WASHINGTON. May 27 Henry Kissinger let’s celebrate them His 100th birthday, which left an indelible imprint on the political events of the 20th century. During his four years as Foreign Minister, he helped end the controversial US war in Vietnamtake China out of the Soviet sphere of influence and redraw the borders of many modern states, according to an article in the American conservative magazine National Interest.

During the Vietnam War, Kissinger first applied the principles of diplomatic realism he had formulated. Realizing that the war would remain stagnant as long as the USSR and China remained on the side of Hanoi, Kissinger led the peace talks in Paris. Although South Vietnam collapsed in 1975, the US military managed to get out of the country two years earlier without much trouble and with dignity intact.

We owe the policy of recession in relations with the USSR to Kissinger. For the first time, Washington and Moscow have agreed to substantially slow down the pace of the arms race. As a result, it was possible to reduce the escalation of many regional conflicts and avoid nuclear war. Lives were saved in Southeast Asia, South Africa and the Pacific Islands, all places where communist insurgents fought successive colonial regimes. In an effort to strengthen the US position in Asia, the Nixon administration engaged diplomatically with China, with which Washington severed all contact after 1949 and Mao came to power. To seal the new relationship, Nixon made a historic trip to Beijing in 1972.

Henry Kissinger, US refugee, Nobel Peace Prize winner and international relations wizard.

On October 6, 1973, Israeli officials contacted Kissinger to inform him that they were defending themselves against an invasion. Egyptian troops attacked the Sinai, and the Syrian army invaded northern Israel. Kissinger’s so-called “air diplomacy” was very effective and served some important American purposes: it broke the vicious circle of invasions, broke the embargo on Arab oil-producing states, and laid the foundation for the historic Camp David peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, which both parties signed under the auspices of then President Carter.

These successes made Kissinger a diplomat of historic significance. The scope of these diplomatic initiatives and their success are unprecedented in American history. The current political climate, however, is not conducive to the emergence of leaders of the caliber of Kissinger. His book on leadership emphasizes the value of consensus on important issues. Kissinger said that leaders are created by carefully studying history.

All democracies suffer from the same disease: the intellectual poverty of political leaders who care more about opinion polls and social media than about the course of society.