The Generals are Talking - That's Rarely a Good Thing.

The top brass is getting restive and they're looking for a bit of mass mayhem.

This might be news to you but Russia has an Academy of Geopolitical Problems. The president of the academy, Konstantin Sivkov, wears a uniform with the insignia of a three star general.

Comrade Sivkov thinks he has an answer to NATO's steady encroachment right up to Russia's doorstep - America's backyard - the San Andreas Fault and Yellowstone national park to be specific.  He thinks that all Russia has to do is pop a good size nuke into the fault and another into Yellowstone and America comes to an end.

"Geologists believe that the Yellowstone supervolcano could explode at any moment. There are signs of growing activity there. Therefore it suffices to push the relatively small, for example the impact of the munition megaton class to initiate an eruption. The consequences will be catastrophic for the United States - a country just disappears," he said.

"Another vulnerable area of ​​the United States from the geophysical point of view, is the San Andreas fault - 1300 kilometers between the Pacific and North American plates ... a detonation of a nuclear weapon there can trigger catastrophic events like a coast-scale tsunami which can completely destroy the infrastructure of the United States."

Meanwhile, US Navy Admiral, Harry Harris, is accusing China of building a second "Great Wall" of artificial islands in the South China Sea.  Harris, soon to head America's Pacific Command, says the island chain will threaten major shipping lanes.

"China is creating a great wall of sand with dredges and bulldozers over the course of months," said Admiral Harris, who is currently commander of the US Pacific Fleet.

"When one looks at China's pattern of provocative actions towards smaller claimant states, the lack of clarity on its sweeping nine-dash line claim that is inconsistent with international law, and the deep asymmetry between China's capabilities and those of its smaller neighbours – well, it's no surprise that the scope and pace of building man-made islands raises serious questions about Chinese intentions," he said.

China has repeatedly rejected regional concerns, saying the constructions are "necessarily" and are taking place on Chinese territory.

Just what Admiral Harris proposes to do about China's expansion into the South China Sea is a mystery.  But often these things begin with hard talk and then get a life of their own.