The writer explores a contrarian hypothesis.
The conspiracy theories have it exactly backward. The real threat isn’t coming from outer space, but from across the water. The military isn’t trying to start a war, it’s frantically trying to stop one. And if that means passing off Chinese spy gear as UFO’s, it’ll be far from the first time.
Balloons are to laugh, one might say, but equally striking has been the mass formation of bellicosity the Chinese balloon incident inspired. The object might have been a mere weather balloon for all we know, but from the moment it was first spotted by a civilian it has been called a spy craft. It had to be shot out of the sky as soon as it was safe to do so. Diplomatic relations with China have hit a belligerent pause because of it. Them Reds have become our new Satan, an outright enemy.
It is embarrassing that the American people are so easily and so mechanically stirred to warmongering.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
I’ve been thinking about why a balloon when satellite imagery is so good?
It occurs to me that balloons operate below the electromagnetic fog of the Ionosphere so perhaps it is about signals intelligence.
LikeLike
You may be right. I have heard that from other sources.
Something else I have wondered about: Had there not been the polar vortex which brought cold weather to the U.S. over the last week or so, what would the balloon’s flight path have been?
LikeLike
The question is whether the balloon was for science or spying.
That is why it was called a “whether” balloon. Mandarin is a very nuanced language.
True story😇
LikeLiked by 1 person