The effects of the Hydrazine tank would have been very local. Chances that a random passenger aircraft will drop on your head today are much larger than that the tank of USA 193 would have done.

I think the Russians are right, and this was a good “excuse” for testing ASAT/Anti-missile technology.

By the way, no-one ever questioned the satellite itself was real - the Russians neither. The point is that after it failed, it became an ideal target for an ASAT test, as debris from a satellite in such a low orbit doesn’t create a long lasting orbiting debris field. It was there, useless, and ready to use for this ASAT test.

And the USA had done another successful ASAT test before this one, so you are wrong there is saying that before the USA 193 destruction only China and Russia had. In 1985, the USA took down the Solwind satellite with a missile fired from an aircraft.

And yes, of course Russia and China are playing politics here, but so is the USA. What we are seeing here, is a new arms race with some associated cold-war reminiscent strategies.

Reconnaissance satellites are very important in modern warfare. It is known that the Pentagon worries about the safety of their reconnaisance satellites, and the development by notably China of anti-satellite weaponry.

Just as one way of detering Russia from firing ICBM’s at the USA during the cold war was to make clear that such an act would result in ICBM’s being fired at Russia in retaliation, this USA 193 demonstration is probably aimed at being a reminder to others (China) that if US satellites are taken out of the sky, the USA can and will do the same with theirs.