Like many, around the US these days, I'm reading all the news coming out of Iraq. Some are maddeningly vocal about how 'WE' screwed up, and why WE should have stayed in Iraq. However, had we stayed it would only have exasperated the situation and ultimately been the result of many more US military casualties. I'm glad we are gone, and hope that we do NOT entertain Iraq 3.0....

There is a very good piece written by Scott Anderson at: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/20/opinion/middle-east-borders-redrawn/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

And I recommend reading his piece.

Many if not all of the problems faced in the Middle-East are basically the fault of the French and British diplomats, along with Tsarist Russia as an accomplice. Also, after the war, the 'Great Powers' got together to carve up the Ottoman Empire. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Remo_conference

The consequence of all this historical information cited, is to educate all of those American voices who insist that 'WE' are responsible for this disaster and that 'WE' should do something about it.....

My thoughts go to Sarah Palin's comment, 'Let Allah figure it out'. Which might be the most intelligent thing to ever come out of her mouth even if she didn't realize it in this context. Sometimes even an ignorant person says something worthwhile.

The real lesson should be that the Ottoman's had at least a modicum of peace and allegiance through the use of their system known as the "millyet." Seems reasonable to me that if we are to have any chance of ending this mess, or at least attempting to 'turning down the volume' we should move along these lines... If possible.

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http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2014/06/23/exclusive-iraqi-kurdish-leader-says-the-time-is-here-for-self-determination/?hpt=hp_t1

By Mike Krever CNN - June 23, 2014

Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview.

“Now we are living [in] a new Iraq, which is different completely from the Iraq that we always knew, the Iraq that we lived in ten days or two weeks ago.”

“After the recent events in Iraq, it has been proved that the Kurdish people should seize the opportunity now – the Kurdistan people should now determine their future.”

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This is just one more example of why the Iraq situation cannot be solved. Only broken apart. Where tribal connections that go back thousands of years are honored. Then... with some luck, we can work with these leaders to establish some stability in the region. Lets get America and Americans off of the list of things that these people hate, and want to kill...

A very special friend, who was a foreign teacher where I live in China, recently returned for a week-long visit. Preparing for her visit, and participating in nearly all the events of her visit has kept me quite busy. I think that its great that she came all this way to attend a wedding dinner of one of her very best students. She has now returned to her home in Canada, and the following week was occupied by getting as much rest as I could squeeze in....

The rest didn't last too long, as I quickly discovered that a mouse had invaded my home. I found it kind of weird because mice usually try to come inside at the end of summer, to find a warm place for the winter, but not at the beginning of summer when it's getting warmer and warmer outside. After several days of intense cleaning of possible hiding places, and searching for possible entry points, I was worn out. I feel like I have been invaded... So the wife has the cleaning lady to bring a cat to the house. It was an outside kitten actually and had to be given about three baths to get rid of the flee's. Plus, since its a kitten, it's probably more afraid of a mouse than the mouse would be of it. Living on the 4^th floor, I still am puzzled by how that damn mouse got here. I think I see where he came into the house, but how did he get onto that ledge? Amazing.

Now mix into this my schedule for renewing my passport. Which means a trip to the US Embassy in Beijing. I can't go to Hong Kong, or Quangzhou which is much closer, because of their rules. The wife is scared to death that I want to fly there because of the missing Malaysian flight, and I don't want to spend two nights on a train. I was actually dreading this trip, as my experience is that US government workers usually treat everyone (and particularly US Citizens) as if they were all terrorists. So I was quite pleased when the trip went well, and no one worked over-time to piss me off. There is a new passport 'card' available to citizens, which I am buying even though it can't be used for travel to China. But it will come in handy in traveling in other (more technologically friendly) countries...

Add to this some family drama that no one is or should be interested in, and it's been an event filled month. Much has happened in the world, some of it dangerous, and some just down-right stupid. Makes me wonder if there is any hope for humans on this rock at all....

One final mishap. For about 8-10 days, I've had trouble accessing most of the internet, and getting this DotEasy blog site working in any browser. Some is caused by the great firewall that is blocking nearly everything because of the June 4th anniversary thingy, and the rest is I don't know what.... I will say that the Doteasy staff has been timely and anxious to help - even if some of their suggestions sounded ridiculous to this old-time technology friendly guy...