Henry Kissenger: A predicament personality --- On the right, he was seen as a brilliant statesman, a master diplomat, but on the Left, hostility burns over his record on Chile, he and Nixon turned a blind eye to the slaughter of thousands by Pakistan

On hearing that Kissinger had been awarded the Nobel Prize, the comedian Tom Lehrer famously declared that "political satire is obsolete".

A formidable academic before he worked for the government, Kissinger reached greater heights of political influence than any previous immigrant to the US. His nasal German accent never left him, an eternal reminder to his adopted countrymen that he was a European by origin. 

To Kissinger himself, the fact that a man born outside the US, and a Jew to boot, could become its secretary of state was a never-ending source of pride, says 'The Guardian'. 

On the left, hostility burns over his record on Chile, where the CIA instigated the overthrow of Salvatore Allende; on Pakistan, where he and Nixon turned a blind eye to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands...ultimately leading to India's intervention and creation of Bangladesh.

On the right, he is seen as a brilliant statesman, a master diplomat, an exponent of power politics deployed to the benefit of America, the country to which his family fled on leaving Germany in 1938.

BBC says, Henry Kissinger was a "Divisive diplomat who shaped world affairs" 

A committed practitioner of "realism" in foreign relations, he was both awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and roundly condemned as a war criminal. As US National Security Adviser and Secretary of State, he energetically pursued the policy of détente - which thawed relations with the Soviet Union and China.

His shuttle diplomacy helped end the 1973 Arab-Israeli conflict; and the negotiation of the Paris Peace Accords pulled America out of its long nightmare in Vietnam.

But what his supporters described as "Realpolitik" his critics condemned as immoral.   

Ironically, a day after Bangladesh was liberated, Kissinger had told Nixon that he had managed to "save West Pakistan," according to documents declassified later.

Despite US attempts to "scare off" Indians, to the extent of chalking out a plan with China and deploying an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean, India routed Pakistan in the 1971 war and Bangladesh was born. To counter the US move, India had asked Soviet Russia to activate a provision of the Indo-Soviet Security Agreement, according to which an attack on India would be considered an attack on Russia. 

Accordingly, Russia had sent one of its fleets to the Bay of Bengal.

Responding to the US citing its pacts with Pakistan, Indira Gandhi had then said the treaties were intended to "contain Communism... not to fight democracy, or to suppress justice or the voice of the oppressed".

Tributes for Kissinger poured in from prominent US officials after the news of his death. George W Bush said the US “lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs”, while Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, said Kissinger was “endlessly generous with the wisdom gained over the course of an extraordinary life”. Some on social media celebrated his death, referencing the victims of his bombing campaigns. (The Guardian)  

Kissinger's power grew during the turmoil of Watergate, when the politically attuned diplomat assumed a role akin to co-president to the weakened Nixon. 

He turned up in President Donald Trump's White House on multiple occasions. But Nixon-era documents and tapes, as they trickled out over the years, brought revelations — many in Kissinger's own words — that sometimes cast him in a harsh light.

Never without his detractors, Kissinger after he left government was dogged by critics who argued that he should be called to account for his policies on Southeast Asia and support of repressive regimes in Latin America. - The AP reports

Kissinger's efforts led directly to Nixon's historic trip to China in 1972, when he met both Zhou and Mao Zedong - and ended 23 years of diplomatic isolation and hostility.

But Nixon and Kissinger set out to reduce the tension with the Soviet Union, reviving talks to scale down the size of their respective nuclear arsenals.

Simultaneously, a dialogue was opened with the Chinese government, through Premier Zhou Enlai. This improved Sino-US relations, and put diplomatic pressure on the Soviet leadership, who feared their huge neighbour.