The War Drive Against China Keeps Ballooning
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2023
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Biden’s administration used an Air Force F-22 Raptor jet fighter and Raytheon’s Sidewinder missile, to shoot down a meandering Chinese balloon on Saturday. Republicans in Congress called the balloon a “show of force,” and Biden canceled Secretary of State Blinken’s trip to China.
Brian is joined by Dr. Ken Hammond, professor of East Asian and Global History at New Mexico State University, founding director of the Confucius Institute at New Mexico State University, and leading organizer with Pivot to Peace.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Biden administration used an advanced missile to bring down a slow-moving high-altitude |
| 0:07.3 | Chinese balloon. Meanwhile, Biden's Republican critics in Congress denounced the balloon's presence |
| 0:14.4 | in the United States as a quote, show a force, close quote, by the Chinese government, |
| 0:20.5 | and demanded an even more hyper-aggressive |
| 0:23.4 | response from the administration. |
| 0:26.7 | We need a new system. |
| 0:28.8 | We need a new society. |
| 0:30.7 | We need to demand that which may have sounded impossible even a few weeks ago, but is not only |
| 0:36.3 | realizable, but an imperative necessity. Welcome to this week's episode of the Socialist Program. I'm your host, Brian Becker. |
| 1:07.4 | Today we are talking once again with Dr. Ken Hammond. Dr. Hammond is a professor of East Asian and Global History at New Mexico State University. |
| 1:16.6 | He was the founding director of the Confucius Institute at the University. |
| 1:20.6 | He is also an author, a journalist, and an organizer and activist with the Peace organization, Pivot to Peace. |
| 1:28.1 | Dr. Hammond, welcome back. |
| 1:29.9 | Glad to be here, Brian. |
| 1:31.6 | Well, this was the shot against the balloon heard round the world, Dr. Hammond. |
| 1:38.2 | I want to start with a CNN news clip, which includes commentary from some of Biden's Republican critics in Congress. |
| 1:46.2 | Let's start with that and then I'll get your comments. |
| 1:49.1 | Bit by tattered bit, salvage teams have pulled the remnants of the Chinese high-altitude balloon |
| 1:53.6 | out of the Atlantic Ocean, learning its secrets now just a matter of time. |
| 1:57.6 | The first were covered parts already at Quantico for FBI analysis. CNN has reviewed |
| 2:02.5 | parts of an Air Force report from last April that showed the trajectory of one high-altitude balloon |
| 2:07.0 | that flew around the world in 2019 during the Trump administration. According to the report, |
... |
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