SORRY TO SAY THINGS NOT LOOKING GOOD FOR 2018

[303tom]

You have to read articles like that where people in high places start talking "out of line", but you do, as an ex Military man also have to look at it as a HOOYAA moment to the Marines stuck in freezing conditions visiting Santa in Norway to get aclimatized for something.

The General would probably be in the know, and now Trump has said something has to be done, to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons by these states, "and if noone else will, I will" leaves a lot of uncertainty in the region.

Iran kicking off internally won't help either!

Something has to be done about the little puke !.....................

[Aragorn243]

It's just history repeating itself. Years of weak and poor leadership appeasing despots and actually strengthening despots brings us to the point where either they are going to do something or something has to be done to pre-empt them.

[mrclark303]

Well lets all hope for a peaceful 2018 at least...

While certain world leaders seem determined to prove who's got the biggest dick, we can only hope their top advisors and military head sheds have enough sense between them to keep the squabbling kids apart...

[RazorBurn]

"Peace in our time" will only get you so far... Just sayin'

[mrclark303]

Well that's true enough my friend...

[Brian Dick]

I think the rhetoric is designed for a purpose and I don't believe for a second that conflict with NK is on the immediate horizon. The highly capable cabinet and military commanders here in the USA are in charge now as it should be and not being micromagnaged as we've seen in the past few administrations. Just look at the result in Iraq in less that a year's time. ISIS is not the formidable force it managed to become anymore. Don't fall into the left wing narrative about President Trump. I think he knows exactly what he's doing and the rhetoric is designed with purpose. The pinheaded left wing media who are blinded by hatred fall into the trap over and over again. The term "Peace Through Strength" comes to mind and at least to me, it's refreshing.

[Brit plumber]

What ever happens, I’ll just do as I’m told. And probably for less pay.

[TDH]

I believe it was Teddy that said walk softly and carry a big stick

[Gil Boyd]

"When I walk with two companions both would be my teachers: I would choose the good traits and follow them, and would try to correct in myself the faults I see in them!

[obijohnkenobe]

I know this is an old thread, but I agree with Brian Dick. Wars start from miscalculation... usually the aggressor thinks his target will not respond to provocation and so the provocations start, and then the provocations escalate until they can no longer be ignored. Hitler told his generals the West was too decadent to respond, took the Rhineland, then took the Sudentenland, then thought that he could take half of Poland with his secret Soviet ally. The Brits realized they had to respond to the invasion of Poland. What if they had responded when the Germans had broken the Treaty of Versailles and reoccupied the Rhineland? No WWII. Similarly, the Japanese had gone from beating up the occasional Marine in China to sinking a US naval vessel (the gunboat Panay), and truly believed that if they bloodied our nose at Pearl Harbor we'd skulk away. Oops. Saddam made the same mistake in 1990.

Mattis was trying to fire up the troops but he was also sending a very public message: we aren't afraid to stand up to you, Lil Kim. That is the kind of message that keeps the peace, rather than starts wars.