The Chinese Balloon: A Metaphor For What Ails America

What’s worse? Biden having his head in the clouds or staring in stunned silence at the Chinese balloon as it traversed America?

There are two trains of thought. One says the Chinese balloon was innocuous and perhaps even strayed off course. The Chinese have sophisticated satellites to spy on America. Why would they use a slow-moving balloon which is an easy target?

The second scenario is that the Chinese wanted to see how far they could penetrate U.S. airspace before they were noticed. If things panned out as they expected, it would be an embarrassment for America, the world’s supposedly premier superpower.

Several things are at work. It doesn’t take a genius to see that America is no longer the world’s dominant superpower. As well-known podcaster Steve Deace recently said, “The Chinese didn’t invade our airspace, they own our airspace.”

What message has the U.S. sent to China and the rest of the world? You can intrude on our airspace, and we’ll let you. No worries, except, of course, if you are Russia. In fact, if you’re Russia and intrude on someone else’s airspace, you’re prepared to go to war. Recently longtime journalist Seymour Hersh in his Substack article, indicated that the destruction of the Nordstream pipeline between Russia and Germany was the work of the U.S. Navy. American officials had boasted that the pipeline would be terminated before the event. 

The accusation that Russia blew up its pipeline was preposterous from the outset. Why would it destroy a source of income from Germany which needs Russian gas? It seems America is intent on far-flung military adventurism rather than protecting its backyard.

How could the Chinese balloon not be detected by the military as it entered the far north of Canada? Of course, it was. The embarrassment was that civilians had to alert the authorities of the ominous object in the sky. 

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was established in the late 1950s. I remember the facility tunnelled deep in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, was built to detect enemy aircraft from the arctic down to the continental United States. Was NORAD missing in action?

Did the Biden administration think that it would go unnoticed? Why would they blow the balloon up as it was entering the Atlantic after undoubtedly the damage was done? The Chinese would have had a cornucopia of intelligence information by the time the balloon hit the eastern seaboard of the U.S.

The world now sees America as a weak superpower, seemingly unable or unwilling to deter foreign actors. The Chinese bought out the whole U.S. corporate and governmental infrastructure. The infiltration of China into almost every facet of American life is so profound. Universities, corporations, sports, media, the pharmaceutical industry and even the U.S. military, are becoming vassals of China.

Some would argue––with good reason––that President Biden is subservient to the Chinese because of the evidence of pay-for-play conducted by his son, Hunter, on behalf of his father. The whole Biden family is beholden to the Communist Party of China.

Just imagine if there was an electronic device that could knock off U.S. media as it traversed the country, or if China unleashed a new virus on the American populace, or even more sinister, releasing a dirty radioactive bomb. American impotence was on full display. The slow-moving balloon symbolises the deterioration of the influential American spirit to a meek second-tier nation.

So the question is not if China will become the dominant world power, but when. The overwhelming evidence is that it already occupies that mantle.