Ninety-nine red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert!
There's something here from somewhere else!
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
When ninety-nine red balloons go by
German Band: Nena, “99 Luftballoons”
By now most people in America know that China launched a “red” balloon and successfully navigated it across America and over some of our most sensitive installations. I am a Montanan living just south of Great Falls and the ballistic missile fields that are overseen from that location. To say the least, I was concerned, and many fellow Montanans watched the news or the skies waiting for an explosion. Either our Department of Defense would defend our airspace and shoot it down in a blaze of glory, or maybe there was something explosive on the balloon that would also be triggered. Neither happened, but I was reminded of growing up in Belgrade, Montana in the 70s and 80s, ducking under my desk in school wondering even then how thin walls and a classroom desk would save us from something like a nuclear blast.
The American people are rightfully upset that this single balloon crossed our country unhindered. We knew where it was from, China even admitted to it and called it a weather balloon. They were right that it was taking the temperature of a nation. We looked to the sky and knew there was something here from somewhere else, it was spying on us, and our administration simply watched. Thank you to Larry Mayer of Billings, Montana for taking a picture of the balloon, if he had not we may never have known.
Angered and alarmed, Americans turned out in large numbers on television, radio, and podcasts to call out the administration for its lack of action against a threat to our nation. I was one of those Americans. It is time to admit though that the balloons that have us looking to the sky are worth noting, but spy balloons come across our shores every day and we are not upset enough. We better get there, or we will find ourselves homeless on the land our forefathers built. These “balloons” look different but are equally and maybe more dangerous.
1. Exchange Students – Chinese students attended colleges and universities across the country. Keeping an eye on them and spreading propaganda are an estimated 80 collegiate-level and 500 high school-level Confucius Institutes. Controlled by the Chinese Education Administration they are there to influence Americans and report on Chinese student activities.
2. Congressional Girlfriends – Eric Swalwell is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Chinese influence at all levels of government.
3. Land and Business Ownership – throw a rock and you are likely to find land or a business owned by the Chinese. From several businesses in West Yellowstone, Montana to land purchases in multiple states like Arkansas and Mississippi, the Chinese either publicly own a lot of America or own it through proxies.
4. Social Media/TikTok and Tech – our technology is infected with the cancers of spyware, malware, and many other means of collecting personal data. TikTok is banned in a number of state governments across the nation now, but America’s desire for followers, clicks, and likes is an addiction the Chinese are happy to feed.
5. Trade Manipulation – it is no mystery that the Chinese have used our desire for things against us. We buy what they make, they take our money and buy up as much of the world as they can. Free Trade should be free, instead, it has come at the price of selling our independence overseas.
6. Intellectual Property Theft – anything we can make the Chinese can copy and make cheaper. From movies to microchips, airplanes to asthma medication, it is copied and sold. In my younger days, I bought a lightweight jacket in South Korea and was asked which logo I wanted embroidered on it. This is what China does on a global scale. They steal our intellectual property.
7. University Grants – money comes with strings attached. When China is the source of money going to American colleges and universities we should expect there to be many strings. Professors and teachers who dare teach the U.S. Constitution accurately do not last long.
8. Immigration/Invasion – China considers itself at war with America and has for a long time. The open Southern land border, the open and seemingly unguarded skies to the north, and barely controlled waters around America are the invasion routes. No Trojan Horse required China, just walk, float, or sail on in.
9. Globalist Organizational Control – the United Nations, World Economic Forum, and many other global organizations have Chinese Communist Party members in key positions. They do not do this for philanthropic reasons.
The lyrics of the 99 Red Balloons song fit America over the last two weeks, we focused on the sky, except the war machine did not spring to life. It stayed in the basement instead. If we as a nation keep allowing all the other “trial balloons” to cross our shores we may live out another part of the song:
Ninety-nine dreams I have had
In every one, a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standin' pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenir
Just to prove the world was here
If we do not start thinking like the Chinese and ask ourselves why they are doing the things they are, we will be looking for souvenirs of America in the “ashes” of what we once called home.
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While the U.S. used the “domino theory” with success in order to gain support from the American public during the Vietnam War, former UK Defense Minister Sir Gerald Howarth is attempting to use the same argument to justify his reasoning for inserting NATO troops in Ukraine.
Despite most of the European and American populations being against engaging in war with Russia, established officials seem to be intent on pushing the issue.
NATO and the West’s willingness to no longer send only defensive weapons but now also tanks and longer-range rockets will be seen by Russia as an act of aggression, to which it will respond with more force. That act will then be seen by NATO as a call to escalate things further.
The former Defense Minister does admit that alternative media has been saying for a while that Kyiv’s efforts have come to a halt without additional support from NATO forces, as military funding and weapons can only go so far without additional troops to back them up.
Howarth suggests in his commentary that NATO cannot allow Russia to succeed in its invasion and takeover of Ukraine as it will then embolden Putin to attack other neighboring countries. While there is no solid evidence to support Howarth’s argument, it seems that NATO officials are working to gain favor with the public regarding inserting troops in Ukraine.
In essence, Howarth’s argument seems to be that the West will end up at war with Russia regardless of how fast or slow the West and NATO proceed, so NATO and its allies might as well rip off the proverbial band-aid and take the next big step that many fear will lead to a third World War.
Guest post by Colonel Jim Waurishuk, USAF (Ret.)
Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) need to shut-up and sit the hell down on Ukraine, NOW! I don’t care if they are Senators and veterans, they show ignorance about military strategy and operations, especially in the context of Russia's 'near abroad'. They certainly are totally clueless on the history of the region. They are out of control in their call for escalation in Ukraine -- as they are calling for boots-on-the-ground, massive deployment of military equipment -- tanks, missiles, and combat aircraft.
Geopolitically, they are completely ignoring the lack of national security imperative for the confrontation. Ukraine is not an ally of the U.S., nor is it an ally of NATO. Both fail to admit there is absolutely no “vital national interest” in Ukraine for the United States, never has been. PERIOD! No U.S. national security plan, directive, or policy addresses or identifies Ukraine as a vital national security interest in any way, shape, or form. Both of these Senators are absolutely wrong on policy, wrong on objectives, and wrong on their stance for increased U.S. involvement.
FACTS and HISTORY: To be blunt, everyone needs to understand this is a ‘border dispute’ between Ukraine and its eastern Russian speaking border which has been on going for centuries. The people and locally run provincial governments of the two main border provinces are Russian, speak Russian and want to be Russian. These provinces and people have absolutely no interest in being part of Ukraine. They never have been interested. Ukraine should let them go, and as a concession (for peace), let those provinces decide for themselves. Don’t let yourself be fooled like Graham and Cotton are.
Neither grasp or conceptually have an understanding of what is at play; in fact, they are being led, coerced, and obviously bankrolled by the Defense Industrial Complex. They are reckless and are proposing an absolute disaster. They are part of the Washington Establishment NeoCon War Machine and are LOCKSTEP with Biden. We are on the precipice of getting into a hot war with Russia. Their failure to grasp and understand the geopolitical ramifications, and the lack of missionm the lack of objectives, are literally “Sleepwalking into World War III”. And then there is this third idiot, Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) who is not ruling out a ‘nuclear first strike option’ by the U.S. These members of the UniParty Coalition (Leftists and Establishment Republicans) in Congress are pushing for much greater escalation. They are “gaming the system”, essentially “wagging the dog” for the U.S. to get into a shooting war with Russia.
Graham, Cotton, and Wicker have demanded a complete surrender on logic and policy and have joined with “permanent Washington” and the radical, illogical Democrats, and the ‘forever war NeoCon warmonger defense contractor corporatists.’ These three are the same ‘Republicans in Name Only leftists’ who signed on with their close friend, the installed and current occupant of the White House Joe Biden on the Omnibus Bill. If fact, Cotton has never been critical of Biden saying, “Biden has not been ‘escalatory enough’ on Ukraine” by not getting U.S. troops involved directly with Russia quicker.
WHAT IS MISSING? A THING CALLED DIPLOMACY. I must ask … whatever happen to diplomatic negotiation – aka peace talks? Have they heard of the Dayton Accords, which were implemented and negotiated in Eastern Europe 28-years ago, following the fall of the Soviet Union and the Communism in Yugoslavia? Since Biden was installed, there has been zero effort to hold talks with Putin. Zelenskiy needs to sit down and talk. In fact, in September 2019, President Trump told Zelenskiy he needed to sit down and talk with the Russian president. Granted, there needs to be discussions and concessions worked out from the standpoint of both sides. But the process called “Diplomacy” needs to be attempted to the ‘nth degree’ -- that must happen first, and so far, the Biden Regime has refused to allow it.
Let’s remember, as President Trump said, he could and would deescalate the current situation within 24-hours, as was the case during his 4-years as President. President Trump will be laying out his solution and plan for Ukraine, on Saturday, January 28th during his events in New Hampshire and South Carolina.
We are now on a fast track for WWIII rather than rationality, reason, and logic. Where will the trillion dollars, or more for this insanely contrived catastrophe come from to pay for this new wartime venture before we are all “lit up” by an RS-28 SATAN II?
Overnight into Tuesday a third airfield deep inside Russia came under attack, suffering a fire after an oil storage depot was bombarded by what the Kremlin described as a drone attack that was repelled after the initial blast. A large blaze raged throughout the night as emergency crews responded.
It came the day after two explosions rocked a pair of air bases even further inside Russian territory, which killed three military personnel in the Ryazan region, and Russian Engels-1 airbase in Saratov. Those incidents were also subsequently described by the defense ministry as the result of drone attacks.
The Russian city of Kursk, which lies closer to Ukraine than the other two sites of attack, had thick black smoke rising over its airfield in the early Tuesday hours. “Oil tankers at a base near the city of Kursk, around 60 miles from the border, were on fire and streaming smoke into the sky early Tuesday morning,” The Daily Mail writes based on regional sources…
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