State Department Defends Secretary Blinken for Celebrating Kissinger Centennial

A State Department spokesman defended Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s appearance at the 100th birthday party of perhaps his most notorious predecessor, Henry Kissinger, awkwardly brushing aside accusations of major war crimes of the 20th century.

Kissinger was feted Monday night at the New York Public Library, which rolled out a red carpet for the private event. The guest list was not made public.

Blinken did not reply to the question of a Vox reporter outside the venue: “What is there to celebrate about Henry Kissinger?”

During a press conference Tuesday, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel was reminded of Kissinger’s efforts to bomb cambodia, to help overthrow of the democratically elected government of Chile and allow a genocide in Bangladeshamong other accusations.

“What does Henry Kissinger’s secretary Blinken like?” asked Washington Post reporter John Hudson.

Patel said he would not comment on a “closed press private event.”

“That being said,” he continued in what became a long-winded response, “the secretary has a relationship with a number of his predecessors and has been in contact with them throughout the course of his tenure as secretary, and there are, of course. Of course, important insight can be gained through those conversations with predecessors.”

Going further, Patel said Kissinger was “someone the secretary has had the opportunity to engage with in various instances during the secretary’s tenure.”

“The Secretary has a good and cordial relationship with several of his predecessors and has had the opportunity to interact with them at various events over the past two years since Secretary Blinken took over as Secretary.”

He noted that “of course” there were “differences” in political views between the administration of President Joe Biden and the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, whom Kissinger served from 1973 to 1977. Still, Kissinger “obviously has a extensive history and experience”. race when it comes to national security and foreign policy,” Patel said.

Blinken has a history with Kissinger, have interviewed him for his senior thesis while studying at Harvard in the 1980s.

But Biden seems to keep him at arm’s length. kissinger told the New York Post last year that Biden has been the only president not to have invited him to the White House since his tenure as secretary of state.