About that Chinese "spy" balloon

 

Speaking of not trusting the government, it turns out that the infamous Chinese spy balloon that the military took down was not spying, and China had alerted U.S. officials that severe weather had blown it off-course.  Moon of Alabama sets the record straight:

. . . One wonders how [New York Times reporter Sanger] can assert a lack of communication when the Chinese side insists with evidence that it in fact communicated a lot . As the Global Times writes:

The Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed strong dissatisfaction and protested against the US' use of force to shoot down a Chinese civilian unmanned airship, urging the US to properly handle the incident.

The Chinese side has verified the situation and communicated with the US side multiple times, saying the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace was due to force majeure and the incident was totally an accident, the ministry said.

The Chinese foreign ministry asserts similar:

China strongly disapproves of and protests against the US attack on a civilian unmanned airship by force. The Chinese side has, after verification, repeatedly informed the US side of the civilian nature of the airship and conveyed that its entry into the US due to force majeure was totally unexpected. The Chinese side has clearly asked the US side to properly handle the matter in a calm, professional and restrained manner.

So China in fact had communicated with the U.S. and discussed the issue.

Its claim that the balloon went unexpectedly off course is, by the way, completely correct. The U.S. had long tracked the balloon over Alaska and Canada and was equally surprised when it suddenly turned south:

Another U.S. official said intelligence agencies began tracking the balloon several days ago, not long after it had left China and began its controlled drift toward the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. The official said American trackers continued to monitor the balloon as it progressed through Canada toward the continental United States, and were surprised when it crossed over into American airspace.

The cause of the surprising turn last week was a polar vortex over Canada that also brought a cold snap to the north-east:

We know the feeling when winter digs its heels in, and we get endless days below seasonal. When this happens, the jet stream becomes highly amplified with blocking mechanisms to trap the cold.

We often look to Greenland for strong blocking, but that wasn’t the case. The lobe of the stratospheric polar vortex was free to swing readily across Eastern Canada but then made a swift exit. A ridge of high pressure filled in behind, causing temperatures to rise as fast as they fell. . . .

Read the rest of Moon of Alabama’s report and analysis here. This information, needless to add, is not being broadcast or reported in the mainstream media.

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