In the way that the Jews are increasingly seen as being the
fish that cannot live outside a sea of hate, the Wall Street Journal is making
the Americans look like the fish that cannot live outside a sea of paranoia. Even
when a foreigner does something before they do, or does something they never
did and do not intend to do, the editors of the Journal accuse such foreigner
of stealing the idea from America .
The editors are
showing this tendency again in the editorial that they published under the
title: “China 's
Cyber-Theft Jet Fighter” and the subtitle: “The new stealth J-31 is modeled on
the U.S. F-35.” It was published on November 13, 2014. Their paranoia becomes
even more pronounced when it is pointed out that an article on the Chinese jet
fighter was published in Foreign Policy two days before. This one came under
the title: “Chinese Stealth Fighter Takes Off Under Obama's Nose” and was
written by Elias Groll.
There is nothing in
the Groll article to suggest that the Chinese have modeled their plane on the
American F-35. In fact, the author speaks of the J-31 as being an inferior
model to the Chinese own J-20 which, he says, “has kept a much lower profile …
and probably being kept in reserve for use by the Chinese military.” As to the
J-31, it is a warplane that the Chinese are producing for export. It uses
Russian-made engines, which means that the Journal editors have only looked at
the fuselage to conclude it is a copy of the American warplane.
But here is what
Groll says in this regard: “Although the jet shares many design features of the
stealth plane, it's unclear whether they measure up to the radar-evading
capabilities of its American counterparts, the F-22 and F-35.” And this brings
to mind the protest that some Americans voiced when the Russians launched their
first Sputnik long ago. The Americans protested: “How dare they invade outer
space? This is American property.” They later described the moon as being
American cheese. But they matured in time.
In fact, they
reacted maturely when it was revealed that the Russians were working on their
version of the shuttle. That's when someone ventured to say that the Russians
stole the American design. He was countered with the observation that the laws
of aerodynamics are more persuasive at forcing a design than the need to copy America . In
fact, it was these laws that compelled the Russians to drop plans for a
shuttle, and to stick with the capsule technology. They turned out to be
correct, which is why they now have easy access to the space station whereas
the Americans pay them to send their astronauts and cargo out there.
Brushing this
history aside, the editors of the Wall Street Journal wrote their article the
way that they did to answer their own question: “Are the U.S. and China entering a new era of good
feeling?” They seem horrified by the thought that “A whirlwind of summitry
yielded [several] agreements.” What blew their mind must have been Obama's
remark: “when the U.S. and China work
together, the whole world benefits,” to which they responded: “We wish we could
be as sanguine.” And they gave two reasons for their pessimism. First, China seeks to displace the U.S. when it
comes to regional dominance. Second, the Chinese cyber-stole the “design and
operational capabilities” of America 's
F-35.
These people must
have missed what Groll had written two days earlier, which belies that
accusation. Looking at the performance of the J-31 during an air show, he
reported: “one expert was underwhelmed. 'It looked good but the performance
wasn't impressive,' a German military official told the Financial Times. Are
the editors of the Journal suggesting that the operational capabilities of the
F-35 are just as underwhelming? If so, don't tell the government of Canada which is
planning to dish out billions to buy this useless piece of American junk.
What the editors do
after that is typical of them. They contradict themselves trying to have it
both ways. What they tried to achieve this time was to paint the Chinese in a
bad light for stealing. What contradicts this assertion is the fact that the
Americans were so smart, they thwarted the effort. This is how the editors put
it: “The U.S.
says it never lost the F-35's most sensitive flight-control data because it was
stored off-line.”