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To call General Mattis’s appallingly ineffective performance as Secretary of Defense a disappointment would be a SEVERE understatement. It’s a reminder that no amount of tactical or operational effectiveness means very much when it comes to grand strategy and geopolitical politics, let alone loyalty to American national interests. His letter of resignation:

December 20, 2018

Dear Mr. President:

I have been privileged to serve as our country’ss 26th Secretary of Defense which has allowed me to serve alongside our men and women of the Department in defense of our citizens and our ideals.

I am proud of the progress that has been made over the past two years on some of the key goals articulated in our National Defense Strategy: putting the Department on a more sound budgetary footing, improving readiness and lethality in our forces, and reforming the Department’s business practices for greater performance. Our troops continue to provide the capabilities needed to prevail in conflict and sustain strong U.S. global influence.

One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies. Like you, I have said from the beginning that the armed forces of the United States should not be the policeman of the world. Instead, we must use all tools of American power to provide for the common defense, including providing effective leadership to our alliances. 29 democracies demonstrated that strength in their commitment to fighting alongside us following the 9-11 attack on America. The Defeat ISIS coalition of 74 nations is further proof.

Similarly, I believe we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours. It is clear that China and Russia, for example, want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions to promote their own interests at the expense of their neighbors, America and our allies. That is why we must use all the tools of American power to provide for the common defense.

My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues. We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.

Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position. The end date for my tenure is February 28, 2019, a date that should allow sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed as well as to make sure the Department’s interests are properly articulated and protected at upcoming events to include Congressional posture hearings and the NATO Defense Ministerial meeting in February. Further, that a full transition to a new Secretary of Defense occurs well in advance of the transition of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September in order to ensure stability Within the Department.

I pledge my full effort to a smooth transition that ensures the needs and interests of the 2.15 million Service Members and 732,079 civilians receive undistracted attention of the Department at all times so that they can fulfill their critical, round-the-clock mission to protect the American people.

I very much appreciate this opportunity to serve the nation and our men and women in uniform.

Translation: I’m a sellout, I violated my oath of service, and I never had any intention of actually defending American national interests, much less defending the Constitution against its enemies, foreign and domestic. So, I’m resigning in a hissy fit because you’re not on board with unwinnable perma-war in the Middle East.

It’s just as well. Notice the Mad Poodle’s focus on diplomatic marketing gimmicks, “the common defense”, and the solidarity of alliances with countries that have less ability to project military force than the average Mexican drug cartel. This guy wasn’t a warrior, he was just another corrupt globalist bureaucrat dressed up in a snappy military uniform, complete with fruit salad and red heels. And notice the telling phrase “defense of our citizens and ideals” rather than “our nation and our Constitution”.

What is Mattis’s legacy? Women in the special forces, trannies in the military, and losing a hopeless proxy war to the Russian-Iranian-Syrian alliance in the Middle East? How very impressive. It kind of reminds you of Julies Caesar and Alexander the Great, does it not? Jimmy Carter’s hapless SecDef could have accomplished as much.

Always, always, ALWAYS wait two days before reacting to anything he says, or anything he is supposed to have said. I was always suspicious of the reports that Trump was afraid to let the government shut down over the wall funding.

The prospect of an embarrassing Christmastime shutdown of the US government loomed Friday as President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats remained far apart on a stopgap funding bill held up by discord over money for a border wall.

An air of chaos hung over Washington as a midnight deadline approached for lawmakers and the president to find a way to do a very basic task: keep the government up and running.

If they do not, key agencies will close and many workers will be furloughed right before Christmas without a paycheck.

The sense of turmoil was compounded by a falling stock market and Trump’s abrupt decision to disregard advisers and allies and pull out of Syria and sharply reduce the US troop presence in Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, seen as a moderating force for an impulsive president, resigned in protest over the Syria decision and Trump’s approach to international alliances that are at the heart of US foreign policy.

On government funding, Trump reversed course on Thursday and rejected a measure that unanimously passed the Senate and was under consideration in the House.

He appeared to harden his demand for $5 billion in funding for the wall on the US-Mexico border, a pet project he has fought for since he began campaigning for president in 2015.

Remember, Trump is surrounded by the very worst sort of people who will not only take your silence for assent, but will twist and pervert literally every sound that comes out of your mouth without hesitation. All of the weasel words that surrounded the media narrative about Trump’s preemptive cucking on the budget should have been your first sign: “the Trump administration has signaled” and so forth.

All that means is that some subordinates in the administration are trying to influence Trump to go with the flow. It doesn’t mean a damn thing with regards to the President’s policy or what his actual decision will be. And given that “Mad Poodle” Mattis actually resigned in a hissy fit over Trump’s decision to stop fighting an unwinnable perma-war in the Middle East that is of no benefit whatsoever to Americans – that’s what the neocon hysteria is really about –  it’s clear that the President has been under incredible lobbying pressure from Congress, from his advisers, and from the financial industry.

You don’t think it’s an accident that the stock market is being crashed now, do you? This is all designed to put pressure on the God-Emperor to surrender to the World Democratic Revolutionaries and the Democrats.

It appears Israel recently received a rude lesson in why one should always avoid irritating the Russian Bear:

Syria will adopt a new rule of engagement with Israel now that Russia has taken a tougher and clearer stance on the conflict between Israel and the “Axis of the Resistance”. Henceforth, Damascus will be responding to any Israeli strike. If it damages a specific military target it will reply with a strike against a similar objective in Israel. Decision makers in Damascus said “Syria will not hesitate to hit an Israeli airport if Damascus airport is targeted and hit by Israel. This will be with the consent of the Russian military based in the Levant”.

“Russia has informed Israel that there are Russian officers present at every Syrian or Iranian military base and that any strike against Syrian or Iranian objectives would hit Russian forces as well. Putin will not allow his soldiers and officers to be struck down by Israel’s direct or indirect bombing”.

Moreover, Russia has given Syria the green light – said the source- to strike Israel at any time if and when Tel Aviv’s planes launch raids against Syrian military targets or launch long-range missiles without flying over Syria (for fear of the S-300 and to avoid seeing its jets downed over Syria or Lebanon).

The source confirmed that Syria – contrary to what Israel claims – now has the most accurate missiles, which can hit any target inside Israel. The Syrian armed forces have received unrevealed long and medium-range missiles from Iran. These operate on the GLONASS system – the abbreviation for Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, the Russian version of the GPS. Thus, the delivery of Iran and the manufacture of missiles inside Syria (and Lebanon) is now complete. Israel, however, claims it has destroyed Syria’s missile capability, including that of the missiles delivered by Iran. According to the source, Damascus controls a very large number of precision missiles, notwithstanding those destroyed by Israel. “In Iran, the cheapest and most accessible items are the SABZI and the missiles”, said the source.

The new Syrian rule of engagement – according to the source – is now as follows: an airport will be hit if Israel hits an airport, and any attack on a barracks or command and control centre will result in an attack on similar target in Israel. It appears that the decision has been taken at the highest level and a clear “bank of objectives” has now been set in place.

These claims of new rules of engagement in the Middle East may be false, of course. They may be nothing more than the usual public posturing. But we will soon be able to tell if they are in effect or not, because if Israel suddenly, and uncharacteristically, stops launching missile attacks into Syrian territory, that will be a strong indication that the reports of the new rules were genuine.

And I tend to suspect these new rules of engagement also have something to do with the recently announced US withdrawal from Syria, as there will no longer an American buffer to defend Israel from a direct Russian response or even a Russian response-by-proxy to Israeli provocations.

Needless to say, someone is lying, or at the very least, wrong. And based on the entire written historical record of war, it is usually the party claiming that the other party’s capabilities have been entirely destroyed.

Declaring victory and bringing the defeated troops home is absolutely the right move in Syria. The same thing should be done in Afghanistan and Iraq.

President Donald Trump’s decision to declare ISIS defeated and order a full US withdrawal from Syria has been met with anger and disbelief by the Washington establishment that hoped for regime change in Damascus.

Trump declared victory over Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) on Wednesday morning, as media reported that some 2,000 or so US troops will leave Syria within 60 to 100 days. Though Trump had openly spoken about wanting to leave Syria back in March, senior officials in his administration have said that US forces would stay there indefinitely.

One satirical news site perhaps put it best, “reporting” that both the left and the right were taking aim at Trump for “breaking with the longstanding American tradition of remaining in Middle Eastern countries indefinitely.”

Cue another round of “the troops weren’t defeated, they just weren’t permitted to win.” Such statements reflect a total ignorance of what war is. The USA completely failed to obtain its military objectives. Despite many, many threats, Assad is still standing and the US-Israeli proxy troops of the Islamic State and the Kurds were repeatedly defeated by the Syrian-Iranian-Hezbollah-Russian alliance. All the US forces have accomplished is to prevent the complete destruction of their Syrian allies.

Like it or not, the USA is an empire in deep decline, and the sooner AIPAC realizes this and stops trying to parasitically make use of the US military forces to accomplish objectives it is incapable of accomplishing, the better it will be for everyone, especially Israel. Israel faces its own problems of a corrupt and declining military, as Martin van Creveld has been pointing out since before its failure to defeat Hezbollah in the 2006 Lebanon War.

But at least Israel can defend its own borders. The much-vaunted US military cannot even manage that.