The Top Five Takeaways From Kissinger’s Interview About The Emerging World Order

Casual observers of International Relations might not have the interest or time to read Henry Kissinger’s lengthy interview in full, which is why the present piece will draw attention to the top five takeaways.

Global affairs guru Henry Kissinger gave a very detailed interview to The Economist that was just published this week. As could have been expected, he opined on his vision of the emerging world order, with the bulk of his insight consisting of Chinese-US relations and ways to reshape their perceptions of one another. Casual observers of International Relations might not have the interest or time to read his interview in full, however, which is why the present piece will draw attention to the top five takeaways:

----------

1. The Combination Of AI & MAD Pose An Existential Threat

Kissinger is convinced that artificial intelligence (AI) and mutually assured destruction (MAD) combine to pose an unprecedented threat to humanity, but he nevertheless believes that wider awareness thereof could also serve to inspire the resumption of Chinese-US talks aimed at jointly managing this.

2. The US Should Revive Talks On A New Détente With China

Building upon the above, Kissinger suggests that these two tone down their rhetoric on sensitive issues and quietly begin resuming talks that would pick up where their New Détente left off after February’s balloon incident unexpected derailed them, which he believes is feasible and mutually beneficial.

3. The US Should Continue Trying To Divide Russia & China

The godfather of “triangulation” thinks that it’s possible to divide Russia and China once again so long as the US does the following: resume talks on a New Détente with China; dangle the carrot of Russia returning to Europe; and keep stoking suspicions of an escalating rivalry between them over Central Asia.

4. India Is Indispensable To The Global Balance Of Interests

Kissinger described India’s top diplomat as “the practising political leader that is quite close to my views”, praised his country’s multi-alignment as a model worth emulating, and suggested pragmatically engaging India instead of pressuring it due to Delhi’s indispensable role in balancing global affairs.

5. America Needs An Inspirational Vision For The 21^st Century

On the home front, Kissinger expressed disappointment with America’s lack of vision for the 21^st century and explained how the narrative of “democracies vs. dictatorships” limits its diplomatic flexibility, which is why he called on it to craft and compellingly articulate a much more inspirational one.

----------

These top five takeaways encapsulate the most significant insight that Kissinger shared about the emerging world order, with everything else within his interview like lobbying for Ukraine’s NATO membership being supplementary to these points. One can agree or disagree with him, but there’s no denying his influence in the US’ permanent policymaking bureaucracies, which suggests that at least some of his proposals will be taken seriously by those who matter the most.