At the age of 99, Dr Henry Kissinger finds himself in a paradoxical position. On the one hand, he is widely revered, especially in the West. On the other hand, he is ignored, especially by his own country. If he had not been ignored, we would not have had the current crises on Ukraine and Taiwan.

On Ukraine, Dr Kissinger proposed a win-win compromise formula in a 2014 Washington Post article in which both the West and Russia would have had to sacrifice something. Russia would have had to accept Ukraine as an independent country, free to join the European Union if it wished to do so. The West would have had to declare that Ukraine would never join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato). Hence, Russia would not be threatened by Nato forces and arms close to its heartland.