POLITICS | AMERICA | CHINA

America Must U-Turn and Avoid a Collision with China

There are less risky ways to keep America safe, prosperous, and on top

Kerry Landon-Lane
4 min readJun 8, 2023

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“Let’s Play” — illustration by Kerry Landon-Lane

Proper defense of America is NOT blowing hobbyist balloons out of the sky with U.S. military missiles. A flourish to the lunacy was that one missed its target (the size and expense of a Walmart kitchen toaster), requiring an additional heat-seeking $400,000 AIM-9X Sidewinder missile launched from the Lockheed Martin F-22. The balloon’s string may well have been tied to the handle of a barbecue in suburban America. President Biden and top military brass ordered this flabbergasting action to appease an American population hungry for “something done about China.”

Does widespread hysteria now drive American foreign policy and U.S. military operations? Surely, it should remain within intelligence, the Department of State, and competent presidential leadership. It’s time for the administration to get a grip.

GETTING TOUGH ON CHINA! (whatever this means) is NOT a strategy for managing America’s relationship with its biggest trading partner and the second-largest global economy. Unfortunately, the strategy of the Biden administration, driven by Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor, parallels the popular want of…

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Kerry Landon-Lane
Kerry Landon-Lane

Written by Kerry Landon-Lane

OP-ED writer, designer and artist. Most recently returned to architecture and deliberately presents the subject void of buildings.

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