Was the disclosure of the mystery planes flying over Texas the American equivalent of all the leaks coming out of China’s military blogs? The unidentified planes seen in the skies of Amarillo have been picked up in blogs of aviation enthusiasts. This Newser take has a very interesting angle:

[Blogger Steve Douglass writes] in greater detail, saying the US military may be trotting out new planes (probably piloted) to make its enemies shiver or go broke trying to replicate them. This last happened when the world took note of the Air Force’s F-117, and “the Soviet Union went bankrupt” seeking “ways to counter stealth,” writes Douglass.

This goes right to the heart of the Bankruptcy Theory of Geopolitics, which I’ve written about before. The idea being that one power can bankrupt another by duping them into overspending on the military. For some, this is the Great Takeaway of the Soviet Union’s demise. And it’s a concept others see in Russia and China’s strategic collaboration.

Or, as blogger Steve Douglass wrote:

“Ask yourself an important question—what’s going on in the world right now?” he asks. “Who (has of late) has decided to roll back the clock to the good old days of the Cold War and MAD?”

Notice that in the US, Russia’s military threat is never far off the radar unlike the more obscured view of China’s military power. Putin’s recent Crimea moves could have an unintended consequence within the US.