{"id":228771,"date":"2023-02-06T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=228771"},"modified":"2023-02-05T03:27:29","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T03:27:29","slug":"war-machine-vs-balloons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/02\/war-machine-vs-balloons\/","title":{"rendered":"War Machine vs. Balloons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>US Surrounds China with War Machinery while Freaking Out about Balloons<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_228817\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/us-bases-china.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-228817\" class=\"wp-image-228817\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/us-bases-china.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/us-bases-china.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/us-bases-china-300x167.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-228817\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">US military bases around China &#8211; Consortium News<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>4 Feb 2023 &#8211; <\/em>In what Austin journalist Christopher Hooks <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cd_hooks\/status\/1621541880310730752\" >has called<\/a> \u201cone of the stupidest news cycles in living memory,\u201d the entire American political\/media class is having an existential meltdown over what <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.antiwar.com\/2023\/02\/02\/pentagon-claims-its-tracking-a-suspected-chinese-spy-balloon-over-the-us\/\" >the Pentagon claims<\/a> is a Chinese spy balloon detected in US airspace on Thursday [2 Feb].<\/p>\n<p>Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.antiwar.com\/2023\/02\/03\/amid-concerns-over-a-balloon-us-cancels-high-level-meeting-with-china\/\" >cancelled his scheduled diplomatic visit<\/a> to China after the detection of the balloon. The mass media have been covering the story with breathless excitement.\u00a0China hawk pundits have been pounding the war drums all day on any platform they can get to and accusing the Biden administration of not responding aggressively enough to the incident.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe important thing that the American people need to understand, and what we are going to try to expose in a bipartisan fashion on this committee, is that the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party is not just a distant threat in East Asia, or a threat to Taiwan,\u201d House China Select Committee Chairman Mike\u00a0Gallagher <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/world\/china-spy-balloon-is-a-threat-to-american-sovereignty-and-not-just-an-isolated-incident-gallagher-says\/ar-AA174San?ocid=msedgntp&amp;cvid=1fc93e74ff344e1f9a43ed6bfeb55a2c\" >told Fox News<\/a> on Friday. \u201cIt is a threat right here at home. It is a threat to American sovereignty, and it is a threat to the Midwest \u2014 in places like those that I live in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA big Chinese balloon in the sky and millions of Chinese TikTok balloons on our phones,\u201d<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenatorRomney\/status\/1621534647032156160\" >\u00a0tweeted<\/a>\u00a0Senator Mitt Romney. \u201cLet\u2019s shut them all down.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Amid Concerns Over a Balloon, US Cancels High-Level Meeting with China<br \/>Beijing said it regrets that one of its weather balloons drifted into American skies.<br \/>by Kyle Anzalone<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KyleAnzalone_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >@KyleAnzalone_<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/China?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#China<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/chineseballoon?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#chineseballoon<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Blinken?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#Blinken<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3PlvwpEQuD\" >https:\/\/t.co\/3PlvwpEQuD<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pvWNwBbft7\" >pic.twitter.com\/pvWNwBbft7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Antiwarcom\/status\/1621565755576971264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >February 3, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s foreign ministry <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/china-regrets-airship-strays-into-us-foreign-ministry-2023-02-03\/\" >says<\/a>\u00a0the balloon is indeed from China but is \u201ccivilian in nature, used for meteorological and other scientific research,\u201d and was simply blown far off course. This could of course be untrue \u2014 all major governments spy on each other constantly and China is no exception\u00a0\u2014 but the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/Transcripts\/Transcript\/Article\/3287204\/senior-defense-official-holds-a-background-briefing-on-high-altitude-surveillan\/\" >Pentagon\u2019s own assessment<\/a> is that the balloon \u201cdoes not create significant value added over and above what the PRC is likely able to collect through things like satellites in Low Earth Orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So everyone\u2019s losing their minds over a balloon that in all probability would be mostly worthless for spying, even while everyone knows the US spies on China at every possible opportunity. US officials <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.md\/CLL7B\" >have complained to the press<\/a>\u00a0that American spies are having a much harder time conducting operations and recruiting assets in China than they used to because of measures the Chinese government has taken to thwart them, and in 2001 a US spy plane <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/SsNey\" >caused a major international incident<\/a> when it collided with a Chinese military jet on China\u2019s coastline, killing the pilot.<\/p>\n<p>The US considers it its sovereign right to spy on any nation it chooses, and the average American tends more or less to see it the same way. This is highlighted in controversies around domestic versus foreign surveillance, for example; Americans were outraged over the Edward Snowden revelations not because spy agencies were conducting surveillance, but because they were conducting surveillance on American citizens. It\u2019s just taken as a given that spying on foreigners is fine, so it\u2019s a bit silly to react melodramatically when foreigners return the favor.<\/p>\n<p>As Jake Werner <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/responsiblestatecraft.org\/2023\/02\/03\/washington-inflates-the-china-balloon-threat\/\" >explains for Responsible Statecraft<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Foreign surveillance of sensitive U.S. sites is not a new phenomenon. \u201cIt\u2019s been a fact of life since the dawn of the nuclear age, and with the advent of satellite surveillance systems, it long ago became an everyday occurrence,\u201d as my colleague and former CIA analyst George Beebe puts it.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. surveillance of foreign countries is likewise quite common. Indeed, great powers gathering intelligence on each other is one of the more banal and universal facts of international relations. Major countries even spy on their own allies, as when U.S. intelligence\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-germany-usa-spying\/u-s-spy-agency-tapped-german-chancellery-for-decades-wikileaks-idUSKCN0PI2AD20150709\" >bugged the cellphone<\/a>\u00a0of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, even when such surveillance is directed against the United States by a rival power, it does not threaten the safety of Americans and it poses manageable risks to sites where secrecy is of the utmost importance. However \u2014 in the context of rapidly increasing U.S.\u2013China tensions \u2014 foreseeable incidents like these can quickly balloon into dangerous confrontations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">US secures deal on Philippines bases to complete arc around China <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Xs4DQaCVfz\" >https:\/\/t.co\/Xs4DQaCVfz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BBCWorld\/status\/1621001214467923970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >February 2, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Now let\u2019s contrast all this with another news story that\u2019s getting a lot less attention.<\/p>\n<p>In an article titled \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-64479712.amp\" >US secures deal on Philippines bases to complete arc around China<\/a>,\u201d the BBC reports that the empire will be adding even more installations to the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.substack.com\/p\/chinese-aggression-sure-looks-an\" >already impressive military noose<\/a> it has been constructing around the PRC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe US has secured access to four additional military bases in the Philippines \u2013 a key bit of real estate which would offer a front seat to monitor the Chinese in the South China Sea and around Taiwan,\u201d writes the BBC\u2019s\u00a0Rupert Wingfield-Hayes. \u201cWith the deal, Washington has stitched the gap in the arc of US alliances stretching from South Korea and Japan in the north to Australia in the south.\u00a0The missing link had been the Philippines, which borders two of the biggest potential flashpoints \u2013 Taiwan and the South China Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe US hasn\u2019t said where the new bases are but three of them could be on Luzon, an island on the northern edge of the Philippines, the only large piece of land close to Taiwan \u2013 if you don\u2019t count China,\u201d writes\u00a0Wingfield-Hayes.<\/p>\n<p>The BBC provides a helpful illustration to show how the US is completing its military encirclement, courtesy of the Armed Forces of the Philippines:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/usa_philippines_bases_map.png\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-228775\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/usa_philippines_bases_map-1024x974.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"381\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/usa_philippines_bases_map-1024x974.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/usa_philippines_bases_map-300x285.png 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/usa_philippines_bases_map-768x731.png 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/usa_philippines_bases_map.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The US empire has been <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/johnpilger.com\/articles\/a-world-war-has-begun-break-the-silence-\" >surrounding China<\/a> with <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/V42KtSeo3uI\" >military bases<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/2023\/01\/24\/chinese-aggression-sure-looks-an-awful-lot-like-us-aggression\/\" >war machinery<\/a> for <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/22\/the-us-is-encircling-china-with-military-bases\/\" >many years<\/a>, in ways Washington would never tolerate China doing in the nations and waters surrounding the United States. There is no question that the US is the aggressor in this increasingly hostile standoff between major powers. Yet we\u2019re all meant to be freaking out about a balloon.<\/p>\n<p>Ask me to show you how the US has been aggressing against China I can show you all the well-documented ways in which the US is encircling China with weapons of war. Ask an empire apologist to show you how China is aggressing against the US and they\u2019ll start babbling about TikTok and balloons.<\/p>\n<p>These things are not equal. Maybe Americans should stop watching out for hostile foreign &#8216;threats&#8217; and start looking a little closer to home.<\/p>\n<p>_________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Caitlin-Johnstone.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-180156\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Caitlin-Johnstone.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a>\u00a0 <em>Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who publishes regularly\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\" >at <\/a><\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\" >Medium<\/a>. <em>Contact: <a href=\"admin@caitlinjohnstone.com\">admin@caitlinjohnstone.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/2023\/02\/04\/us-surrounds-china-with-war-machinery-while-freaking-out-about-balloons\/\" >Go to Original \u2013 caitlinjohnstone.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>4 Feb 2023 &#8211; US Surrounds China with War Machinery while Freaking Out about Balloons &#8211; Maybe Americans should stop watching out for hostile foreign &#8216;threats&#8217; and start looking a little closer to home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":228817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[244,803,112,1109,95,70],"class_list":["post-228771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america","tag-china","tag-competition","tag-pentagon","tag-spying","tag-us-military","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}