Korean Pres FLAMES Israel As Asia SCREWED By Trump

Turning now to Korea and to the Asian economies. As I said at the end of our interview with Rory, something very interesting is happening in Asia, a full, basically diplomatic break between Korea and Israel. Let's go ahead and put this up here on the screen. Seemingly out of nowhere,

the president of Korea quote tweeted a video which said IDF soldiers tortured a Palestinian kid and threw him off a roof. They call themselves the most moral army. The president, again, literally out of nowhere, just says, I need to look into whether this is true.

And if so, what measures have been taken? The forced comfort women issue that we are raising is in no different than the Jewish massacre or wartime killing. So for those who aren't aware in Korean history, comfort women was a major issue and remains a major one for the Korean people

for Japanese treatment of Korean women and effective enslavement and sex slavery during the Second World War. It remains one of the hottest issues between the two countries and has caused major, even diplomatic problems between them.

But clearly they have a very raw wound from the second World War and they're comparing the treatment and subjugation of Palestinians to how Israel is treating them. Now, the question though is that this video is from 2024. So why now?

I think we know why, because their economy has just been decimated and the president of South Korea is using, again, one of the most sensitive issues in South Korean society to try to turn the people against Israel on this moral ground. Okay, so how does the Israeli foreign ministry respond?

Let's put this up here on the screen. The remarks by the president of Korea, including this trivialization of the massacre of Jews on the eve of a Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel are unacceptable and warrant strong condemnation. President Lee, for some strange reason,

chose to dig up a story from 2024 and to cite a fake account that falsely represented it as a current event. This account, remember, they're not denying any of this.

Okay, let's say.

Right, exactly. This account is notorious for spreading anti-Israeli disinformation and falsehood about Israel. The event discussed occurred during an operation against terrorists at a time when Israeli soldiers

were facing direct and immediate threats to their lives. The event was thoroughly investigated and addressed two years ago. Yet, we have not heard a single word from the president about the terrorists who were at the center of this event, nor have we heard a word from the president regarding the recent Iranian and Hezbollah military attacks

against Israeli civilians. Mr. President, it is always better to check before reposting." Okay, so again, no denial.

Seems like a confirmation of the veracity of the video.

No denial, right, but this is the, why now? Why now? Well, again, they're fed up. They can't do this to Trump yet. They may get there if the blockade happens. But with Israel, who they see as one of the precipitators

of this conflict, they're like, oh yeah, no, we're done with you and we're just gonna, and this is a radical shift as a, they've had relations for many years. It hasn't necessarily always been on the best terms, but you know, at the end of the day, Korea, they don't care that much about Israel. They're a major US ally. So if a US wants them to cozy up to Israel, so be it.

It is what it is. But now, their entire population, remember, what, you think we're a phone-addicted society? They're very similar. They're all on social media. They have TikTok and all these other things in South Korea, you've got the population, but then you have this war, which has plunged them into economic crises and chaos.

Remember, right before all of this, Korea was about to dispatch its own special envoy. Let's put D4 up there on the screen. Their own special envoy appointed by their foreign minister directly to Iran to have bilateral talks with Iran. And basically, I mean, they didn't admit it,

but I think they were just gonna pay the toll to get all of their oil out of the Straits of Hormuz. They didn't care at this point. Their economy is so deeply reliant. Well, similarly, again, they're furious with Israel for their role in this war,

and so they've actually ratcheted up this diplomatic incident. Let's put D3 up there on the screen. This is in response to Israel's response. It's disappointing that you don't even once reflect on the criticisms from people around the world who are suffering and struggling due to your relentless

anti-human rights and anti-international law actions. When I am in pain, others feel that pain just as deeply. It's only natural to feel sorry if someone else is suffering because of my needs. It makes me deeply uncomfortable to watch this immense pain and national hardship suddenly befalling our innocent citizens out of the blue

like a bolt from the blue. For the sake of universal human rights and the national interest of the Republic of Korea, I must work harder to find things I can do. Israel cannot tolerate President Lee's remark that wartime killings equal Jewish massacre.

I mean, this again is extraordinary stuff from the president of South Korea, a allied nation who's entire economy was thrown into full chaos. They were already exploring bilateral negotiations, but I think it shows a couple of things.

The Palestinian issue is the one that they can easily reach for. They know that it's sympathetic for their population. They're linking their own history, and it's also a deeply, not even not so subtle, shot at the United States here.

It's like, we're not taking orders from you whenever it comes to our relationship here with Israel anymore, which I think is very fascinating

to watch this happen. I think that's highly significant. There's two things here. Number one, I mean, it's worth noting that, of course, at the height of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, they had nothing to say. But obviously, the entire population of the world effectively has turned against Israel because of what they have seen and the horror that was perpetrated there. So now that Israel has been directly involved in the Iran war, which is plunging the entire world into economic chaos, which is directly damaging dramatically the South Korean economy.

Now they can use the moral issue of what the way you treat Palestinians to also push back against Israel at a time when South Koreans are obviously suffering. So there's that. And then the other piece is the US piece. The US has been shown to be relatively weak weaker than expected You know

we were humiliated in a lot of ways and so the you know the threats from Trump and the fear of how he'll Respond and that he'll have Israel's back and you can't you know break from them because they're our ally and you need to be on Board with them no matter what they do those threats are not as potent, especially again at a time when you have a genuine national crisis in South Korea because of the energy crunch. So it's both a sign of just how furious they are with Israel and also a sign of comparative weakness from the US.

There's a couple of other elements to this too. So the Gulf countries, remember South Korea because they've been under threat here from the North Koreans, they have a very robust and actually very good defense industry. So a lot of their arms and munitions have been backfilling a lot of the gaps of the US. So what's happened is that a lot of these Gulf countries,

just reading this yesterday, has been going out and buying a bunch of South Korean weapons, missile interceptors. They have a pretty robust, you know, their own system, which as I understand it, they're quite sophisticated and they're much cheaper, actually, than many even US systems. So Israel, though, maybe they were looking in the future to buy some South Korean weapons.

I don't know if that's gonna happen now. And you also see South Korea with a little bit of its own leverage. They're like, oh, you Gulf countries, you guys want our weapons? Well, maybe we're gonna have to cut some deals They're on the side. All of this is just displacement of US supremacy role in the region.

This country, so I was just reading here, South Korea and Israel, they signed a free trade agreement like six years ago. So these are not nations with any real enmity. They have tech cooperation, COVID. I was looking for Gaza.

They urged a ceasefire and humanitarianism. They were very balanced. Like they didn't, outward condemnation. This is by far, you know, one of the bigger incidents. Another thing when we keep our eye on Asia, I spotted this, nationwide protests in Japan.

Just a couple days ago, this was on Wednesday, that were over 100 locations, over 50,000 people actually took to the streets. It wasn't just about the Iran war, but some of it was. Let's take a listen.

Protests just outside Japan's parliament and there are thousands of people here. It's really rare to see a protest of this size in Tokyo.

I want to tell Iranians that they should be united.

I want to tell them that we are not alone, that there are people who are against this

in Japan.

Protests were held across Japan in over 100 locations. They were planned before Iran and the U.S. agreed to a two-week ceasefire. Many showed up anyway, though, fearing it won't last and that fighting could restart. The protesters here are also criticizing the Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takahashi, and calling on her to step down.

I mean, look, I think it's interesting. Like she said, it's pretty rare. This was not just about Iran. It was also about their own constitution. So look, every nation has domestic politics. I'm not trying to say that it's all about this, but there are signs of interesting things.

And the Japanese prime minister, she's in a tough spot. Their government also, I mean, they had all 11 year, it's very similar to our Congress, but they're having issues with that. But Iran remains a single problem. They had a call this morning, I was looking,

where they're urging diplomacy and reopening of the Straits of Hormuz. Remember, 70, almost 80% of their oil, and South Korea very similarly. They also rely heavily on natural gas, and then they have the same problems whenever it comes to jet fuel.

All of this, I think, just demonstrates like the way that this war is breaking apart these alliances in Asia. And then it also opens the question about the naval blockade of the Straits of Hormuz. Are we gonna board Chinese vessels?

And if you're China, I mean, look, China's singular goal with Japan and South Korea has been to separate it from the United States. South Korea made its gamble during the THAAD situation where China threatened economic boycott and South Korea said, we gotta sit here

and we gotta take the pain, we gotta keep these THAAD missiles here or in battery and the radar because at the end of the day, America's our guarantor of security. So even though we're gonna take a ton of pain, we gotta sit here and we gotta take it because it's good for us in the long run.

How have we repaid them? By destroying their economy. Same with Japan. I mean, for them, they're like, look, we have this alliance, occupation, and this painful history, but at the end of the day,

like, we have a reverse relationship where they're like, look, we're not gonna attack you, but you get access to our consumer market. So it looks like a more appealing pitch than it was in the past. Now, I'm not saying this is gonna happen overnight,

but all these policymakers, they have to consider their own national interests. And right now, we're not in their national interest. We're actively hurting their national interest and showing up in all of these different ways.

Yeah, and Israel is like, you know, an incredible world villain, as are we increasingly at this point. And let's put D6 up on the screen. You know, Trita Parsi was talking about from the Israeli perspective, what might happen,

or you know, the way that Trump may approach negotiations moving forward. Netanyahu, we played for you last week, said the war's not over. They still are prepared to go back. They had this apparent coordinated leak to all three of the major Hebrew TV networks saying that they're gearing up for renewed conflict with Iran. And so Trump is going to face a real question. If he actually wants to end US direct involvement

in a hot war with Iran, he's either going to have to constrain Israel or he's going to have to make it very clear, Israel, you are on your own. And if they're on their own, they're really pretty screwed.

I mean, already their interceptor stockpiles are down to double digits. They've been incredibly dependent on the US Navy to protect them as much as they have been protected. And obviously the Iranian ability to penetrate those defenses and do damage inside of Israel has increased the longer that the war has gone on.

So on the one hand, Israel looks like it's very strong. They've dominated Gaza. They're dominating the West Bank, they're taking over a part of Lebanon, although the Hezbollah resistance has been stronger than they thought.

They finally got the US to do the war in Iran that they have long sought. But at the same time, the only reason, the only goodwill that they have in the world basically is among boomers in the US and the President of the United States. We are the only thing that stands between them

and having to actually live within their means and act like a real state, live within their borders and come to some sort of an agreement with their neighbors or they won't exist anymore. So it's a very tenuous moment for Israel. There's a New York Times piece this morning

that's talking about how Israelis are not feeling like this Iran war has gone very well. They're looking at this, they're like, we've been living in bomb shelters. You know, there's certainly, we don't know exactly how much, there's certainly been significant damage within the country of Israel. And what do we have to show for it?

Iran is probably, you know, if anything, more likely to pursue a nuclear weapon. Their missile stockpile remains intact. There's been some damage done to it, but nobody's under any illusion that they won't be able to build back better, I suppose. And so they're asking themselves, what was this all for? Which is why so much of the domestic pressure

is going to be on Netanyahu to go back to war, which is something he wants to do

and very likely to drag us back in as he did before. I don't think it's out of the question and it's clear to, I think for the rest of the world, this just came across, let's talk about it a little bit. Prime Minister Netanyahu at a cabinet meeting, he says, I spoke yesterday with Vice President Vance. He called me from his plane.

He reported to me in detail as this administration does every day. So I note it, I go, Netanyahu is openly, just being like the vice president of the administration, report to me in detail every day. So you and I, what are we focusing on? To the guy who literally was raised near the city of Philadelphia.

He speaks fluent English, I think he knows what report to me in detail every day means. So a bunch of these Zionists, I pointed this out, a bunch of these Zionists, I pointed this out, a bunch of these Zionists are like, you idiot, they're in a war. Of course they talk every day. I'm like, he didn't say talk. He said report to me in detail.

What's the impression? He gives this language openly to the world and to Israel to say, I'm the dad. I'm in charge. He knows what he's doing. He didn't misspeak. I mean, look, let's give him credit. I think he chooses his words very carefully.

He wants to humiliate the Vice President and the United States.

He's a shrewd political actor. Exactly.

We can give him that. He knows exactly what he's doing whenever he uses this type of language to say, and to say to his domestic audience, I'm still in charge. Oh, and just so you're all aware,

his corruption trial miraculously was pushed two more months because of security and national concerns. So that means we have two months before, you have to restart the war. It doesn't mean that it can't come any earlier. But Korea, Japan, Australia, the UK, France,

I mean, it's not just, we're doing this about Asia. Just this morning, both the chief powers of NATO, military powers, Germany, France, and the UK are all like, we have nothing to do with this. We want nothing to do with your blockade. This all needs to end right now.

We are destroying all of our alliances, and it does appear as if we're doing it on behalf of Israel. They can wake up and they can read too, and they're like, this is bizarre, this is weird. Why are you doing this? Yeah. So we're shredding it and it's not necessary. All right. I'll take Korea any day of the week.

And let's, let's put D8 up on the screen because this matters maybe not in terms of the political leaders, but in terms of global opinion. And as you said, um, should be about this, uh, infant child that was murdered by Israel in Lebanon, uh, while she was attending her father's funeral. And so, you know, these are the sorts of horrific, gut-wrenching headlines that continue to come out because of the insanely barbaric actions of Israel.

So you are really dependent on these countries perceiving it to be in their national interest to back you because you've lost the global public. And we're not the only country where there are people who have really hardened in their opinions against Israel, where the political landscape is really shifting. We're the most important one because of how much support we provide them, and of course as the global former hegemon.

But there are countries around the world where sentiment has hardened against Israel and continue to see these horrific headlines come out. And so any political leader, once they perceive it to be in their national interest to break from Israel as South Korea is perceiving that to be in their interest right now as they deal with the economic fallout of the Iran war, they're going to do that because the population is already there.

Yep, that's right.

All right, let's get to the Swalwell, shall we? Hey, if you liked that video, hit the like button or leave a comment below. It really helps get the show to more people.

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