Old War thinking
What should Ukraine give up next?
BEFORE HE was internationally famous, and advising presidents of the United States, and making the society news columns, young Henry Kissinger was a sergeant in the U.S. Army. Being a native German speaker, naturally he’d make his way to Germany in the first stages of the Allied victory in the 1940s, so he could help with intelligence operations there.
He and his unit were instructed to keep matters close to their vests. One book by historian/writer extraordinaire Niall Ferguson tells the story of how Sgt. Kissinger’s unit in Germany was told to explain themselves to others—Allied, enemy or in-between. They didn’t wear rank insignia so they could be challenged by others in uniform. As in, who are you, bub?
They were told, if asked about it, to say: My rank is classified. But at the moment I am not out-ranked.
Henry Kissinger learned early not to give away his hand.
The old Cold War warrior and diplomat was back in the news this past week, only days before he turns 99 years old. He spoke about the need for Russia and Ukraine to negotiate an end to Putin’s War. And for the Ukrainians to give up land for peace. (Where have we heard that before?)
Dr. Kissinger was speaking to the Davos Forum, by video link: “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.”
Commentators think he meant to suggest that Ukraine give up much of the Donbas region and the whole of Crimea, which Vlad the Impaler took by force a few years back. And that the Ukrainian government trade that property for a Russian pullback everywhere else. (For the record, if Dr. Kissinger did not mean that, he and his people haven’t made that clear yet. And the comment caused a firestorm in the international press.) As you can imagine, the Ukrainians have their own ideas. In his message, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said:
“No matter what the Russian state does, there is someone who says: ‘Let’s take into account its interests.’ This year in Davos, it was heard again. Despite thousands of Russian missiles hitting Ukraine. Despite tens of thousands of Ukrainians being killed. Despite Bucha and Mariupol, etc. Despite the destroyed cities. And despite the ‘filtration camps’ built by the Russian state, in which they kill, torture, rape and humiliate like on a conveyor belt.
“Russia has done all this in Europe. But still, in Davos, for example, Mr. Kissinger emerges from the deep past and says that a piece of Ukraine should be given to Russia.”
Some think that Dr. Kissinger should know best about the limits of the effectiveness of appeasement. His family came to the United States to escape Hitler’s Germany. But realpolitik was never based on moral considerations. And Dr. Kissinger was the best at gaming that system.
But the Ukrainians could be forgiven for thinking: If they follow Henry Kissinger’s advice, what will Russia take from them next year?
Appeasement teaches lessons. Mostly to the aggressors.