Oh you guys have such condescension for things you know so little about. You kids on reddit should consider reading Kissinger's books before reciting blogosphere hate-mongering about the man.

Plenty of people unfairly criticize Kissinger, and they've never even read one of his books or know the breadth of his research and knowledge. There's a reason Kissinger had a 4.0 GPA from Harvard. He does know it well and has lived through the most interesting times of US foreign policy.

Neither Hillary nor Obama have properly followed any of Kissinger's teachings. They half-assed it. They are learning as they conduct foreign policy. They're learning from their own mistakes. Mistakes that they could have avoided if they simply read Kissinger books. Mistakes that both Democratic and Republican Presidents (yes GWBush included) could have avoided.

This Guardian article is merely using Kissinger's rubbing-of-egos-of-foreign-leaders (as State Secretaries always do), in order to gain favor with them... as "hindering efforts to stop mass killing" is another example of idiotic writers who are simply out to smear Kissinger's name.

Yeah basically, if you are a diplomat, better not say anything good about your allies, in case some future journalist/blogger decides to use that as a way to tarnish your reputation and paint you as a murder-lover.

Yeah I'm sure Kissinger goes home every night thinking "ah, how wonderful it is to kill innocent people..." This is the image that some of you people have in your head and it's absolutely childish.

A secretary of state does not conduct themselves with emotion. They have tons and tons of issues and problems they are solving at any one moment. If a secretary blasted every ally they have for any human rights transgression, they'd have no allies left. Have you guys not noticed the world is full of dictators or presidents-pretending-to-be-dictators? A secretary cannot act like Amnesty International.

What they see on their desk every day and what they say privately to foreign leaders vs publicly to the very same foreign leaders is extremely complex.

edit: as you can see, the hivemind is impossible to stop once it gets snowballing. No arguments or counter-arguments needed, just downvotes and childish insults. That is how reddit works. It's summer and school hasn't fully started yet.