On the eve of his 100th birthday, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger sat down with CBS News’ Ted Koppel to talk about his life and to weigh in on current foreign affairs, CBS News reported.
Despite being retired from diplomacy, Kissinger told Koppel that if he wanted to speak with China’s President Xi Jinping or Russian President Vladimir Putin would still take his call.
When Koppel asked if Kissinger would agree to travel to Moscow to meet with Putin if the president asked him to, Kissinger said he would be inclined to agree, but only as an advisor.
The former Secretary of State also discussed the ongoing war in Ukraine, suggesting that the war may be reaching a turning point now that China has gotten involved in the negotiations. Kissinger predicted that the war “will come to a head” by the end of the year. He said by then, the focus will be on the “negotiating processes” or even “actual negotiations.”
When Koppel turned the discussion to the 2024 race and the possibility that the nominees will be 82-year-old Joe Biden and 78-year-old Donald Trump, Kissinger noted that being president requires a certain physical capacity.
He said while there are some “advantages in maturity,” there are also “dangers in exhaustion and a limited capacity to work.”
Koppel also asked Kissinger what he would do if he believed that US foreign policy was being “manipulated” for political reasons. The former secretary of state said he would publicly resign, explaining that for foreign policy to reflect the American people’s values, it must be free of partisan policy.
Kissinger also discussed his concern about the use of artificial intelligence in foreign policy and the military. He said the rate of speed with which AI acts could be “problematical in crisis situations.”
