The country has been warned on two occasions in February 2018 by Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence, of various threats to the United States. China and Russia, great powers, both seek spheres of influence and endeavor to check U.S. appeal to regions. The terrorist organization ISIS has experienced a number of military setbacks, yet defeating it resembles killing an octopus. It is not only a terrorist organization, but also an ideology, and perhaps a theology, and may outlast defeats on the battlefield. Serious as these threats are, in addition the U.S. faces an immediate additional hazard as a result of its participation in the continuing imbroglio in Syria. The brutal war in Syria seems endless. So far, 465,000 people have been killed, one million injured, and 12 million, half of the pre-war population, are displaced. A war that began as a result of a peaceful demonstration in the Arab Spring of March 2011 led to violence by the regime of Bashar al-Assad that killed...(Read Full Article)