ISIS in Iraq was largely taken care of by Soleimanie's Shia troops in Iraq.

The Iraqi army trained and armed by the US has been trying to get rid of ISIS in Iraq.

But the Iraqi army has been dysfunctional and not been willing to fight.

Soleimanie's Shia troops have been very effective. 
 

Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine are deeply linked to Iran and 

The U.S. categorize them as a terrorist. They are the number 1 enemy against Israel. 
Soleiman is deeply involved in them.

 

Both ISIS and Israel will praise the U.S. for killing him. It probably matches with 

Republican hard liner's cowboy like behavior.

 

Eighty percent of Iraqis are Shia and 20% are Sunni. Deserted Sadam Hussein's soldiers

became ISIS. Iran is a Shia nation. Some of Shia in Iraq are associated with Iran. 

https://news.joins.com/article/23675541?cloc=joongang-home-opinioncolumn

[글로벌 아이] “핵 대국이라 다행”이라는 중국 [출처: 중앙일보] 

 

그는 “중국이 핵 대국이라 다행이다. 그렇지 않았다면 한번 상상이나 해보라”며 미·중 사이에 이데올로기,

신장, 티베트, 대만, 홍콩, 남중국해 등 수많은 문제가 도사리고 있음을 상기시킨다.

그러면서 “미국이 지금은 중국을 욕하며 기껏해야 무역 전쟁을 일으켰지만, 중국에 대한 (무력 사용)

충동을 자제시킬 수 있었다”고 썼다. 핵이 없었다면 중국도 이란 신세를 피할 수 없었을 것이란 자조가 담겼다. 
 

김정은은 자신이 솔에이마니의 신세가 되지 않으리라고 믿고 있을 것이다. 그가 핵을 버릴 생각이 없는

가장 중요한 이유이며 증거이다.

냉전시대가 끝나고 고립주의와 국수주의가 주류를 이루어가는 세상에 핵무장은 자국의 의지대로 나라를

다스릴 수 있는 확실한 무기이다. 

https://news.joins.com/article/23676797?cloc=joongang-home-toptype1basic

이란, 미군기지 보복 공격···미국의 아픈 2곳만 골라 때렸다. [출처: 중앙일보] 

He is crazy! Simply he is a psycho!

How in the world such psycho became the President!

Death to all Republicans who voted for him!

BB Lee

Dr. Ohn, I just heard through MSNBC News that Ayatolla/Revolutionary guard threatened to order

Lebanese Hezbollah to attack Haifa/Israel if the U.S. should retaliate! It reminds me once again

that all these Middle East turmoils boil down to one issue that is ‘Zionism and Palestinians’,

as you also touched lightly as the culprit.

Correct! No matter what Jewish peoples try to rationalize for their decision to have kicked out

the indigent people/Palestinians and NEVER allowed to come back after the War, 

it is totally unfair and inexcusable!!!! So we all know their grievance became the base/beginning

of this Middle Eastern trouble!

 

Say, if you should have someone showed up at your house doorstep in one morning from the middle

of nowhere, demanding you to leave since his ‘God says this house belongs to him’,

would you surrender to hand over the house you lived for generations after generation?

 

I admit I am a staunch supporter of Jews, almost unconditionally sympathizing on their diaspora –

my wife teases me ‘spiritually Jewish’ since I love Yiddish songs so much sparing substantial time

for its collection through years! – but such policy current Israeli government drives is utterly unfair.

The resentment/protests are quite natural reaction and Hezbollah is one example organized based

on the refugee camps along Southern Lebanon.

 

Indeed, I still remember the infamous refugee camp/people from Palestine, kicked out even before the 6-day War, which was located along the roadside near to Beirut airport, I saw on way to Ghana, Africa from Korea back in 1960 as a national delegate to WAY (World Assembly of Youth) representing South Korea - see the attachment-, and for the first time, I heard such horror incurred by the Zionism through the Meeting as well.

 

But more than three decades later, through the visits to Jordan, I, for the first time, met one innocent victim

of Zionism, causing another ‘diaspora for the Palestinians’ this time. Indeed, as I mentioned on him lately

through one article I wrote for this website under the title of  ‘A Palestinian I met’, I had my heartbroken

with one old Palestinian, a retired high school history teacher who took me to Mount Nebo across Jordan River

as my personal tour guide and openly wept while pointing Jericho where he was kicked out during the War

and never allowed to come back, even for the visit to his ancestral graveyard.

 

But, I remained dubious whenever this ‘Zionism’ issue should come up on the conversation

TILL one worldly renowned microvascular surgeon, Prof. Victor Krylov of Moscow Institute

of Advanced Medicine and Technology shared the same opinion with me, who is one of few Jews,

ever reached to the top of the institute (USSR never allowed the Jew not higher than the second top position)

and taught/passed down a new Russian approach/technic of microscopic lymphatic reconstruction-

see the attachment- to me.

 

Prof. Krylov is, of course, a Russian born Jew- I thought he belongs to Ashkenazim rather than Sephardim

like other Russian Jews but he thinks he belongs to Mizrahim, rather, which represents a heterogeneous collection

of North African, Central Asian, Caucasian, and Middle Eastern Jewish communities as I know of –

but got married with a Russian lady who couldn’t tolerate Jewish custom so that soon

after they escaped/immigrated to Tel Aviv after the Soviet was collapsed, we campaigned

through the State Department to import him to the States from Israel till he was eventually taken back

to Moscow by his disciples.

 

Anyhow, while Prof, Krylov was in Tel Aviv Univ, he and Mrs. Krylov were invited by Chairman

of Surgery Department to the dinner at his new(?) house located in the occupied land.

Prof. Krylov asked how they could build the house on the land which belongs to Palestinians

and by surprise, they were told; ‘Our God gave this land so that this is ours!!!’.

Prof. Krylov was flabbergasted with such irrational behavior and told me later that he was

so bitter and disgusted with such overzealous Israeli government-led action

even though he himself is a Jew.

 

Then, how the Palestinians would feel about this Zionism!

So all started with this overzealous Zionism to stirring up such turmoils

throughout the Middle East and will never end

till all the Palestinians are allowed to go back to their homeland, Bless them!

 

BB Lee

 Dr. Lee, I am surprised that you have such an in-depth knowledge of Israel and Palestine. 
I think building Israel in Palestinian land is a huge strategic mistake by the U.S.A.. Truman's 

advisors were strongly against the idea of building a homeland for Jewish people. Advisors 

predicted the present day problems in the Middle East. It is a sort of cancer in the body of the Islamic

region. I am afraid Israel and the Middle East could be the cause of the fall of the USA if it comes to that

at all. Truman pushed the idea because Zionism was popular at that time because of the holocaust

and he thought he had to support it to win the presidential election. Thank you for your comment. 

You bet, Dr. Ohn. I learned a lot about the Jews as well as Palestinians through the years and heard so many

interesting sagas directly from the peoples who got involved, not only Palestinians but also German

and Polish friends. Indeed, no one gave such hidden stories including the unnoticed historical background.

 

But, you already know about the Zionism including such rare information on Truman’s decision not many

people know -further story I read was some Jews proposed to negotiate with the U.S. government to get

one corner of such big land/country –Oregon?- to organize a separate state as the Jewish autonomous country

after WWII but interestingly mainstream of the Jews in the U.S. was against this idea and shot this idea down!-

as well so that I don’t want to waste your time but like to share some first-hand information I earned

from Polish friends.

 

Indeed, when I visited Poland first, umpteen years ago, I was so interested in Warsaw Ghetto uprising along

with massive deportation of the local Jews to infamous concentration camps. But, I have noticed that actually

there is not much to see at the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw these days.  

As my German friends, Polish friends were, however, so reluctant to talk openly to explain,

other than the emphasis on the difference between Ghetto uprising and Warsaw uprising to have made

me more curious.

 

But, after we became close enough to share the family/private affairs, one friend of Bydgoszcz Univ

told me about the historical background on their bitterness/resentments(?) to the Jews who even once

attempted to coup to take over the country/Polish Lithuanian Kingdom to start their own independent

country, which is not 100% true but has substantial records to support this suspicion.

But as the most tolerable country throughout Europe for the Jews to settle especially after Spanish inquisition,

Poland became the country with the biggest population of the Jews- three-quarters

of the world's Jews, then? -, which gave German and Russia to excuse the invasion to split between them.

 

So this Zionism has such a long historical background and still going on!!!!

Good to know I am NOT the only one interested in this Jewish diaspora.

Warm regards,

BB Lee

I also share your view/concern like many others, Dr. Ohn: ‘Israel and the Middle East could be the cause

of the fall of the USA’. I happen to have visited quite a few Middle Eastern countries like Egypt, Jordan,

Saudi, etc through decades enough to learn much about how Arab people feel about the U.S.,

the only staunch supporter of this Zionism/Israel unconditionally while ignoring the Palestinians

they share the same Arab heritage of their own.

More you learn, more pessimistic on the future the U.S. helplessly bogged down with Israeli I have to tell you.

Even though the Palestinians are infrequently bullied by their own Arab people calling ‘the mirror image of Jews’,

when the issue of Palestinians versus Zionists should come up- Zionists and Jews are entirely different story

I have to emphasize to make sure! – , they make one voice blaming the foolish Americans to be manipulated

by cunning Jews/Zionists.

 

Indeed, after Kuwait/Gulf War, all the competent Palestinian physicians and technicians in Saudi I know/met were

replaced by less competent Egyptians as the price Palestinians endorsed Saddam Hussein during the War.

Some were able to get the job in Amman – one of distant cousins of Queen Rania of Jordan (King Abdullah’s wife

and Kuwait born Palestinian) I met while visiting King Faisal Hospital in Jeddah was literally fired with no reason

( I wrote a supporting letter for his superb capability with no avail) but lucky enough to get the job

at Queen Alia Hospital in Jordan later- so that I was able to meet/work together but their grievance to the U.S.

is ever-mounting and I don’t see any solution in foreseeable future with the current policy of idiot Trump manipulated

by Benjamin Netanyahu!

Sadly,

BB Lee   

Thank you for your hands-on priceless information, Dr. Lee! I learned a lot. 
 

U.S. continues to fight worthless wars after World War II. During the Korean War, the U.S. marched into 

North Korean territory despite stern warnings of China. The U.S. had to retreat after stunning defeat 

by the Chinese people's army. The U.S. has always been bragging about her superior power,

but it did not matter time after time. In Vietnam, Hochiming's Vietcong was far inferior to the mighty U.S. army.

Her army did not prevail. Though Americans are reluctant to admit the defeat, the whole world knows

that the Vietnamese won. Angry Americans swept through Afghanistan immediately after 9.11.

For revenge though the target was not so clear. It has been extremely confusing the purpose of the war

and the identification of the enemy. 
Were there conspirators of 9.11 there? Was the Taliban's U.S. enemy?

Were Americans there for nation-building? Osama bin Laden was captured in Parkistan.

Talibans have been gathering strength and the U.S has been negotiating with them.

At the same time, the U.S. has been pouring money into the corrupted terribly weak Afghan government. 
It appears to be another total failure after nearly 20 years of fighting. The U.S. told the world

that she will build the nation of democracy in Iraq and destroyed Sadam Hussein and his country.

The nation weakly knitted 3 factions; Kurds, Shia, and Sunni became a hell. Puppet Iraqi government

is deeply corrupted and the military had no desire to fight.

The neglected Sadam Hussein's soldiers became Al-Qaeda and later turned into ISIS. It created chaos in Syria.

Iraqi soldiers have no desire or courage to fight against ISIS. Shia troops aided by Iranians in Iraq

were very effective to defeat ISIS in Iraq. It is very clear the nation-building Iraq will fail.

These failures will make the U.S. pay an insurmountable price in the long run. 
 

The money spent to fund the war has been adding to the budget deficit. Basically it has been funded

by the borrowed money. The interest payments on the principle have been covered by tax revenue.

The debt payment has been comfortable because GDP has been growing the tax revenue kept up.

Inflation has been low, so the interest rate has been low. But the budget deficit can not grow forever

and the economy can not be good all the time. The doomsday will come when the economy gets bad

and GDP goes down. Then tax revenue will fall. The government will print the money more.

The inflation will come. The interest rate will go up. The interest payment on the debt will go up.

The tax rate has to go up. The vicious cycle ensues. The nation defaults. 

https://news.joins.com/article/23677617?cloc=joongang-home-opinioncolumn

[중앙시평] 2020년 미국 경제와 트럼프 변수
 

2020년에 미국 경제에 부정적 영향을 미칠 수 있는 충격으로 중국과 무역분쟁, 지정학적 위기,

전 세계의 과잉 부채를 꼽는 지적이 많았다. 미국과 이란 간 긴장이 고조되면서 중동발 석유 위기,

군사 충돌, 사이버 테러에 대한 우려도 커졌다. 케네스 로고프 하버드대 교수는 중국의 민간 부채,

선진국의 공공 부채 특히 고령화로 늘어나는 연금 부채의 급증을 위험 요인으로 꼽았다. 

Dr. Ohn,

Every statement you made as above, about the Middle East is 100% correct and I couldn’t agree more.

Especially I worry about the economical burdening/waste - 4 trillions, altogether? – to the country

as the prime concern on this Middle East venture as you correctly concluded.

I simply don’t know how the policy makers didn’t learn the lesson from the history especially of Afghans-

even British gave up after the initial attempt to block the southern movement of Czarists,

so called ‘the Great Game’ between the British and Russian empires (if I remember correct,

the British fought three wars in Afghanistan and exhausted by the First World War and finally gave up

in 1919)-, and now the U.S. has made same mistake and hopelessly stuck with Talibans- Russians

were smart enough to pull out before they get hurt more-.

 

Indeed, it reminds me of  one frank discussion I overheard, about ‘stupid Americans’ doing

a proxy war for the Jews/Israeli, among the Egyptian colleagues by themselves, back in early 2010 

while I was invited to their national, not international, congress as the only foreign speaker

except one Egyptian expatriate, a professor of Emory University from Atlanta.

 

They somehow forgot I am a non-Egyptian/foreigner listening what they talk and freely criticized

cunning Palestinians as a mirror image of Jews and also laughed at ‘American stupidity to initiate

a proxy war for such smart Jews’, I vividly remember. The last comment they made bothered me

so much that I broke the silence asked them to explain more! Voila, what they said was:

‘Historically no one ever got out safely once they got into/invaded Babylonia and the Jews are

so keenly aware this historical fact that such smart Jews lured stupid Americans/George Bush

to commit such hell in behalf of the Jews/Israeli’.

They swore Americans will never ever get out safely from Iraq/Babylonia, which turned out to be true.

 

Through the years, I learned what they should mean and understood why the majority of Arabs dislike

Palestinians as well and now we see the consequences of this quack mire they wisely predicted

long time ago. Indeed, history repeats and only the fool doesn’t learn the lesson!

 

Regards,

BB Lee

 

P.S. Interestingly, former chief of ENT Department, Karim Ali, here at GWU (George Washington U),

who used my next door/room till retired last year, was happened to be an Afghan and also Shaima Popal,

the current office manager of GWU satellite offices is also an Afghan so that I learned a lot about

the Afghani culture and custom and of course their food, my favorite through years and feel like Afghans

are the Korean version in the Middle East, such a resilient survivor between big empires.

P.S. BTW, Dr. Ohn, I recommend you to read one short article Rod Nordland, a foreign correspondent

of The New York Times ( I believe he was once the paper's Kabul bureau chief) wrote;

The Empire Stopper - The New York Times,  https://www.nytimes.com, I am sure you would enjoy.