Big Red Car here. The Boss is in Cashiers, NC enjoying the rain.

Nice road trip with a delightful Cajun dinner in Monroe, Louisiana. The spiciest Cajun food ever but the mud bugs, jambalaya, crawfish etouffe — cher, that it the real deal.

So today we talk about diplomacy and what happens when it fails.

Enemy advancing, retreat
Enemy entrenched, harass
Enemy exhausted, attack
Enemy retreat, pursue

Who said that, beloved reader and what does it mean? First commenter to get it right gets a $50 gift certificate to Red Lobster. 

Military action is almost always the first act upon the failure of diplomacy. Think about that for a second. Makes sense, no?

General George Washington

The sentiment expressed above is what drove George Washington in the American Revolution. It is a military philosophy. General Washington was not the one with whom it is identified but long before the attributed author said it, General Washington was practicing it.

General Washington avoided decisive engagement — battles in which the combatants risked the very survival of their armies — and picked his spots carefully.

The Battle of Trenton will always remain as the most audacious, creative turnabout of an otherwise beaten army lead by a brilliant tactician.

A double, night river crossing, a double envelopment — when the lower river crossing failed, General Washington adapted and took Trenton in a night attack destroying a Hessian unit which had until then had never been beaten. He did not beat them, he destroyed them killing their leader.

When the Brits (General Cornwallis) came for him from Princeton, he lulled them into battle on a piece of ground of his choosing. He then repelled their first attack inflicting meaningful casualties on the Brits. He made them attack entrenched positions uphill into the face of well placed guns.

That night, he slipped the noose, sidestepped the Brits conducting an orderly night withdrawal and took Princeton capturing their headquarters and their supply trains — and their loot.

Brilliant soldiering and why General George Washington was the Father of our Country!

In the process, the fledgling American army — Continentals and militia — beat the most powerful army and navy in the world. It is a very powerful military philosophy.

It literally created the United States of America.

So what, Big Red Car? Relevance?

The relevance is this — right now, we are on the receiving end of this philosophy in many areas but, in particular, in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

In the Iranian nuclear negotiations, we are actually at war with Iran through proxies. We are being played. The Iranians do not intend to keep their end of the bargain.

When they see us become entrenched, they harass us with drama.

When they see us make concessions, exhibiting our exhaustion, they attack.

What kind of a negotiating partner chants “Death to America” while trying to sincerely make a deal?

As we retreat to even more compromised positions, the Iranians will attack in much the same way they are backing Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and growing their influence in Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen.

Danger

Know this, the United States is drifting toward war in a number of places on the globe.

The Russians are on the march in Europe. They are desperate to reclaim their past glory and Putin is a mad man. Sometimes, it takes a mad nation to conquer a mad man.

The Chinese are on the march in Asia. They have begun to unveil their “lettuce” strategy and have begun to militarize islands they have claimed and occupied building airfields capable of serving their largest aircraft.

They are building silent submarines and they are beginning to conduct maneuvers that mimic an attack on American interests and allies.

Know this — in 1928, the Japanese, at their highest level military schools, began to game and practice an attack on Pearl Harbor as a means of launching a war against the United States. In 1941, the plans they had spent a decade creating became a reality.

Why is this happening?

Because, dear reader, we are exhausted and retreating in the face of our enemies. A soldier knows what it means to “lean forward in your saddle” and our politicians do not.

We have a real danger of drifting into a war in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

I wish we had someone in charge of the caliber of George Washington.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car. Be good to yourselves. It was Mao who said that and he knew something about beating a big country. No Red Lobster for the Big Red Car!