This website presents a new viewpoint, to global issues.
Soon will be published here, solutions for the same.
What is STOHL?
Stohl is the Russian word for table, through the author’s spelling.
Table, reference to a global table, and mindset. Heretofore the table that has included only, or been dictated by, the West.
Stohl, the name o the site though the author of this site does not speak Russian, as she is American.
The Russian, however, understood by the heritage of the author (and creator of the solutions), which is Korean.
Korea, the peninsula on the east coast of the Eurasian continent, and shares a brief border with Russia.
However is the history between the two, not brief at all. The history that goes back to the 13th century, the time of the Mongol invasions, and concurrently, the Crusades.
However does the history go even further back, when considering the shared geography of the two.
One, as the largest nation on earth.
The other as the nation now split in two. The division around which exists the most concentrated and contentious of conflicts on earth, the Korean War.
The Korean War, as many do not realize, sits at the center of the Cold War.
The Cold War, as we realize today, is the matter unresolved since WW2.
And now, the world on the brink.
STOHL, the new table thus set forth here.
The author of this site:
The author of the site is a female, and called here, “A”,
A, first initial of her first name, but also reference to a habit learned early, about living “anonymous” or incognito.
A is from two families of Korea that immigrated to America, in the 1960s.
As many do not also know, Korea was once a royal nation. Its fundamental crisis today is the loss of its royal sovereignty in the late 19th century.
The unknown history, is one and the same reason why the Korean War remains unsolved.
Returning to the families of A.
On A’s mother’s side is the history of aviation of Korea. A’s grandfather was the first to fly over the East Sea, and also invented a key technology in aeronautic engineering (for helicopters).
He was then founder of the first airline of Korea debuted in 1948, with 7 planes in his fleet, and the first commercial routes between the Korean peninsula and United States,
In 1961 South Korea was taken over in military coup d’etat. A’s grandfather was killed, and the airlines, seized out of the hands of his family. Hence, eventually many of the family left to the US, including A’s mother.
A’s father, also came to the US, for reasons of Korean upheaval.
The one begun in 1895, when a key clansperson, the last Queen of Korea, was killed in 1895. This leading to Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910-1945.
Later led to a dividing line across the peninsula, drawn by the US and USSR, at approximately 38 degrees latitude.
The “38th parallel” line that in 1953, became the demilitarized zone (DMZ) of the Korean War,
The line iss actually a 2 mile width band. Though “de-militarized”, is the most heavily armed military border in the world,
Within the DMZ is buried over 1 million landmines. Yet behind that line, sits a verdant land untouched by war.
There, where no landmines have ever been buried, As A personally knows, since she has walked the land, as her family.
The land otherwise, un-walked upon by any other persons except her family members since 1953.
Though located within the DMZ, the land carries an additional designation, MCZ (Military Control Zone), and with that, an added protection.
Why, due to the history located there, understood by the generations of ancestors buried there, since first settled in the 10th century.
The time, when Chinese (Song Dynasty) and Korean (Koryo Dynasty) diplomatic relations were first established, officially. The inauguration of the very institution of diplomacy itself, as made official through Confucian tradition.
A’s ancestor, sent to Korea (Koryo) from China (Song), for this reason. The establishing of the diplomatic relationship in official capacity.
A’s ancestor, from a long line of Confucianists, descended from one of the disciples of Confucius, also called the “2nd Favorite Disciple” to Confucius, 2nd, the Asian code for firsts, out of the “anonymous” tradition of not announcing the first position.
I.e., the very philosophic and moral basis of Confucianism, which is deference. Counter-intuitively, how the Confucianists outlasted the Emperors they served. The family House from A’s father’s side descends, thus continuous since the time of Confucius, since the 6th century BC.
Thus nearly 1500 years later, a member from that family traveled on behalf of the Song Dynasty, to Koryo. There he established Confucian diplomatic relations with Koryo.
War broke out on the peninsula in 993-997 AD, for which the Ambassador was called forth.
Through complex negotiations, a certain peace was reached. However did it require the Ambassador to change his official residence to Koryo.
Thus and then did the Korean branch of the ancient Confucianist clan, begin. Thereafter, became the family and clan that maintained not only the diplomatic relationship, but specifically throug what is called the Confucian tribute. This lasted until 1895, when Japanese invasion forced a break.
However was it really a break? The assumption that history ends, simply because an outside entity says so — and sets a certain table to try cement the same.
The table around which a tragic decision was made, in Potsdam Germany at the end of WW2. To not only divide Korea in two, but do so, without any Koreans at the table.
The table, unresolved, without considering the land, through which the line was drawn.
The land settled by a 10th century Ambassador from Song Dynasty, to make a new residence, in Koryo.
The location he chose, a most strategic location. At the delta of the Han River depositing into the Yellow Sea, the waterbody between Koryo and the Shandong area of Song.
The same advantageous location, in the decades before, that had also been selected by the royals of Koryo, to build their royal palace.
The archaeologic site of the palace, called Manwoldae, can be located on a map, in the nation today called North Korea.
Located due south, can be found the residential site chosen by the Song Ambassador to Koryo.
Not coincidentally, the same land designated the MCZ of the DMZ in 1953. The land not walked upon by any persons other than A and her family members since the same.
Due south of both locations (the residence of the Confucianist tribute family, and the Koryo royal palace), is the site of the well-known invasion by General Douglas MacArthur in the Korean War,
The battle, called the Invasion of Incheon, is considered by the U..S., one of the greatest victories in U.S. military history.
Yet a battle is not a war.
The battle, as many do not know, took place in a place of mud, created by tides.
The Han River Delta, simultaneously strategically advantageous in location while notoriously difficult, that is, for the tides created in that location. The tides creating mudflats one moment, and inundation the next.
The mud, as we did not realize, has held symbolic significance to the United States.
The symbol one might glean, what it is, by reading the section of this website, Why We are Here: https://www.stohl.org/why
The mud symbolism of the invasion, as we were not told in history class, concerned a war of another kind: over origins.
Origins, as debated for centuries — and we did not realize, by way of that forming substance of nature. The one part earth, part water — i.e., mud.
The forming substance, but also, the un-forming substance, depending on its composition. The substance, from which one can rise up — or be inundated.
Decades later, the question as relevant today as it was then. The question we didn’t even know to ask in the first place.
That, and many other things we did not think to think about at all — such as, the Korean War.
And the Cold War. The wars that we in America assumed could persist indefinitely. Perpetual stalemate, as we carried about our American lives, in days, weeks, month, years.
However did A not forget. The not-forget, despite A being born decades after the ceasefire line was put in place.
Yet A who has walked the land. An untouched land since 1953. The land of unlimited view, to above and beyond.
The land, though thousands of miles away from here in the U.S., from which A can sense and see, much.
The world, much different than we thought. The land, from which A can clearly see, a new table form.
The table for which A has yet to arrive.
The sky that does not shrink for it. A, the first to say the same.
Instead the sky so vast, one can feel the ground beneath.
The ground and earth rotating, and shifting.
And a new table forming - the one actually quite ancient, and old.
The table gathered about, for millennia, around a question: why are we here?
The table convening as we speak, by those who agree with the answer.
The answer found here: https://stohl.org/why
Along the way, a Great Schism: https://stohl.org/schism