Realpolitik

Realpolitik. An approach to foreign policy prioritizing national interests and power balances over ethical considerations.

Practiced for example by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, this pragmatic but ruthless strategy often led to devastating consequences for countless lives around the globe.

One of the most egregious examples of this is the secret bombing campaign in Cambodia, which began in 1969 under Kissinger’s direction. This operation, which targeted North Vietnamese supply routes, resulted in the deaths of an estimated 100,000 Cambodian civilians and destabilized the region, ultimately leading to the rise of the Khmer Rouge and their genocidal regime. The suffering and loss caused by these bombings are a stark reminder of the human cost of Kissinger’s policies.