Tag: missile

The government of China, for its part, has reacted using the unfamiliar French phrase (for most Westerners) of ‘force majeure’ – literally meaning ‘force major’ – more commonly interpreted within International Law as the concept of unseen, unpredictable and unintentional outside interference due to the presence of unexpected ‘major forces’ (in this case – the ‘wind’). The US government, in such circumstances, is supposed to facilitate the safe recovery of the property concerned and return it to its rightful owners (the government of China) – but instead chose the far more ‘illegal’ option of shooting down a ‘blown-off course’ canvas weather balloon using an ‘AIM-9X’ missile – individually worth hundreds of thousands of dollars! The balloon itself cost around $10 to construct. The destruction of this balloon, as immensely public as this spectacle was, signifies for the US Veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam, the ‘destruction’ of an enemy they could never quite get to grips with, and which in the case of Korea and Vietnam – inflicted audacious military defeats on one of the world’s leading military nations! The Veterans of the US will sleep soundly in their beds from now on – safe in the knowledge that Uncle Sam takes their racism seriously!