Now that the hysteria surrounding the Chinese “Spy” Balloon I am hoping that logic and reason will take over and we will realize that instead of a NORAD failure that jeopardized national security, the wayward balloon was seized as an opportunity by the Biden Administration to display Biden’s prowess as a Commander in Chief on the eve of the State of the Union address. Of course, the incompetents that surround the equally feckless Biden turned the incident into a dangerous clown show.
Let us start with NORAD. The Commander of NORAD admitted that he was aware of the balloon as it approached Alaska but judged it “harmless.”
VanHerck said the U.S. did have “domain awareness” of the most recent Chinese balloon as it approached Alaska:
“It was my assessment that this balloon did not present a physical military threat to North America — this is under my NORAD hat. And therefore, I could not take immediate action because it was not demonstrating hostile act or hostile intent,” he said.
Got that? Not hostile. At that point, the Biden Administration could have done a couple of things. First, call the Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. State Department and have Secretary of State Blinken demand answers from China about its wayward balloon. Second, Secretary of Defense Austin could have called his counterpart in China and delivered the same message. Had we done this the Chinese would have been on notice that we were not asleep at the switch. But none of that happened.
Somewhere between Alaska and Montana the White House learned that the balloon was going to float across the United States and decided this would be great PR on the eve of the State of the Union. Joe Biden would get to demonstrate his chops as Commander in Chief by ordering a military strike on the sauntering gas bag and go to Capitol Hill on Tuesday night as the man who took on China.
But the bankrupt “brain” trust that surrounds Joe Biden failed to anticipate the political and public reaction for doing nothing to protect American air space until the balloon was over the ocean. Instead of being seen as a strong decision-maker, Biden was lampooned as an addled dementia patient who failed to protect America from a potentially lethal balloon.
The balloon (and Biden’s reputation) were not the only casualties from this bit of National Security Kabuki theater. Biden also blew a gaping hole in U.S. relations with China. Biden could have phoned his good friend, General Secretary Xi Jinping, and shared his concerns about the balloon. But instead of using diplomacy and keeping the lines of communication with China open, Biden insulted his financial benefactors and created a predicate for shooting down stray aircraft and balloons that the Chinese are certain to use against us when the opportunity presents itself.
Moon of Alabama highlighted Lloyd Austin’s feeble attempt to get the toothpaste back in the tube:
China Isn’t Ready to Pick Up Phone After Balloon IncidentChinese officials rejected a request from the U.S. defense secretary to speak with his counterpart after an American fighter jet shot down a Chinese spy balloon.
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that China had rejected a request from Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III to speak with his Chinese counterpart on Saturday soon after an American fighter jet shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
The Chinese were already alarmed by the leaked letter from the head of Air Mobility Command, General Mike Minihan:
A four-star Air Force general sent a memo on Friday to the officers he commands that predicts the U.S. will be at war with China in two years and tells them to get ready to prep by firing “a clip” at a target, and “aim for the head.”
In the memo sent Friday and obtained by NBC News, Gen. Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, said, “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me will fight in 2025.”
Minihan’s intemperate musings, which one has to assume had the approval of his Chain of Command, were seen in Beijing as a direct threat. Imagine that you are a lead military planner in the Chinese military. You have the Minihan letter and you have the shootdown of what the Chinese insist is a weather balloon. Will you tell your bosses that the United States is just kidding or do you conclude that the United States is hell-bent on a military confrontation? Any responsible analyst would go with the latter.
Biden and his inept National Security team are playing with nuclear fire. China is not going to be bullied. Unlike Biden, however, Xi Jinping and his national security team are patient and will make the necessary preparations. I believe their willingness to give the United States the benefit of the doubt going forward is at an end. The world is more dangerous today than when Joe Biden assumed the Presidency.