Kissinger at 100

Henry Kissinger turns 100 later this month [The Rude Awakening] May 09, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( Kissinger at 100 - In two weeks, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger turns 100 years old… - … proving the adage “Only the good die young.” - I won’t make it on my calendar, so let’s get this over with, shall we? [Do you live in one of the states listed?]( If you live in one of these 43 states… [Click here to learn more]( You must [watch this urgent warning]( immeditaly. (You Need To Learn About AOC’s “Green New Scam” In Order To Opt-Out) To learn the single most important move you need to make to protect you and your family this summer... [Click here now]( or the play button above. [Click Here To Learn More]( [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Good morning from a cool, overcast Northern Italy! A CBS Sunday Morning video popped up as I was flipping through YouTube. This is standard, as I happen to like Jane Pauley’s fluffy hosting of journalistic puff pieces for familiar faces. Yes, sometimes I want nothing of importance massaging my brain. But this time, the contrast was jarring. There was Jane’s smiling face, as always, scrunching the scaffolding of her plastic surgery, juxtaposed with a picture of Henry Kissinger! Credit: [CBS]( Yikes! The reason for this aesthetic dichotomy is that old Hank turns 100 in two weeks. As I mull that over, I can hear Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden singing, “Only the good die young/all the evil seem to live forever.” Well, I won’t mark my calendar for his actual birthday in two weeks. Since everyone else jumped the gun, so will I. Below is [a piece I wrote last year for the Rude]( in case you missed it. An Old Man Desperate to Get Into Heaven Henry Kissinger, Warmonger Extraordinaire, wants Ukraine to pay an arm and a leg for peace, so to speak. When I think of Kissinger, I’m reminded of Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor proclaiming himself, “The greatest criminal mind of our time!” Philosopher-Truck Driver John Ring never had a kind word for him. “Goddamn Kissinger…” he’d murmur, sotto voce, whenever he saw the statesman on television. By the time I could remember anything, Kissinger was no longer Nixon’s and Ford’s National Security Advisor and Secretary of State. He’d already lined up a queue of questionable clients for his firm, Kissinger and Associates. Kissinger was - and is - paid handsomely to make the right phone calls. From his time as a Harvard professor, through his DC career, to playing private concierge to the world’s tyrants, Kissinger had burnished his reputation as the most powerful statesman of his era. Along with Machiavelli, Jay, Castlereagh, Talleyrand, and Metternich, perhaps Kissinger is one of the most famous diplomats of all time. I don’t mind Kissinger’s insistence on realpolitik. But his means didn’t justify the ends. I'm sure the man has more blood on his hands than he’d care to remember. Kissinger is a State-Sanctioned Butcher The late, great Christopher Hitchens wrote a book titled, [The Trial of Henry Kissinger](. It’s a scathing review of Kissinger’s career and echoes many criticisms of previous Kissinger biographers like Seymour Hersh. Niall Ferguson, a historian and author I greatly admire, disagrees with Hitchens and Hersh. But as Ferguson’s biography of Kissinger doesn’t cover his DC years, I’ll have to go with Hitch’s interpretation. Let’s get through some of Hitch’s extensive laundry list of Kissinger’s questionable - my word, not his - actions. Vietnam In 1968, Kissinger was working as an expert on Vietnam for the US negotiation team during the Paris peace talks. During the talks, Hitchens alleges Kissinger was feeding Republican Presidential hopeful Richard Nixon inside information on the progress of the deals, even though he was working for President Lyndon Johnson. Kissinger hoped that, if the talks failed, Nixon would stand a strong chance of winning the next election. Although Kissinger was guaranteed a job in the next Democratic administration - Johnson wouldn’t seek re-election - he thought he could get a better position in a Nixon administration. As a result, the war raged on for many more years. Then, as National Security Advisor, Kissinger was involved in Operation Speedy Express and Operation Menu. Operation Speedy Express deliberately targeted civilians, making it a war crime. Operation Menu bombarded targets in Cambodia and Laos, two countries with which the US wasn’t at war. This breached international law and hence, should be considered a war crime as well. Nearly 1 million people died in Cambodia and Laos due to Operation Menu. China I’ve written before in this newsletter about [The Hundred Year Marathon]( by Michael Pillsbury. In it, Pillsbury alleges that Nixon didn’t so much go to China as dupe Kissinger into gifting the Chinese loads of tech in exchange for an alliance with the Soviet Union. From an earlier [Rude]( To get China away from the Soviet Union, Henry Kissinger gifted them a ton of US technology. China would probably still be in mud huts right now if Henry Kissinger didn’t give him a 50-year leap forward, thanks to the tech he passed them on behalf of the American people. Kissinger did this, ostensibly, because he wanted to get China away from the Soviet Union to split the Maoists and the Marxists. Fast forward to 2020. You can see just how well that strategy worked. Hitchens alleges (at the time of his book’s publication) that helping American companies to get a hold of China’s market is one of Kissinger Associates' primary sources of income. Kissinger Associates Kissinger Associates, Inc. is a New York City-based international geopolitical consulting firm founded and run by Henry Kissinger in 1982. The firm advises clients on government relations. If you work for Kissinger, you’re never allowed to divulge clients' names. And if you’re one of Kissinger’s clients, you’re never allowed to acknowledge the relationship. This secrecy forced Kissinger to step down from his position as chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission). Congressional Democrats insisted that Kissinger disclose the names of clients. Kissinger and President Bush claimed that such disclosures were unnecessary, but Kissinger stepped down anyway, citing conflicts of interest. It’s frightening that his conflicts prohibited him from looking into terrorist attacks on his home turf. So successful is the Kissinger Associates model former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to copy it. Though “45 Minutes” Tony is also a warmongering liar, he’s made a ton of money - though probably not as much as the big man himself. [New Biden Bucks Follow-Up Available Now]( Hey, it’s Jim Rickards. Since posting my original Biden Bucks presentation online, millions of people have viewed it. Snopes and the Associated Press have even attempted to “fact check” me and claim my warnings are false: [Click here to learn more]( Point being, my message has raised a storm and caused a lot of controversy. But in the time between my message and now, a lot of new developments have come to light. That’s why I’ve just released an update to my original prediction… one which will likely be even more controversial. [>> Click here now to access my new 2023 Biden Bucks follow-up](. [Click Here To Learn More]( Kissinger Wants to Go to Heaven I could talk about Kissinger’s further misdeeds in Bangladesh, Chile, and East Timor, but I’m running out of road. Or how he is [the brains behind the World Economic Forum](. But it was with a rye smile I discovered Kissinger is doing an Oscar Wilde. Like Wilde and his deathbed conversion to Catholicism, the 98-year-old Kissinger is starting to worry about the next world. For the first time in his 98 years slithering on this planet, Henry A. Kissinger calls for peace! Kissinger Thinks the West Has Gone Too Far In a speech that nearly floored me, [Kissinger said]( Negotiations need to begin in the next two months before it creates upheavals and tensions that will not be easily overcome. Ideally, the dividing line should be a return to the status quo ante. Pursuing the war beyond that point would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia itself. Doubtless, ace neocon Victoria Nuland hit the roof. He [continued]( Parties should be brought to peace talks within the next two months. Ukraine should've been a bridge between Europe and Russia, but now, as the relationships are reshaped, we may enter a space where the dividing line is redrawn and Russia is entirely isolated. We are facing a situation now where Russia could alienate itself completely from Europe and seek a permanent alliance elsewhere. This may lead to Cold War-like diplomatic distances, which will set us back decades. We should strive for long-term peace. Considering this, here are my questions: Thirty years ago, why didn’t we either shut down NATO or integrate Russia into it? Why wasn’t Russia ever considered for EU membership? Why wasn’t the West clear with Ukraine on how far its integration could go? If Kissinger contradicts every Western leader, does this signal a policy change? How can Western leaders backtrack without completely losing face? Wrap Up Realpolitik has reared its head once again. Was Kissinger asked to make this speech to encourage cooler heads to prevail? Did he realize his proteges have completely screwed up? Or was this an old man genuinely trying to do the right thing? It’s not for me to decide who gets through the Pearly Gates. Only St Peter gets to do that. But if old Henry ever approaches the Great Bouncer in the Sky, I’m not sure an old-fashioned backhander will do. If I were him, I’d back up the Brinks truck. Have a great day ahead! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening P.S. [Kissinger reversed this call in January this year.]( But if you listen to the CBS Sunday Morning interview with Ted Koppel, Kissinger states he thinks peace negotiations will start near the end of this year. Kissinger also looks wonderfully uncomfortable when Koppel presses him on the Cambodia bombings. In Case You Missed It… San Francisco Has Fallen… And It Can’t Get Up! [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Good Morning Reader, Greetings from a hot, sunny Piedmont! I hope you had a wonderful, restful weekend. Today’s weather reminds me of July 2008, when my boss in London called me into his office. “Sean, Tom has a family outing and can’t make the trip to San Francisco. Would you like to go?” “Of course, I’d like to go!” Though I grew up in Joisey, I had never been to California. By 2008, I had lived in London for almost nine years and had seen much more of the Old World than the New. I was excited… And since the flight from London to San Francisco is over 10 hours, I’d get a Business Class flight! Ah, the perks of being a financial trainer. I recall years earlier talking about San Francisco with Philosopher-Truck Driver John Ring. “If you go out there, you’ll never come back.” He loved San Francisco but, for some reason, always drove back to Joisey. By 2008, I was too attached to the Old World to move to California. And since Cali (plus Federal) taxes were already higher than Europe’s or Asia’s, I felt zero need to. Smartly, I rented a car to drive around the Bay Area in my spare time. I remember crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and thinking, “Achievement Unlocked!” I drove around the Bay and stopped in Palo Alto to see Stanford. I thought, “Nope, not where I’d want to study.” Weird, as it’s *The* School for Tech. I study better in the cold, I guess. In short, it was a wonderful city in a gorgeous region. Not as pretty as Italy, but a stunner in her own class. And with Jack London and Dashiell Hammett ringing in my ears, the place also felt authentic. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Perhaps this won’t be a permanent end. But it’s undoubtedly a hiatus, at the least. People and businesses are leaving San Francisco in droves, and it’s pretty easy to see why. The General Decline in City Usefulness On May 12, 2021 - almost two years to the day - I wrote a Rude piece titled “[Living in Cities is No Longer Worth It]( In it, I listed five reasons cities were losing their luster: - City Mayors Don’t Know What They're Doing - There's No Network Effect If You Can’t Go Outside - City Taxes are Insane - Cities Aren’t Safe - Broadband Internet Changed The Game As I reread this, points 1, 3, and 4 are deeply linked. City mayors have been awful stewards of the places they’ve been entrusted with. And to charge residents and workers the taxes they do, without providing the safety needed to operate within the confines of their cities, really does mean taxation is theft. There’s no good service that’s provided for the tax take. And when the tax take is monstrous, people look elsewhere. I remember London summers when I’d cheerfully stand outside a pub with my friends, drinking pints until the sun went down. Can you do that in NYC, Chicago, or San Francisco anymore? Maybe, in a few designated places. But not generally. And finally, since broadband has become the norm, there’s no need to commute into town. On our editorial call last Wednesday, I realized Dan was in Tennessee, Zach was in Georgia, Byron was in Pennsylvania, Matt and Brian were in Maryland, and I was here in Italy. We have a Slack channel to communicate in between meetings. There’s no reason to force everyone into the same metropolitan area to work. Paradigm Press colleague James Altucher more famously started the argument in 2020. [“Biden Blackouts” coming this winter?]( [Click here to learn more]( A former advisor to the CIA and Pentagon just made this dark prediction: Calamity Joe’s sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline [His Evidence Here]( was suicide. In the next 75 days, Americans will face fuel shortages… …widespread blackouts… …empty grocery shelves… …up to $1000 energy bills… …drained retirement accounts, and… …a massive crime wave. This former CIA advisor says most Americans will suffer this winter. But a few will WIN big from the turmoil. [Here’s how to be one of them](. [Click Here To Learn More]( A Quick Reminder - Altucher Versus Seinfeld James Altucher penned a piece called “[New York City is Dead Forever]( on his LinkedIn profile, republished in The New York Post on August 17, 2020. For all the reasons I've stated here and more, Altucher said this time is different. Jerry Seinfeld published [this piece in]( New York Times]( where he resorted to sarcasm, ad hominems, and straw men to humiliate Altucher. Altucher’s retort was positively sublime: [SJN] But it turned out that Altucher was indeed correct. Now It’s The TWaTs in London I followed up that 2021 piece with “[Cities Continue to Lose Their Luster]( in March 2023. London is in big trouble now. Office workers only want to come in on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, leading to the inevitable and impeccable nickname: The TWaTs. Has London depopulated yet? No, but it’s a possibility. The thing is, we’ve not experienced a city depopulating - except for Detroit. And that’s viewed as a one-off because the US car industry produces such woeful stuff. But we must remember many cities throughout history have suffered horrific population declines due to bad governance, war, or environmental catastrophe. To a Western audience, the most famous one would be Rome. At its peak during the Roman Empire, Rome's population was over 1 million. However, following its fall, the population shrank dramatically due to various factors, including invasions, economic decline, and crumbling infrastructure. By the 6th century, Rome's population is estimated to have been between 30,000 to 90,000. That’s over 90% of the people for the high end of the estimate. Here are four other notable examples. - Chichen Itza (Mexico): Once the center of the Mayan civilization, Chichen Itza was home to around 50,000 inhabitants at its peak in the 9th and 10th centuries. However, by the time the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, the city had been largely abandoned, possibly due to resource depletion or internal conflicts. - Angkor (Cambodia): The capital of the Khmer Empire was the largest pre-industrial city in the world, with a population of 1 million. But the city was abandoned in the 15th century, possibly due to environmental factors or invasions from neighboring kingdoms. Today, the Angkor Wat temple complex remains a popular tourist destination. (I’ve been there; it’s fantastic!) - Ctesiphon (Iraq): Once the capital of the Parthian and Sassanian Empires, Ctesiphon was a significant city in ancient Mesopotamia. Its population dramatically declined after the Arab-Muslim conquest in 637 AD. The city was eventually abandoned, and the nearby city of Baghdad rose to prominence. - Aleppo (Syria): While Aleppo has not been abandoned like some previous examples, its population has declined significantly due to the ongoing Syrian Civil War. Before the conflict began in 2011, the city's population was around 2.1 million. By 2017, it had dropped to an estimated 1.2 million, with many people fleeing the city due to violence and destruction. Could San Francisco be next? San Francisco, California, in Particular. Mike Shedlock of MishTalk posted a piece picked up on ZeroHedge called “[Downtown San Francisco Becomes a Ghost Town as Major Retailers Flee]( It’s plain scary and, I think, an eerie prediction of what all of San Francisco may look like. When you’ve got higher taxes, no policing, and a mayor who doesn’t care, why work there? Look at this map: [SJN] Credit: [The San Francisco Chronicle]( That’s pretty much most of Market Street. What are SF’s specific reasons for its exodus? - Cha-ching!: Rent prices are astronomical, and people are fed up choosing between avocado toast and paying rent. It's like trying to afford a golden bridge of your own. - Tech exodus: The tech giants have realized that employees can work from home without the office ping-pong tables. Many are going remote, leaving SF a little less techie. - Traffic jams: The city's traffic can make you feel like you're trying to navigate a Mario Kart racecourse. Commuting is a patience-testing nightmare. - The great outdoorsman: The pandemic has made people crave more open spaces, fresh air, and breathing room. You know, the kind that's not filled with fog. - Taxes: California's high taxes have people running for the state border like they're trying to escape Alcatraz. - Quality of life: With rising homelessness, dirty streets, and safety concerns, some residents have decided that a city with a Golden Gate might not be worth its weight in gold. Dirty streets? How about “shit strewn and needle covered?” [Charlie Bilello tweeted]( that San Francisco’s commercial properties were 30% empty. It’s crazy. Wrap Up I can’t see this trend ending in any of the US’s Democrat-run third-world shitholes. NYC, Chicago, and LA are next. This is why commercial real estate is under tremendous pressure that won’t abate anytime soon. And the commercial real estate downturn puts added pressure on regional bank stocks that have enough trouble with the “will they/won’t they bail me out” question. But the positive news is that smaller, cleaner, less inflated cities and towns will welcome these people with open arms. And that’s an excellent thing. Have a lovely week ahead! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. 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