BEING a high priest of realpolitik, Henry Kissinger, the 99-year-old former US Secretary of State, is undoubtedly among the most pragmatic statesmen in recent times who have the grit to accept their miscalculations without any whimper and also adopt their stances as per the changing ground realities. The recent limpid alteration in his chronic stance on important global topics — the Ukraine war, Russia, Putin and China — which are interweaved together in one string because of the compelling circumstances, is a lucid example of this realpolitik — a sophisticated amalgam of pragmatism and ideology in the domain of international affairs.

In June, when Putin was going full throttle to consolidate the Russian positions in the southern and eastern parts of Ukraine, Kissinger propagated a three-pronged narrative.