militarism and geo-political aggression.

Ukraine has asserted its individual political identity as far back as the 9th Century CE. Despite nearly 600 years of Poles, Turks, Lithuanians, and Russians asserting their political power over ethnic Ukranians, the people of Ukraine have never completely assented to foreign rule over them or their country. None of the foregoing gets changed through ahistorical musings posing as diplomacy or RealPolitik.

The real question, though, is who is paying Henry Kissinger, age 98, and his firm, Kissinger Associates, to suggest such nonsense. Kissinger Associates and its affiliated companies are extremely secretive about their services and their clientele², so it’s anyone’s guess why Henry Kissinger decided to chime in suddenly on the Russo-Ukraine War.

But since Kissinger lobbied President Donald Trump to end sanctions against Russia over Crimea³ in 2017, it’s not a big leap to believe that Kissinger is likely in the pocket of someone in Putin’s oligarchy.

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/24/henry-kissinger-ukraine-russia-territory-davos/

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissinger_Associates

3. https://neweasterneurope.eu/2017/02/07/kissinger-s-edict-on-crimea/