The Terrible Cost of Presidential Racism(Nixon & Kissinger towards India).

ezsasa

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As i keep seeing a lot of comments expecting American military intervention in India related issues, Now would be a good time to read this op-ed.
This is not about Pro or Anti Americanism but rather about keeping ourselves updated with nuances of the past. This matters because most of India experts from U.S come from Kissinger school of thought.

keep in mind, Timing of this oped is also suspicious.
==========
The Terrible Cost of Presidential Racism

As Americans grapple with problems of racism and power, a newly declassified trove of White House tapes provides startling evidence of the bigotry voiced by President Richard M. Nixon and Henry Kissinger, his national security adviser.

The full content of these tapes reveal how U.S. policy toward South Asia under Mr. Nixon was influenced by his hatred of, and sexual repulsion toward, Indians.

These new tapes are about one of the grimmest episodes of the Cold War, which brought ruin to Bangladesh in 1971. At that time, India tilted heavily toward the Soviet Union while a military dictatorship in Pakistan backed the United States. Pakistan flanked India on two sides: West Pakistan and the more populous, and mostly Bengali, East Pakistan.

In March 1971, after Bengali nationalists won a democratic election in Pakistan, the junta began a devastating crackdown on its own Bengali citizens.

Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger staunchly supported the military regime in Pakistan as it killed hundreds of thousands of Bengalis, with 10 million refugees fleeing into neighboring India. New Delhi secretly trained and armed Bengali guerrillas. The crisis culminated in December 1971 when India defeated Pakistan in a short war that resulted in the creation of an independent Bangladesh.

I documented the violent birth of Bangladesh and the disgraceful White House diplomacy around it in my book “The Blood Telegram,” published in 2013. Much of my evidence came from scores of White House tapes, which reveal Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger as they really operated behind closed doors. Yet many tapes still had long bleeps.

In December 2012, I filed a legal request for a mandatory declassification review with the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. After considerable wrangling, the Nixon archivists at last released a few unbleeped tapes in May 2018 and July 2019, then 28 more in batches from October 2019 to this past May. (There are bleeps still remaining on a couple of the reviewed tapes, some of which I am appealing.)
It was stunning to hear a conversation between Mr. Nixon, Mr. Kissinger and H.R. Haldeman, the White House chief of staff, in the Oval Office in June 1971.
“Undoubtedly the most unattractive women in the world are the Indian women,” said Mr. Nixon. “Undoubtedly,” he repeated, with a venomous tone.

He continued, “The most sexless, nothing, these people. I mean, people say, what about the Black Africans? Well, you can see something, the vitality there, I mean they have a little animallike charm, but God, those Indians, ack, pathetic. Uch.”

On Nov. 4, 1971, during a private break from a contentious White House summit with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India — a rare woman leader at the time — the president harangued Mr. Kissinger about his sexual disgust at Indians.

Mr. Nixon said: “To me, they turn me off. How the hell do they turn other people on, Henry? Tell me.” Mr. Kissinger’s response is inaudible, but it did not discourage the president from his theme.

The president, in between bitter sparring matches with Mrs. Gandhi about the danger of war with Pakistan, suggested to Mr. Kissinger that his own sexual neuroses were having an impact on foreign policy: “They turn me off. They are repulsive and it’s just easy to be tough with them.”

A few days later, on Nov. 12, 1971, in the middle of a discussion about India-Pakistan tensions with Mr. Kissinger and Secretary of State William P. Rogers, after Mr. Rogers mentioned reprimanding Mrs. Gandhi, the president blurted, “I don’t know how they reproduce!

Mr. Kissinger has portrayed himself as above the racism of the Nixon White House, but the tapes show him joining in the bigotry, though the tapes cannot determine whether he truly shared the president’s prejudices or was just pandering to him.

On June 3, 1971, Mr. Kissinger was indignant at the Indians, while the country was sheltering millions of traumatized Bengali refugees who had fled the Pakistan army. He blamed the Indians for causing the refugee flow, apparently by their covert sponsorship of the Bengali insurgency. He then condemned Indians as a whole, his voice oozing with contempt, “They are a scavenging people.”

On June 17, 1971 — in the same conversation as Mr. Nixon’s outburst at “sexless” Indian women — the president was furious at Kenneth B. Keating, his ambassador to India, who two days earlier had confronted Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger in the Oval Office, calling Pakistan’s crackdown “almost entirely a matter of genocide.”

Mr. Nixon now asked what “do the Indians have that takes even a Keating, for Christ, a 70-year-old” — here there is cross-talk, but the word seems to be “bachelor” or “bastard.” In reply, Mr. Kissinger sweepingly explained: “They are superb flatterers, Mr. President. They are masters at flattery. They are masters at subtle flattery. That’s how they survived 600 years. They suck up — their great skill is to suck up to people in key positions.”

Mr. Kissinger voiced prejudices about Pakistanis, too. On Aug. 10, 1971, while discussing with Mr. Nixon whether the Pakistani junta would execute the imprisoned leader of the Bengali nationalists, Mr. Kissinger told the president, “I tell you, the Pakistanis are fine people, but they are primitive in their mental structure.” He added, “They just don’t have the subtlety of the Indians.”

These emotional displays of prejudice help to explain a foreign policy debacle. Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger’s policies toward South Asia in 1971 were not just a moral disaster but a strategic fiasco on their own Cold War terms.

While Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger had some reasons to favor Pakistan, an American ally which was secretly helping to bring about their historic opening to China, their biases and emotions contributed to their excessive support for Pakistan’s murderous dictatorship throughout its atrocities.

As Mr. Kissinger’s own staff members had warned him, this one-sided approach handed India the opportunity to rip Pakistan in half, first by sponsoring the Bengali guerrillas and then with the war in December 1971 — resulting in a Cold War victory for the Soviet camp.

For decades, Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger have portrayed themselves as brilliant practitioners of realpolitik, running a foreign policy that dispassionately served the interests of the United States. But these declassified White House tapes confirm a starkly different picture: racism and misogyny at the highest levels, covered up for decades under ludicrous claims of national security. A fair historical assessment of Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger must include the full truth, unbleeped.

 

HawkisRight

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As i keep seeing a lot of comments expecting American military intervention in India related issues, Now would be a good time to read this op-ed.
This is not about Pro or Anti Americanism but rather about keeping ourselves updated with nuances of the past. This matters because most of India experts from U.S come from Kissinger school of thought.

keep in mind, Timing of this oped is also suspicious.
==========
The Terrible Cost of Presidential Racism

As Americans grapple with problems of racism and power, a newly declassified trove of White House tapes provides startling evidence of the bigotry voiced by President Richard M. Nixon and Henry Kissinger, his national security adviser.

The full content of these tapes reveal how U.S. policy toward South Asia under Mr. Nixon was influenced by his hatred of, and sexual repulsion toward, Indians.

These new tapes are about one of the grimmest episodes of the Cold War, which brought ruin to Bangladesh in 1971. At that time, India tilted heavily toward the Soviet Union while a military dictatorship in Pakistan backed the United States. Pakistan flanked India on two sides: West Pakistan and the more populous, and mostly Bengali, East Pakistan.

In March 1971, after Bengali nationalists won a democratic election in Pakistan, the junta began a devastating crackdown on its own Bengali citizens.

Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger staunchly supported the military regime in Pakistan as it killed hundreds of thousands of Bengalis, with 10 million refugees fleeing into neighboring India. New Delhi secretly trained and armed Bengali guerrillas. The crisis culminated in December 1971 when India defeated Pakistan in a short war that resulted in the creation of an independent Bangladesh.

I documented the violent birth of Bangladesh and the disgraceful White House diplomacy around it in my book “The Blood Telegram,” published in 2013. Much of my evidence came from scores of White House tapes, which reveal Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger as they really operated behind closed doors. Yet many tapes still had long bleeps.

In December 2012, I filed a legal request for a mandatory declassification review with the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. After considerable wrangling, the Nixon archivists at last released a few unbleeped tapes in May 2018 and July 2019, then 28 more in batches from October 2019 to this past May. (There are bleeps still remaining on a couple of the reviewed tapes, some of which I am appealing.)
It was stunning to hear a conversation between Mr. Nixon, Mr. Kissinger and H.R. Haldeman, the White House chief of staff, in the Oval Office in June 1971.
“Undoubtedly the most unattractive women in the world are the Indian women,” said Mr. Nixon. “Undoubtedly,” he repeated, with a venomous tone.

He continued, “The most sexless, nothing, these people. I mean, people say, what about the Black Africans? Well, you can see something, the vitality there, I mean they have a little animallike charm, but God, those Indians, ack, pathetic. Uch.”

On Nov. 4, 1971, during a private break from a contentious White House summit with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India — a rare woman leader at the time — the president harangued Mr. Kissinger about his sexual disgust at Indians.

Mr. Nixon said: “To me, they turn me off. How the hell do they turn other people on, Henry? Tell me.” Mr. Kissinger’s response is inaudible, but it did not discourage the president from his theme.

The president, in between bitter sparring matches with Mrs. Gandhi about the danger of war with Pakistan, suggested to Mr. Kissinger that his own sexual neuroses were having an impact on foreign policy: “They turn me off. They are repulsive and it’s just easy to be tough with them.”

A few days later, on Nov. 12, 1971, in the middle of a discussion about India-Pakistan tensions with Mr. Kissinger and Secretary of State William P. Rogers, after Mr. Rogers mentioned reprimanding Mrs. Gandhi, the president blurted, “I don’t know how they reproduce!

Mr. Kissinger has portrayed himself as above the racism of the Nixon White House, but the tapes show him joining in the bigotry, though the tapes cannot determine whether he truly shared the president’s prejudices or was just pandering to him.

On June 3, 1971, Mr. Kissinger was indignant at the Indians, while the country was sheltering millions of traumatized Bengali refugees who had fled the Pakistan army. He blamed the Indians for causing the refugee flow, apparently by their covert sponsorship of the Bengali insurgency. He then condemned Indians as a whole, his voice oozing with contempt, “They are a scavenging people.”

On June 17, 1971 — in the same conversation as Mr. Nixon’s outburst at “sexless” Indian women — the president was furious at Kenneth B. Keating, his ambassador to India, who two days earlier had confronted Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger in the Oval Office, calling Pakistan’s crackdown “almost entirely a matter of genocide.”

Mr. Nixon now asked what “do the Indians have that takes even a Keating, for Christ, a 70-year-old” — here there is cross-talk, but the word seems to be “bachelor” or “bastard.” In reply, Mr. Kissinger sweepingly explained: “They are superb flatterers, Mr. President. They are masters at flattery. They are masters at subtle flattery. That’s how they survived 600 years. They suck up — their great skill is to suck up to people in key positions.”

Mr. Kissinger voiced prejudices about Pakistanis, too. On Aug. 10, 1971, while discussing with Mr. Nixon whether the Pakistani junta would execute the imprisoned leader of the Bengali nationalists, Mr. Kissinger told the president, “I tell you, the Pakistanis are fine people, but they are primitive in their mental structure.” He added, “They just don’t have the subtlety of the Indians.”

These emotional displays of prejudice help to explain a foreign policy debacle. Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger’s policies toward South Asia in 1971 were not just a moral disaster but a strategic fiasco on their own Cold War terms.

While Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger had some reasons to favor Pakistan, an American ally which was secretly helping to bring about their historic opening to China, their biases and emotions contributed to their excessive support for Pakistan’s murderous dictatorship throughout its atrocities.

As Mr. Kissinger’s own staff members had warned him, this one-sided approach handed India the opportunity to rip Pakistan in half, first by sponsoring the Bengali guerrillas and then with the war in December 1971 — resulting in a Cold War victory for the Soviet camp.

For decades, Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger have portrayed themselves as brilliant practitioners of realpolitik, running a foreign policy that dispassionately served the interests of the United States. But these declassified White House tapes confirm a starkly different picture: racism and misogyny at the highest levels, covered up for decades under ludicrous claims of national security. A fair historical assessment of Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger must include the full truth, unbleeped.

Every effing word is true written here...I request everyone to read Blood Telegram book... Kissinger is One hell of a MOFO.. Americans have mellowed down over d years but Racism, bigotry for non whites,non Christians is very institutanalised in American polity..Well Europe was d same 100 years ago.. Americans just carried on
 

ashdoc

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Trump needs to be President or the leftists will unleash mayhem in USA. The recent black lives matter riots are only a sample and real mayhem will occur if Biden is elected. All this is published to make Indian Americans vote for Biden. I am suspicious of anything published by leftists. To Americans they tell that hindus are communal and castiest and all and to hindus they try to make us think whites are racist towards them .
 

ezsasa

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ezsasa

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Trump needs to be President or the leftists will unleash mayhem in USA. The recent black lives matter riots are only a sample and real mayhem will occur if Biden is elected. All this is published to make Indian Americans vote for Biden. I am suspicious of anything published by leftists. To Americans they tell that hindus are communal and castiest and all and to hindus they try to make us think whites are racist towards them .
This is a follow up of a book called "Blood Telegram" written by the same author. earlier it based on written records released, this time it is based on audio tapes (with many bleeps). Few years later, this matter may be revisited if and when unbleeped audio tapes are also released.
 

Chimpoo

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Okay. The 50th anniversary of East Pakistan 1971 , one of the key moments of the Cold War and the most important moment in the subcontinent's post-independence history , is coming up next year. Seems the spin is already coming out from American establishment's house organ of choice.

"If only those very wicked ,very racist bad apples, Nixon and Kissinger ,had not been put into power. America would not have taken the course of ruthless Cold War realpolitik in the subcontinent. As proof what aberrations these two were ,Nixon (uniquely among US presidents) was forced to resign,with the threat of impeachment and Kissinger's name has become am international byword for evil. "
That seems to be the level of geo-strategic thinking in the thread .

It doesn't seem to be mentioned too often ,but the events in East Pakistan in 1971 are awfully similar to what happened five years before in Indonesia, after Nehru's old friend in the Non-aligned movement ,Sukarno, was overthrown ,by the anti-Communist upper echelons of the Indonesian military, lead by General Suharto, with the covert support and backing of the CIA.

What followed in Indonesia was a mass-extermination .by the Indonesian army ,with help of Islamist death squads, of hundreds of thousands of Communists ,women's rights activists with ties to the old Sukarno regime, wealthy and better educated ethnic Chinese and non-orthodox Indonesians Muslims, who still followed old Hindu and Buddhist practices. Sound familiar?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_to_the_New_Order

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_mass_killings_of_1965–66

https://www.theatlantic.com/interna...indonesia-documents-and-the-us-agenda/543534/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...anti-communist-killings-us-declassified-files

All this happened under Lyndon B Johnson's non-racist Democratic administration ,which enacted the Civil Rights Act in 1964 , outlawing, in the US, discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex and national origin. I understand President Johnson gave secret support to the coup and crackdown was given daily intelligence briefings about developments in Indonesia. During this time, Kissinger may have been secretly advising the Democratic government ,for all I know, but as a Republican ,working for Nixon, then in opposition ,he was certainly wasn't in any official capacity.

For the American establishment, the Indonesian coup must be ranked as one of the great Cold War triumphs ,as it destroyed the world's third largest Communist Party and put into charge for 31 years of the world's fifth largest country by population, a regime friendly to America ,lead by Suharto.

American leadership -or rather the CIA and State Department-as a matter of policy furthers US objectives by exploiting tribal or ethnic differences of their nations. For the US this is strictly business - nothing personal. I reckon ,if it didn't effect US strategic objectives, Nixon or Kissinger , would not give much thought ,on the relative racial merits of West Pakistan over East Pakistanis or whether or not having Afghan, Arab, Persian or Turkish ancestry might confer superiority over other other Indians -any more than Lyndon B Johnson , say, might have pondered whether or not Chinese ,were the racial equals of Indonesians.

And I suspect Kissinger purposely takes the heat for controversial US foreign policy failures, during his time. His loyalty to the cause probably ensures that he keeps close to the corridors of power and protection from the establishment.
 
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If you have time to spare, you can read them yourself. This is the redacted version.
I have some excerpts in 1971 war threat. Always felt Nixon was bitter about India being a soviet ally so him and Kissinger came up with policy to open China. The policy that has been a disaster and the downfall of USA and much of the world.
 

Motti

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Excellent post. Also, do bear in mind that US-China military cooperation continued under the radar till the Wuhan outbreak. In fact, the US government actually funded the "gain of function" experiments in Wuhan which caused the outbreak:

 

HawkisRight

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Okay. The 50th anniversary of East Pakistan 1971 , one of the key moments of the Cold War and the most important moment in the subcontinent's post-independence history , is coming up next year. Seems the spin is already coming out from American establishment's house organ of choice.

"If only those very wicked ,very racist bad apples, Nixon and Kissinger ,had not been put into power. America would not have taken the course of ruthless Cold War realpolitik in the subcontinent. As proof what aberrations these two were ,Nixon (uniquely among US presidents) was forced to resign,with the threat of impeachment and Kissinger's name has become am international byword for evil. "
That seems to be the level of geo-strategic thinking in the thread .

It doesn't seem to be mentioned too often ,but the events in East Pakistan in 1971 are awfully similar to what happened five years before in Indonesia, after Nehru's old friend in the Non-aligned movement ,Sukarno, was overthrown ,by the anti-Communist upper echelons of the Indonesian military, lead by General Suharto, with the covert support and backing of the CIA.

What followed in Indonesia was a mass-extermination .by the Indonesian army ,with help of Islamist death squads, of hundreds of thousands of Communists ,women's rights activists with ties to the old Sukarno regime, wealthy and better educated ethnic Chinese and non-orthodox Indonesians Muslims, who still followed old Hindu and Buddhist practices. Sound familiar?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_to_the_New_Order

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_mass_killings_of_1965–66

https://www.theatlantic.com/interna...indonesia-documents-and-the-us-agenda/543534/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...anti-communist-killings-us-declassified-files

All this happened under Lyndon B Johnson's non-racist Democratic administration ,which enacted the Civil Rights Act in 1964 , outlawing, in the US, discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex and national origin. I understand President Johnson gave secret support to the coup and crackdown was given daily intelligence briefings about developments in Indonesia. During this time, Kissinger may have been secretly advising the Democratic government ,for all I know, but as a Republican ,working for Nixon, then in opposition ,he was certainly wasn't in any official capacity.

For the American establishment, the Indonesian coup must be ranked as one of the great Cold War triumphs ,as it destroyed the world's third largest Communist Party and put into charge for 31 years of the world's fifth largest country by population, a regime friendly to America ,lead by Suharto.

American leadership -or rather the CIA and State Department-as a matter of policy furthers US objectives by exploiting tribal or ethnic differences of their nations. For the US this is strictly business - nothing personal. I reckon ,if it didn't effect US strategic objectives, Nixon or Kissinger , would not give much thought ,on the relative racial merits of West Pakistan over East Pakistanis or whether or not having Afghan, Arab, Persian or Turkish ancestry might confer superiority over other other Indians -any more than Lyndon B Johnson , say, might have pondered whether or not Chinese ,were the racial equals of Indonesians.

And I suspect Kissinger purposely takes the heat for controversial US foreign policy failures, during his time. His loyalty to the cause probably ensures that he keeps close to the corridors of power and protection from the establishment.
Well put..There is institutionalised racism in American establishment nd CIA is peak of that..I read a statement regarding cold war wid Chinese vis v vis Soviet union by American foreign office secretary where she mentioned that 'we Americans r fighting Different RACE this time'...For them western hegemony is cornerstone of Policy where western values r Superior to any other class nd CIA is a tool to maintain that hegemony by any means possible...
 

itsAurea

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All of these news are getting scary. I read there's also trouble brewing in Asia.
 

asaffronladoftherisingsun

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I dont know in what section to post this you may remove this post to appropriate section. Below I share a tweet from native amreekunt attorney spewing horseshiet typical against Oldest continuous human civilization on our planet.

Look this "indigenous" coomer brett spokesperson of amreekunt indigenous tradition.


-------------
Certainly this semi literate dopey cumbersome bastard needs education on Bharat’s Itihas before commenting so unwittingly and blindly for that same religious bigotry that justified what eurfags, spainards and portugays gaandmasti did to our Native amreekunts brother and sisters from canada to South amreekunts destroying their nations and way of life whilst this ungrateful whoresons is still actively targeting the indigenous DHARMIC VEDIC culture of BHARAT which includes Hindus, Jains and Buddhists.
 

neutrondrake

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As i keep seeing a lot of comments expecting American military intervention in India related issues, Now would be a good time to read this op-ed.
This is not about Pro or Anti Americanism but rather about keeping ourselves updated with nuances of the past. This matters because most of India experts from U.S come from Kissinger school of thought.

keep in mind, Timing of this oped is also suspicious.
==========
The Terrible Cost of Presidential Racism

As Americans grapple with problems of racism and power, a newly declassified trove of White House tapes provides startling evidence of the bigotry voiced by President Richard M. Nixon and Henry Kissinger, his national security adviser.

The full content of these tapes reveal how U.S. policy toward South Asia under Mr. Nixon was influenced by his hatred of, and sexual repulsion toward, Indians.

These new tapes are about one of the grimmest episodes of the Cold War, which brought ruin to Bangladesh in 1971. At that time, India tilted heavily toward the Soviet Union while a military dictatorship in Pakistan backed the United States. Pakistan flanked India on two sides: West Pakistan and the more populous, and mostly Bengali, East Pakistan.

In March 1971, after Bengali nationalists won a democratic election in Pakistan, the junta began a devastating crackdown on its own Bengali citizens.

Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger staunchly supported the military regime in Pakistan as it killed hundreds of thousands of Bengalis, with 10 million refugees fleeing into neighboring India. New Delhi secretly trained and armed Bengali guerrillas. The crisis culminated in December 1971 when India defeated Pakistan in a short war that resulted in the creation of an independent Bangladesh.

I documented the violent birth of Bangladesh and the disgraceful White House diplomacy around it in my book “The Blood Telegram,” published in 2013. Much of my evidence came from scores of White House tapes, which reveal Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger as they really operated behind closed doors. Yet many tapes still had long bleeps.

In December 2012, I filed a legal request for a mandatory declassification review with the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. After considerable wrangling, the Nixon archivists at last released a few unbleeped tapes in May 2018 and July 2019, then 28 more in batches from October 2019 to this past May. (There are bleeps still remaining on a couple of the reviewed tapes, some of which I am appealing.)
It was stunning to hear a conversation between Mr. Nixon, Mr. Kissinger and H.R. Haldeman, the White House chief of staff, in the Oval Office in June 1971.
“Undoubtedly the most unattractive women in the world are the Indian women,” said Mr. Nixon. “Undoubtedly,” he repeated, with a venomous tone.

He continued, “The most sexless, nothing, these people. I mean, people say, what about the Black Africans? Well, you can see something, the vitality there, I mean they have a little animallike charm, but God, those Indians, ack, pathetic. Uch.”

On Nov. 4, 1971, during a private break from a contentious White House summit with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India — a rare woman leader at the time — the president harangued Mr. Kissinger about his sexual disgust at Indians.

Mr. Nixon said: “To me, they turn me off. How the hell do they turn other people on, Henry? Tell me.” Mr. Kissinger’s response is inaudible, but it did not discourage the president from his theme.

The president, in between bitter sparring matches with Mrs. Gandhi about the danger of war with Pakistan, suggested to Mr. Kissinger that his own sexual neuroses were having an impact on foreign policy: “They turn me off. They are repulsive and it’s just easy to be tough with them.”

A few days later, on Nov. 12, 1971, in the middle of a discussion about India-Pakistan tensions with Mr. Kissinger and Secretary of State William P. Rogers, after Mr. Rogers mentioned reprimanding Mrs. Gandhi, the president blurted, “I don’t know how they reproduce!

Mr. Kissinger has portrayed himself as above the racism of the Nixon White House, but the tapes show him joining in the bigotry, though the tapes cannot determine whether he truly shared the president’s prejudices or was just pandering to him.

On June 3, 1971, Mr. Kissinger was indignant at the Indians, while the country was sheltering millions of traumatized Bengali refugees who had fled the Pakistan army. He blamed the Indians for causing the refugee flow, apparently by their covert sponsorship of the Bengali insurgency. He then condemned Indians as a whole, his voice oozing with contempt, “They are a scavenging people.”

On June 17, 1971 — in the same conversation as Mr. Nixon’s outburst at “sexless” Indian women — the president was furious at Kenneth B. Keating, his ambassador to India, who two days earlier had confronted Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger in the Oval Office, calling Pakistan’s crackdown “almost entirely a matter of genocide.”

Mr. Nixon now asked what “do the Indians have that takes even a Keating, for Christ, a 70-year-old” — here there is cross-talk, but the word seems to be “bachelor” or “bastard.” In reply, Mr. Kissinger sweepingly explained: “They are superb flatterers, Mr. President. They are masters at flattery. They are masters at subtle flattery. That’s how they survived 600 years. They suck up — their great skill is to suck up to people in key positions.”

Mr. Kissinger voiced prejudices about Pakistanis, too. On Aug. 10, 1971, while discussing with Mr. Nixon whether the Pakistani junta would execute the imprisoned leader of the Bengali nationalists, Mr. Kissinger told the president, “I tell you, the Pakistanis are fine people, but they are primitive in their mental structure.” He added, “They just don’t have the subtlety of the Indians.”

These emotional displays of prejudice help to explain a foreign policy debacle. Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger’s policies toward South Asia in 1971 were not just a moral disaster but a strategic fiasco on their own Cold War terms.

While Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger had some reasons to favor Pakistan, an American ally which was secretly helping to bring about their historic opening to China, their biases and emotions contributed to their excessive support for Pakistan’s murderous dictatorship throughout its atrocities.

As Mr. Kissinger’s own staff members had warned him, this one-sided approach handed India the opportunity to rip Pakistan in half, first by sponsoring the Bengali guerrillas and then with the war in December 1971 — resulting in a Cold War victory for the Soviet camp.

For decades, Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger have portrayed themselves as brilliant practitioners of realpolitik, running a foreign policy that dispassionately served the interests of the United States. But these declassified White House tapes confirm a starkly different picture: racism and misogyny at the highest levels, covered up for decades under ludicrous claims of national security. A fair historical assessment of Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger must include the full truth, unbleeped.

Reminder that Nixon pimped out his own wife before marrying her.
 

HeinzGud

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Every effing word is true written here...I request everyone to read Blood Telegram book... Kissinger is One hell of a MOFO.. Americans have mellowed down over d years but Racism, bigotry for non whites,non Christians is very institutanalised in American polity..Well Europe was d same 100 years ago.. Americans just carried on
Americans never considered Indians to be up to the metal. AFAIK one American professor postulated that India would Balkanize with in 15 years of it's existence.
 

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