Henry Kissinger Turns 100, Elder Statesman Remains Polarizing Figure

The author has met Henry Kissinger multiple times and shares personal anecdotes about their interactions.
Mehdi Hasan criticized Henry Kissinger on his upcoming 100th birthday, accusing Kissinger of supporting brutal dictators, regimes, wars, and war crimes.
Henry Kissinger's popularity is linked to modern America's oscillation between messianic projects and demands for retrenchment, and his gloomy rhetoric and clear-cut recommendations offer a simple way out of strategic or moral conundrums.
Many on the left have made jokes and memes about Kissinger's eventual death, while some progressives find it off-putting.
Kissinger's controversial take on strategic leadership involves "traversing a tightrope" that is "suspended between the relative certainties of the past and the ambiguities of the future.".