“Lines have been drawn before and they’ve been passed,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview with ABC World News. “That’s why the president has been so definitive this time. This is a very challenging moment with great risks and stakes for everybody because the region will be far less stable and far more threatened if Iran were to have a nuclear weapon.”

While Kerry was warning about possible war in the Middle East, North Korea has vowed to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War. The statement was issued by the North Korean People’s Army Supreme Command warning of possible reaction if the U.S. intensifies sanctions that have been crippling to that communist regime.

North Korea says its nuclear program is a response to U.S. hostility that dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war.

North Korea warned it will cancel the Korean War cease-fire agreement on (Monday) March 11, citing U.S.-South Korean military drills that began March 1.

One wonders what American veterans of the Korean War think about the cancellation of the cease-fire?

Hostilities continue in Syria, which has put Israeli Defense Forces on a constant high state of alert. Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told the British Broadcasting Company, “... the U.S. and Russia have reached an understanding over the conflict in Syria, while opposing military intervention.

“The Syrian problem would best be dealt internationally by Russia and America not making it a contest of national interests,” he said.

While Kissinger was suggesting cooperation between Russia and the U.S., Russian nuclear forces conducted a major exercise last month that tested the transportation of strategic and tactical nuclear weapons near Europe, according the U.S. officials in the U.S. European Command. It was the largest exercise of its kind in 20 years. A European Command spokesman said the Russian exercises took place between Feb. 17 and 21.

Whoa! Tension is growing during a time when the United States is downsizing its military force.

Keith Hansen

War

Before I had chance in another war, the desire to kill people to whom I had not been introduced had passed away.

Mark Twain