Well, I would like to say,
That everything works just one way,
And I'm sorry, but I can't,
'Cause all the answers are not at my command,
So I'll fly with what I know, but I'll step lightly where I land.
—"Something, Somewhere," Invention, by Phil Keaggy, Wes King, and Scott Denté
I know I have referenced these lyrics a time or two before, and I probably will many times again. I can be dogmatic to a fault on some subjects myself, but I try to maintain awareness of my own fallibility even then. On other topics, I know my knowledge is limited or superficial at best, so I try to write in a way that conveys this less certain understanding.
I plan to explore current events and try to extrapolate some evergreen concepts while sparking serious discussion. This is the first in what will probably be a long series on various topics as I try to wrap my mind around major issues. My goal is not to proclaim the truth on these matters, only to poke at the common perceptions and spark conversation.
I should also be open about my own biases. I am an anarchist, that is, an individual who rejects the legitimacy of political authority. Despite popular perception of anarchists, I am not a hooligan out to burn everything to the ground. I advocate individual liberty, personal responsibility, and a culture of consent because I support the Golden Rule without allowing for exceptions based on titles or offices.
The Chinese Balloon
I open this series with the recent news of a strange balloon. I know I'm late to the party on this topic. The Chinese government is accused of an audacious surveillance campaign involving a supersized weather balloon carrying a sensor array, solar panels, and maneuvering systems floating along the Aleutian islands of Alaska, across Canada, and over Montana before making its way to the Atlantic Ocean.
Photo by Chase Doak via Wikimedia
War hawks are already demanding reprisals for this dreadful affront to American sovereignty, whatever that is. Apparently these inexpensive balloons might be difficult for the military to detect with their standard radar and infrared systems, but the US and Canada claimed to have this one under observation when its existence was published by the Billings Gazette.
Once it was over water, the US sent an F-22 Raptor jet fighter to shoot it down. Billions of dollars over many years were dumped into the program, and its only confirmed air-to-air kill so far is an oversized weather balloon. Great job! There's no way a 50-year-old design like the F-15 Eagle could have the same flight ceiling and missile technology to handle that!
Now we wait to see when, or if, the government reveals what they recovered from the wreckage. Was it a super-secret Chinese espionage system somehow capable of doing something neither satellites nor ground-based surveillance systems could manage? Was it a civilian project that went out of control? We really know next to nothing, but speculation abounds and very confident opinions are presented as fact.
Let's suppose this is the worst-case scenario. The Chinese government is deliberately flying a surveillance balloon over the US to spy on military bases including nuclear missile silos and gather radio communications data. So what? How is this a realistic threat to you or me? Why is the US government so offended when it has a long history of aerial surveillance? Should we be eager to back whatever reprisals anyone advocates?
I guarantee TikTok is a greater Chinese threat to your personal security than this new story, to say nothing of what the US government wants to hoover up about your life. As for the military sites it allegedly observed, maybe it's time to rethink Mutually Assured Destruction and the validity of nuclear weapons strategy? How does the threat of annihilating civilians really promote peace, freedom, and prosperity?
No matter where you live, "your" government does not represent you. The political class is illegitimate. Their conflicts are not yours. Be suspicious when they proclaim "security threats" and call for military escalation. If their pride is wounded, so what? All we really have so far is accusations, suspicion, and emotionalism. I am content to wait for facts and analysis, and I will remain suspicious of anything the government claims even then. After all, they're not exactly a reliable source of truth on such matters.
Am I naïve here, or do you agree that this is indeed a tempest in a teapot serving only to rile up nationalistic emotions and serve the interests of a belligerent political class? Am I somehow a traitor if I don't fall in lockstep? Chime in with a comment!
This is just a pedantic tangent, but it may interest you to know that the same complaints made about the F-22 and F-35 today are identical to the very same complaints made about the F-15 when it was first developed. Either all of them are wastes of money or none of them are. Personally, I lean toward the former position, since none of those planes were developed primarily for airspace defense. Historically, ground-based weapons have always been more effective against planes than other planes, going as far back as WWI (reportedly, it was gunner on the ground who killed the Red Baron, but the RAF took the credit anyway). I fail to see why, when the F-15 is primarily a missile platform, that you can't just take planes out of the equation entirely, since modern missiles have ridiculously long ranges.
Fighters are now used more as tactical bombers and ground support nowadays. The dogfight is largely a thing of the past, with missiles guided by radar from beyond visual range as the default weapon. And now platforms costing billions of dollars are being sent to down a balloon. There's a deeper analogy here somewhere.
Largely? The dogfight officially died back in 1979, and the at-that-time "untested money pit" called the F-15 was partially responsible. But noooooo, "the Vietnam War proved that pilot skill is more important than technology," said by the same bellend who thinks that drones are a great idea!
As with political progressives, there is no consistency to found in the verbal diarrhea of military reformists, they are stuck in the past, they want things both ways, and they are friends to precisely no-one.
I'm having a hard time figuring out the deeper analogy, but for some reason all that comes to mind is an old meme...
Even the F-4 Phantom could be upgraded to handle modern ordnance if not for the inevitable fatigue on old planes. It's more about bragging rights and funneling money into the pockets of corporate cronies than practical analysis of warfare. Chinese balloons and guerrilla warfare are cheap. Drones and stealth fighters are not.
Forget the F-4, what about the Longsword? It's an AT-802 crop duster with missile racks!
By the way, another thing that pisses me off about the reformists: they are the corporate cronies, but they pretend to be anti-establishment. I presume you know the type: some time-wasting dinosaur who constantly brags about what hot shit they were "back in the day," but holds back the entire operation because they haven't kept up with the times, then blames everyone else for the collective failure. Here's a perfect example of such an individual working in the Pentagon:
BTW, LazerPig made a few mistakes in that video, but he corrected them in later videos. Most important among them: Pierre Sprey never designed a single aeroplane.
A few days ago there were reports that China had sent a balloon to the USA which could cause damage there. As the war between Russia and Ukraine is going on, if it happens in China and the US, the lives of the people living there will become very difficult. The first video is not even playing here, maybe its ban my country too.
As I wrote a few weeks ago, the US has a long history of war. The political class thrives on conflict because they get power and wealth without paying the price in taxes or blood.
Ah, so we get to look forward to even more fanning of the flames? Nice😁
!PIZZA
Arson? Nah. Internet flame wars? Yeah!
You need to check the link for the first video. it's not working. It says video is unavailable.
It's probably unavailable in your country. Intellectual property and music licensing laws get in the way of everything. Here's a live recording on Bandcamp, or you might find the album version through the likes of Apple Music, Spotify, or Amazon Music if you subscribe to such services. Unfortunately, semi-obscure music is hard to source sometimes, especially outside its home country.
Oh yes, that could be the reason I'm not able to see it.
Traitor.
🤪
They use any old pretext to start something. Governments change but never change
Well, I quit reciting the Pledge of Allegiance once I realized it was a loyalty oath to a rag waved by tyrants instead of a patriotic tradition. Yay treason!
They will be tying you to the stake next!
Looks like I'll at least die warm!
Jokes aside, it is dangerous to be a dissenter when an empire is crumbling and looking to blame everyone but its own political class. The UK managed to survive the last century of imperial shriveling, but I doubt the US will manage to emerge unscathed. I suspect there is a small chance of balkanization ahead.
I read as book indeed with the premise being that the US has seceded into several small nations. It was about fifteen twenty years ago and I remember enjoying the book but thinking it was a bit ridiculous. Not so now
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