In the United States, another bout of spy mania.

Only this time it is connected not with mythical Russian agents, but with a Chinese balloon that “accidentally” ended up in the stratosphere over US territory.

The Chinese claim that it is by accident: according to them, we are talking about a meteorological probe that has gone astray.

American experts and the general public were sure that we were talking about a reconnaissance satellite that flew over the most important US nuclear facilities (in the same Montana).

On the 4th, it was nevertheless shot down over the East Coast, and now the US military is trying to extract the remains of the balloon from the bottom of the sea in order to understand what it was all about.

It would seem that nothing extraordinary happened.

Even if the balloon had performed some kind of reconnaissance function, it would not have filmed anything that Chinese satellites do not see from space.

And yet the story of the balloon has become one of the main topics in the United States over the past few days.

This is because everyone saw something different in this story and decided to use it to realize their interests.

For example, the Republicans included the balloon in the list of sins of the Biden administration.

According to them, this whole story proves the failure of the current owner of the White House in protecting the United States.

“This administration lacks resolve,” said Mike Turner, chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee.

According to him, the balloon "should have been shot down before it entered US airspace, while it was over Alaska," and "there can be no excuse."

“China is poking at us with a stick, testing our resolve.

He understands that the tension between us is growing, and he is trying to understand what our leaders can do,” says New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu.

“And the president failed that test.”

That is, to put it simply, he showed weakness in front of the enemies of America, and voters in the United States of this,

The authorities decided to respond to the Republicans in the same coin: the Pentagon said that in fact, under Trump, at least three such balloons flew over the territory of the United States and no one raised any hysterics.

Trump, of course, was outraged.

“This has never happened to us under my administration, and if it did, the balloon would definitely be shot down,” he said.

And former Trump national security adviser John Bolton not only said that there were no such charges, but also suggested that the Biden administration present evidence of the charges to Congress.

And Bolton can be understood: yes, he is at odds with Trump, but John Bolton is called one of the potential candidates for the presidency in 2024 from the Republican Party.

And Bolton will go to the primaries from the party in the status of a hawk-patriot, who, of course,

Yes, the Democrats deny the accusation of their own weakness.

Their speakers assure that it is not a matter of weakness, but rather of insufficient communication.

As former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta rightly pointed out, the problem was lack of transparency - the US leadership was slow to destroy the balloon, and the American public did not understand why the White House was slow.

However, Biden needed to somehow respond to the incident itself.

His administration has already called it "a clear violation of our sovereignty and international law" and canceled a visit to China by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in protest.

Well, or, according to some experts, she moved it - today America still needs this visit more than China itself.

If we talk about how the story with the balloon is perceived outside the United States, then, firstly, it has become proof of the leakiness of American air defense.

This is certainly not Matthias Rust 2.0, but the myth of the “invulnerable island of the USA” has never received such a blow since the events of September 11th.

And the conclusions from this will be drawn not only by the US population (why is it so furious because of the balloon), but also by the enemies of America around the world.

In addition, supporters of China were also excited.

They use the balloon story to prove the power of the Celestial Empire.

Recall that at the end of last year, the United States took a number of provocative steps against China, the main of which was the visit of the then Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, which Beijing considers its sovereign territory.

And the Chinese showed weakness in this story: they didn’t shoot down the plane (as they promised), they didn’t indicate their readiness to shoot down (as they could), they didn’t even indicate the presence of their Air Force near Pelosi’s side (as they should have).

No, China escaped with "concern" and holding exercises off the coast of Taiwan after the end of the visit.

Many experts then considered this not just a weakness of Beijing, but another proof of its lack of will to resist American pressure, readiness to defend its rights and its red lines.

Someone could then call this behavior "wisdom",

however, Third and Second World countries saw this as more of a weakness and gave Beijing a minus on their comparison sheet of American and Chinese global power.

Now the Chinese people call the launch of the balloon the very revenge that Beijing served the Americans as a cold dish.

And one could agree with them, given the series of scandals and internal strife in the United States caused by an ordinary balloon.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.