Henry Kissinger dies celebrated, but why? His achievements have long since crumbled | Simon Tisdall

He may have overseen the 20th century, but the champion of US power was also a symbol of its dangerous neo-imperialism

All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure." So said Enoch Powell - yet to this famous aphorism, Henry Kissinger, cold war strategist, US secretary of state, counsellor to 12 American presidents and alleged war criminal - who has died aged 100 - is a notable exception.

The man who invented shuttle diplomacy, promoted the concept of hard-eyed realpolitik and pursued fleeting mirages of detente between hostile superpowers paradoxically lived a life of multiple professional failures that ended happily, marked by generally high international regard.

Simon Tisdall is a foreign affairs commentator. He has been a foreign leader writer, foreign editor and US editor for the Guardian

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