Poll question: Why hasn't Henry Kissinger died yet?

His father, Louis Kissinger (1887–1982), was a schoolteacher. His mother, Paula (Stern) Kissinger (1901–1998), was a homemaker.

. . .

This was what it took to promote Henry Kissinger. To promote him from a mediocre and opportunistic academic to an international potentate. The signature qualities were there from the inaugural moment: the sycophancy and the duplicity; the power worship and the absence of scruple; the empty trading of old non-friends for new non-friends. And the distinctive effects were also present: the uncounted and expendable corpses; the official and unofficial lying about the cost; the heavy and pompous pseudo-indignation when unwelcome questions were asked. Kissinger's global career started as it meant to go on. It debauched the American republic and American democracy, and it levied a hideous toll of casualties on weaker and more vulnerable societies.

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More at http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Kissinger/CaseAgainst1_Hitchens.html

Unfortunately, none of the dignitaries from Chile, Cambodia or East Timor could make the gala celebration.

Henry Kissinger’s 90th birthday party on Monday night at New York’s most glamorous dining room in Manhattan’s St. Regis Hotel drew an astonishing lineup of luminaries, including former secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice, former French president Valéry Giscard D’Estaing, former chief of staff James Baker, former secretary of state Colin Powell, Gen. David Petraeus, and former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Many of them, such as a visiting French dignitary fresh off a plane from Paris at the age of 103, proved that 90 is the new 30. Former president Bill Clinton, former secretary of state George Shultz, and current Secretary of State John Kerry all came to the podium to toast what Kerry called America’s “indispensable statesman,” as did as Kissinger’s two children, David and Elizabeth.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/04/john-mccain-s-surprising-toast-at-kissinger-s-90th-birthday-party.html


“Kerry,” mouthed the photographer, as a line of security guards formed a pathway under the smaller entryway. Teresa Heinz Kerry, in a white blazer, got out of a black sedan, and her husband, Secretary of State John Kerry, came around from the other side. The two walked in together with a gaggle of security and miscellaneous entourage. Just a little earlier, Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, who once vied for the secretary-of-State gig in her own right, had arrived. Nancy Kissinger had sent the word out through her girlfriends over the weekend, “If you have jewelry, this is the night to get it out of the bank.” And they did. The Alfalfa Club dinner crowd in tiaras was the order of the night.


Hillary Clinton (third from right) arrives with Oscar de la Renta (third from left) at the St. Regis hotel in New York City on June 3. (Nina Strochlic)



Inside, guests reported, a mariachi band played, and Kissinger was regaled with a slew of speeches. Kerry called him an “indispensable statesman,” and David and Elizabeth Kissinger separately paid tribute to their dad in front of an audience that included Gen. David Petraeus, former secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Fox News president Roger Ailes, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

...
So, who regaled Kissinger with the best speech? “Bill Clinton, as always,” former ambassador William vanden Heuveland said. The former president was the grand finale, apparently assuring the crowd, “I’m the last speaker, so you can all kind of relax.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/04/staking-out-kissinger-s-90th-birthday-party.html

More pictures here:

http://www.wwd.com/eye/parties/henry-kissinger-at-90-6967452