Is Henry Kissinger Behind President Trump’s Policy in Syria and Much of the World?

“Power is the great aphrodisiac.”

-Henry Kissinger,
Former National Security Advisor
and Secretary of State

Privately, Henry Kissinger described President Richard M. Nixon as a “basket case” with a “meatball mind.” Some say he thinks the same about President Donald Trump. In fact, and after meeting with the former billionaire businessman turned Commander-in-Chief, they claim that he and his Cold War Warriors are behind the president’s troubling policies in Syria and the Middle East, including manipulating the Trump Administration into pursuing wider geopolitical interests in many other hot spots around the globe.

Given that the “so-called” Nobel Peace Prize recipient once told President Nixon that it would have been no concern of the U.S. if the Soviet Union had decided to send its Jews to the gas chambers, not to mention that he’s still wanted for war crimes in Chile, they also warn that Americans had better brace themselves for a foreign policy that constantly sees the ubiquitous of political evil and has know moral dimension. What‘s more, the Kissinger-Trump Doctrine plans to “compromise” at best with foreign dictators.

Reviving Brinkmanship-Better Known as Russian Roulette
To prove their point, not since the Cuban Missile Crisis has the U.S. been on the verge of an all-out war with Russia. The U.S. downing of a Russia-Syrian alliance Su-22 jet, followed by the bombing of a Russian-Syria airfield, seems to not only contradict a candidate who assured Americans he would end the Cold/Post-Cold War animosity against Russia, but opposes promises he made in working closely with President Vladimir Putin to defeat ISIS in Syria. It also appears to be the handiwork of Mr. Kissinger.

What’s more, the former statesman is reviving his policy on brinkmanship, which is more like Russian Roulette. To be sure, since Syria is in Russia’s “backyard and has been a long-time ally, Russia just issued an ultimatum that it will shoot down any U.S. fighter jet that crosses the Euphrates River. It also canceled a high level meeting between the two nations. Coupled with Syria’s many Islamic factions and fighters pouring in from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, it’s anyone’s guess as to who gets the lethal round.

True Believers of Manichaeism and Always Getting Their Way
Meanwhile, Henry Kissinger and his think tank are also true believers of Manichaeism, including cold-blooded pessimists. Along with envisioning the U.S. in a struggle between good and evil, with the U.S. always on the side of good empire, the world must remain fundamentally divided into two spheres-which also helps explains the president’s U-turn on Russia. And like the former statesmen, President Trump only prizes global stability if the U.S. has its way, or by compromising with evil regimes such as Saudi Arabia.

Indeed, the president has already reneged on his many promises to 9-11 survivors about investigating the Saudi Regime and their role in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Much like Henry Kissinger, who was appointed to lead an “independent” probe right after the attacks but then had to suddenly resign over conflicts of interest and donors with foreign clients, the president had a sudden change of heart too. In fact, he just sold them billions of dollars worth of weapons and sealed a 2030 Exxon-Saudi Vision deal.

Military Incentives Instead of Pushing for Human Rights
Evidently, it also makes more sense to offer regimes like Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States military incentives than to push for human rights reforms. And like Mr. Kissinger, who oversaw the Indonesian Genocide where 2-3 million communists were killed, or his Chilean role in toppling a democratically elected leader and then backing a military dictator who killed thousands, President Trump lacks political compassion too. The bombing of Yemen hospitals and schools, or starving into submission, attests to this.

When everything is reduced to the question of whether it serves the interests of the U.S.- especially the executive, as Henry Kissinger thought, nothing can be held sacred. Indeed, he violated the U.S. Constitution, believing “The illegal we do immediately. The Unconstitutional takes a little longer.” Fast forward to President Trump and no wonder he demanded a loyalty oath from James Comey. Don’t be surprised either if he ordered the FBI to monitor activists or tap government officials, as Mr. Kissinger did.

All Roads Lead to the Deep State and Henry Kissinger
Moreover, President Nixon was elected to restore “law and order” just like President Trump. In other words, the Trump Administration’s border security with Mexico has Henry Kissinger written all over it. His Chaos Squad, part of the Intelligence Evaluation Committee to track army deserters-now immigrants, and his Ad Hoc Committee on Narcotics with its unlimited and brutal “stop and search” tactics, so badly damaged relations with Mexico that he had to call it off to prevent more damaging consequences.

But then Henry Kissinger has been a permanent fixture in Washington and the Deep State for decades. Not only did he extend the Vietnam Conflict under Presidents Nixon and Gerald Ford, but advised President Ronald Reagan that “War, not peace, is the norm in Latin America.” He also advised him during the Iran-Contra Scandal and deaths of 60,000 Nicaraguans. He will definitely ensure that President Trump is a real practitioner of saying one thing but doing something else in Syria and in much of the world.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John‘s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace.