Conrad Black Rips His Traitorous Pals Buckley And Kissinger
Conrad Black, the funnest of the Canadian-born British press lords, is gearing up for his appeal on his conviction for fraud by taking down William F. Buckley Jr. and Henry Kissinger, two pals who stabbed him in the back. (The backstabbing only comes into play, of course, if you believe as Black does: That he is completely innocent. You, or a jury, certainly may not feel the same!) Buckley had written a letter to the judge to help reduce sentencing—but then pretty much retracted (or at least undermined it) over at the National Review. Kissinger, though, went around town proclaiming that Black was guilty "of something," and today Black writes the best takedown of him ever.
Knowing Mr. Kissinger as well as I do, I suspected that he would behave as Richard Nixon told me he generally did when a colleague came under pressure: privately declare solidarity with both sides and separate himself, so that neither side would confuse him with the other side, until it became clear which side had won. He promised more, and I hoped for more, but Mr. Kissinger is an 84-year old fugitive from Nazi pogroms, and has made his way famously in the world by endlessly recalibrating the balance of power and correlation of forces in all situations.
That should basically go on Kissinger's tombstone.
