25 October—Probably the Chinese military commander best known in the United States is General Tso (General Zuo Zongtang or Tso Tsung-t’ang), who made a name for himself during the Qing Dynasty in the mid-19^th century. Although he was celebrated as a statesman as well as a military commander, General Tso’s stateside reputation these days is built on sweet and spicy deep-fried chicken.

Not that it matters, but Tso had nothing at all to do with General Tso’s chicken, which wasn’t created until the 1950s (by which time he’d been dead a half century) in Taiwan, purportedly for visiting U.S. Admiral Arthur Radford, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the time. The chef who created the special dish opened a restaurant in New York in the 1970s and, along with other market-oriented Chinese chefs, modified the recipe for mass American taste.

General Tso’s chicken is hardly known outside the United States, including the 51^st state up north. And Donald Trump probably never asked his BFF Xi Jinping to introduce him to General Tso—because Trump prefers American-style less-spicy junk food.

The second best-known Chinese military commander at home and abroad is General Sun Tzu. Widely known as plain old Sun Tzu and born Sun Wu (Sun Tzu is an honorific, making him Master Sun), he lived and commanded mostly in the later sixth century BC and is said to have authored the 13-chapter “The Art of War” (Bingfa—in Chinese, of course) at the very start of the fifth century BC.

“The Art of War” is a core text of American military science and tactics (MST) curricula, which actually involve as much art as science. Parts of it were required reading in ROTC MST classes at about the time Gen. Tso was being served to Adm. Radford. Business schools also adore “The Art of War.” Sun Tzu emphasizes winning without fighting whenever and wherever possible, using psychology, diplomacy, and strategy rather than brute force.

Sun Tzu stresses flexibility, adaptability, and creative leadership—outsmarting the enemy through deception, for instance. In fact, according to Sun Tzu, all warfare is based on deception: when able to attack, a commander should appear to be unable; when nearby, he should make the enemy think he’s far away; and so on.

The art, then, is to take the enemy by surprise.

So why would a brilliant businessman, statesman, and military strategist like Donald Trump announce his intention to resume his war on Iran after he and his Trumpublicans lose the 3 November election?

That’s right, Trump is using deception, taking the enemy by surprise. Because he’s really going to leave Iran to his Jewish and Arab pals in the Middle East to take care of—while his ROTC-trained warlord, Pentagon Pete Hegseth, sends all the American forces and matériel he can muster to bomb the hell out of Ukraine. Because Donald Trump has had a personal grudge against Volodomyr Zelenskyy since 2019 and nobody harbors a grudge like Donald Trump . . .