https://freebeacon.com/national-security/biden-admin-outraged-that-russian-attack-on-u-s-drone-was-environmentally-unsound/

"The Biden administration took specific issue with the fact that Russia’s attack on a U.S. drone operating in international waters was "environmentally unsound."

Russian warplanes on Tuesday attacked a U.S. surveillance drone patrolling in the Black Sea, forcing it to land in international waters. The Pentagon signaled it is particularly outraged over the Russian pilots’ decision to dump fuel on and around the drone.

"Several times before the collision, the [Russian] Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the [American] MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound, and unprofessional manner," U.S. European Command said in a statement on the incident, which it called "unsafe and unprofessional."

The Pentagon’s focus on the environmental impact of a military skirmish with Russia—the first since Moscow launched its unprovoked war in Ukraine last year—highlights the American military’s growing focus on green priorities under the Biden administration. "Tackling the climate crisis," as the Defense Department puts it, is one of America’s top national security issues under President Joe Biden.

Russia’s decision to harm the environment as it attacks American military planes sounded alarm bells at the Pentagon, which says "the planet's changing climate has a significant effect on Defense Department missions." The Pentagon recently decided to elevate "climate change as a national security priority, integrating climate considerations into policies, strategies, and partner engagements."

The Defense Department issued a "climate adaptation plan" in 2021 and followed up with a "progress report" in 2022. The Army, Navy, and Air Force also have issued their own "climate strategy" plans for the first time.

As part of this major military focus on green priorities, the Biden administration late last year mandated that contractors reduce CO2 emissions and consider "the climate impact of U.S. weapons," according to the Wall Street Journal.

These mandates were handed down amid the war in Ukraine and come as Russia, China, Iran, and other malign regimes invest in their war fighting capabilities.

Dear Brad, thank you for response and I appreciate your input. RE “I've never called you or anyone else names, denigrated you personally or anything of the sort,” I sure take your statement that I am on a “whining tour” as an exception to that but let’s move on …

Re the “facts” I refuted your pushback in your previous post with credible references yet you are unable to accept them.

A healthy and civil dialogue is what a democracy is all about, that is what our Founding Fathers staked their lives and fortunes on. I would expect and hope that you would criticize a Republican Administration just as I frequently criticize the current Administration. That is what democracy is all about.

Please continue to talk about DJT but it simply weakens your argument. The fascination (or obsession) with Trump has caused many to overlook the fact that there is a non-Trump Republican Party out there and it does pretty well. A return to a more normal Republican Party may be good for America but could pose a problem for some Democrats who need to build a stronger rationale for their party than “we’re not Trump.” Have a good week. Best, Ros

For historical context ...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/when-china-shot-down-five-u-2-spy-planes-at-the-height-of-the-cold-war/ar-AA18tFXe?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=06e5a6eac4ef40f088e3dff27fd4c2b6&ei=14

Until now, most of the media’s focus has been on the balloon – specifically, how a vessel popularly seen as a relic of a bygone era of espionage could possibly remain relevant in the modern spy’s playbook. Yet to many military historians, it is the involvement of that other symbol of a bygone time, the U-2, that is far more telling.

The U-2 has a long and storied history when it comes to espionage battles between the US and China. In the 1960s and 1970s, at least five of them were shot down while on surveillance missions over China.

Those losses haven’t been as widely reported as might be expected – and for good reason. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was responsible for all of America’s U-2s at the time the planes were shot down, has never officially explained what they were doing there.

For the record the United States Navy as well as the Air Force conduct live fire surface and air gunnery and missle exercises, sink target ships (SINKEXs), etc. in "international waters." All that is required is that the the respective service rquest a NOTAM (Notice to Mariners) prior to commencment of using live ordnance to ensure both mariners and airmen stand clear of the exercise area. Similarly the PRC "weather ballon" could have been neutralized in international airspace before it drifted at will accross some of our most sensitive military installations.

My response to several of the comments below:

1) The PRC “weather balloon” was tracked from launch leaving China. Per

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/02/14/china-spy-balloon-path-tracking-weather/

“By the time a Chinese spy balloon crossed into American airspace late last month, U.S. military and intelligence agencies had been tracking it for nearly a week, watching as it lifted off from its home base on Hainan Island near China’s south coast.”

Thus, it should have been engaged before entering sovereign airspace of the United States of America. Using the same argument that it should not have been engaged over land due to possible collateral damage it could have easily been engaged over the Pacific Ocean. In addition, we had no idea of the balloon’s payload – please look up “EMP” or electromagnetic pulse and the havoc it would wreak on our infrastructure if employed by the PRC.

2) The is no open-source data that indicates that the U.S. “blocked it electronic transmissions.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/09/china-spy-balloon-sought-us-communications-state-department/11219163002/

If anything. “The balloon's spyware payload, the size of a regional jetliner, had "multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications," according to the spokesperson's statement. He was not authorized to speak publicly. “

3) Use of $400,000 missile not only employed against the PRC “weather balloon” but fired at other objects to more than likely include $12 balloons launched by civilian weather clubs. Clearly overkill when it was possible to visually ID the targets as the U-2 did with its selfie showing the silhouette of the airframe on the balloon and it it was friendly let it go on its way.

I view the NVD online comment section as a venue to provide intelligent and civil feedback. Such comments as “…care little about actual real-world facts, only about continuing their victimization and whining tour” are not only incorrect but are better suited for Facebook where vice a professional news publication.

Too soon, Mr. Poplar. We’ll have to wait several years for the truth to come out like we’re seeing with Covid and the January 6th event. Feel free to resubmit, then.

Yes Sidewinders have to be used to take down a balloon at 40,000 feet.

The military's ability to respond to balloons and similar craft is constrained by physics and the capabilities of current weapons," The Washington Post reports, and you can't really pop a giant balloon with gunfire at 40,000 feet.

Another predictable blame game column. The leisurely pace of the balloon across the country provided plenty of opportunity to conceal or provide false targets for Chinese consumption while allowing our military and intelligence services to analyze their information gathering procedures. Is it possible that bringing it down over water allowed the retrieval of a more nearly intact device? Do you really suppose it gathered anything that satellites are incapable of collecting? Sadly, the public pressure and Republican hysteria prompted strikes against apparently harmless balloons.

Biden is bringing chip manufacturing back to the US mainland after corporation’s intent on improving their bottom lines allowed that vital work to be done elsewhere.

Regarding attempts to counter China, the previous administration pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership which would have solidified our relations with 12 Pacific Rim countries in a united front against China. We lost a real opportunity to work together to contain China, but at least we still have Trump’s Chinese bank accounts and Ivanka’s 41 Chinese patents.

Misinformation is key to Republican commentary these days. We see it everywhere we turn, including this wildly inaccurate "Reader Commentary." The fact is that the 1st balloon from the PRC was not shot down over US or Canadian lands because of the large debris field that such a shootdown would have entailed.

Both the US Military and our Intelligence Community recommended against such action, and instead, we jammed their communications, while studying how the device worked and shot it down when it posed no further risks to those of us on the land. Keep in mind that the “balloon” was about 200 feet tall and carrying a payload roughly the size of a commercial jet airplane, hardly a “civilian” effort, as the writer implies.

The fact is that the Biden Administration has responded to the threat of the PRC much more effectively than the prior Administration. Remember, Trump had bank accounts in China that he kept secret during his Administration, while his daughter routinely filed 41 separate patents for a wide range of products in China, while supposedly “working” for the US Government. Talk about corruption!

Biden has cut off much in the way of advanced chip sales to China, sanctioned multiple corporations and business leaders, while endeavoring to curtail Huawei’s business interests in the America. Biden’s Chips and Science Act is bringing chip manufacturing back home, to our manufacturing companies. Sinno Electronics and Spacety China are the most recent entities sanctioned for their roles in supporting Russia in their criminal invasion of Ukraine, and multiple companies are being sanctioned currently because of the Human Rights violations of the Uyghurs. To say we’re “pontificating” is simply more claptrap.

The author mentions the harvesting of human organs, and as appalling as that may sound, the Commonwealth of Virginia was guilty of such actions as recently as the 1960’s, when they illegally and immorally harvested the organs of Black bodies by State-owned medical institutions. In fact, SJ 274 was just tabled by Republicans in the Virginia House a few weeks ago, including Speaker Todd Gilbert. The bill was merely “acknowledging with profound regret the unethical use of Black bodies by medical institutions in the Commonwealth.

“I feel like there are thousands upon thousands of equally painful and hurtful and regrettable stories that could be told about how we treated one another; how Black Americans were treated for a very long time in this country. And I just worry that there’s no end to these resolutions, and maybe that’s the intent, I don’t know,” Gilbert said.

It’s easy to see that Republicans like Mr. Poplar and Mr. Gilbert care little about actual real world facts, only about continuing their victimization and whining tour. Yes, the PRC is a threat, no one is arguing that, but falsifying the current Administrations response to score political points is unnerving and shows us that one side cares little for reality, only their fake messaging.