The Drunken Old Guy’s Mind Isn’t Really on the Wine...

[David Morris]

http://americanfootprints.com/drupal/node/3911

The Drunken Old Guy's Mind Isn't Really on the Wine...

...Is the Pentagon Really Worried About the Hydrazine?

So asks the Chinese Internet in the matter of Satellite USA 193.

America's announced plans to shoot down a malfunctioning spy satellite
this week has elicited an avalanche of commentary and snark from
China.

By Google's count, there are 24,300 hits for the Chinese-language
search string, "The drunken old guy's mind isn't really on wine + U.S.
satellite."

That is either a sign of the celerity of the China blogosphere's hive
mind or an indication of how quickly a meme can spread when the
government controls the Internet, or both.

I think official Chinese priorities can be boiled down to four elements:

Asserting China's qualifications as a space power on par with Russia
and the United States.
Imputing hidden motives to the US for conducting the test
Expressing resentment that the US did a better PR job than the Chinese
did with their test
Hoping that the US will screw up.


The Chinese desire to be regarded as space peers and not just
irritating kibitzers is evident in a news report that the United
States will call on fellow space powers Russia and China for
assistance in tracking the hulk if the shootdown fails.

 The Chinese papers are filled with home grown wonkery and analysis in
addition to translations from the Western media, seemingly intended to
assert that the PRC is a fully paid-up and high-performing member of
the space club.

  One piece offered the observation that the speed, infrared
signature, trajectory, and available window weren't suitable to the
test of an anti-missile missile so by default it could be considered a
subset of an anti-satellite test.

 Another article advised that the altitude of the operation and the
time window available for the shot would give a good idea of the
intentions behind the test.

 Indeed, the Chinese were quick to look beyond the Pentagon's
solicitude for the people of earth threatened by a
none-too-catastrophic barrage of hydrazine.

 The expression, "The drunken old man's mind isn't really on the wine"
is taken from a poem by the Song literatus Ouyang Xiu.

 In the poem the drinker's mind is on the landscape, but the meaning
of the phrase has evolved to express suspicion of ulterior motives.

 And the Chinese are perfectly willing to ascribe ulterior motives to
the US test, from destroying sensitive technology to testing
anti-missile and anti-satellite systems to intimidating the Chinese
and the Russians.