[pjw] ANALYSIS: Shooting down China balloon shows violent lack of diplomacy

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hi
I was waiting to get an action alert to oppose the us using fighter jets 
(???) to shoot down the Chinese balloon that floated over the US last 
week. The National Priorites Project, which usually focuses on military 
spending (money for human needs not war!) put out this good piece on 
Monday.

Has anyone seen an article comparing the US shooting down this balloon to 
Russia shooting down America's U2 spy plane in 1960? Of course, that was a 
manned flight. But still, should have been instructive of what NOT to do. 
Unless the goal is to provoke a war. Oh, and also, all the talk about 
China's provocative moves with the balloon leave out the US sailing its 
warships through the Taiwan strait, building up military to ring China, 
etc.

Anyway, enjoy.
dan handelman
peace and justice works


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2023 10:34:22
From: Lindsay Koshgarian
Subject: All it takes is one (Chinese) balloon

Dear Dan,

Just as this newsletter was set to go to press, we heard the news: a U.S. 
F-22 fighter had shot down 
[https://time.com/6253010/chinese-spy-balloon-shot-down/] the Chinese 
balloon that spent several days over the U.S. last week.

While we’re still waiting to learn the full story of the balloon, this is 
a disturbing development. It’s a reminder of how easily relations between 
the U.S. and China can spiral into military confrontation - and that 
diplomacy is more necessary than ever 
[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/05/the-observer-view-on-the-real-threat-behind-chinas-spy-balloon] 
to avert worsening outcomes.

The U.S. has a real violence problem. This month, the U.S. saw news of 
more mass shootings 
[https://abcnews.go.com/US/6th-mass-shooting-13-days-rocks-california/story?id=96749605] 
, learned horrifying details of another brutal police killing 
[https://www.npr.org/2023/01/28/1151504967/tyre-nichols-memphis-police-body-cam-video] 
, and saw signs that the U.S. and its allies are digging in deeper in the 
Ukraine war 
[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/26/is-biden-right-to-send-tanks-to-ukraine-our-panel-reacts] 
. Everywhere on the news, it was violence.

These events don't seem connected, but all of them speak to a deeply 
rooted problem in our country: the way that we treat violence as a 
solution to problems rather than a problem to be solved. And then we use 
our tax dollars to support more violence 
[https://www.nationalpriorities.org/analysis/2021/state-insecurity-cost-militarization-911/] 
.

We are failing Black and Brown people, communities, and mothers. Instead 
of funding education, health care, and housing to build strong 
communities, we create virtually lawless special police forces like the 
SCORPION 
[https://truthout.org/articles/memphis-police-shutter-scorpion-unit-activists-say-thats-not-enough/] 
force in Memphis whose members killed Tyre Nichols - and we use our tax 
dollars to fund them. 
[https://www.nationalpriorities.org/blog/2022/08/01/police-violence-gun-violence-too/]

We are failing schoolchildren, shoppers, churchgoers, seniors just trying 
to enjoy an evening of dancing, and people with mental illness who die by 
gun suicide. We underfund mental health care and treat mass shootings as 
something to be solved by more guns and more policing, putting armed 
police in schools 
[https://www.nationalpriorities.org/blog/2020/09/02/ending-school-prison-pipeline/] 
and other public spaces, arming teachers, and fortifying public spaces – 
all using our tax dollars.

And we are failing the world. Congress just passed an $858 billion war and 
military budget 
[https://www.nationalpriorities.org/analysis/2022/budget-deal-rewards-military-expense-domestic-needs/] 
largely justified by preparations for an imagined war with China. The U.S. 
shooting down a Chinese balloon 
[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/05/the-observer-view-on-the-real-threat-behind-chinas-spy-balloon] 
isn’t likely to lead directly to war, but it’s a frightening reminder of 
how slippery a slope it might be. As NPP’s Lindsay Koshgarian noted in The 
Washington Post this week, there’s plenty of room to cut the Pentagon 
budget while making us safer. 
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/02/budget-cuts-liberals/]

This is why we work with movements that are working for nonviolent 
alternatives, like diplomacy, investment in communities, and resistance to 
violence as a solution. Check out our online calculator 
[https://www.nationalpriorities.org/interactive-data/trade-offs/] to see 
what we could do if we stopped investing in violence, and instead invested 
in solutions.

In peace, 
Lindsay, Ashik, Alliyah, & the NPP team