Kissinger: A Modern Machiavelli?
Roughly 500 years ago, Machiavelli wrote ‘The Prince’ as an instruction manual for how a ‘Prince’ may gain and maintain power, in which he outlined influential notions, such as the concept that it is much better to be feared than loved, or that it is better to be miserly than generous. At the time, Machiavelli was writing about the Italian city states and the families which ruled and fought over them. Specifically, he dedicated his book to the first family of finance and modern banking, the Medici clan, whom he served as a close advisor, or consigliere. Machiavelli is perhaps best personified in modern times by the likeness of Henry Kissinger, arch-imperial strategist and technocrat who has spent his career in service to the modern Medicis: the Rockefellers, Rothschilds, Agnellis and Oppenheimers, among others. This episode takes a look at the concept of Kissinger as consigliere to ‘The Prince.’
Listen to the full episode here: