{"id":1041,"date":"2023-02-07T12:39:06","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T17:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=1041"},"modified":"2023-02-07T12:39:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T17:39:27","slug":"the-chinese-spy-balloon-story-as-manufactured-crisis-an-alternative-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=1041","title":{"rendered":"The Chinese \u2018Spy Balloon\u2019 Story As Manufactured Crisis: An Alternative Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

previous constant headlines of the Ukraine-Russia war were put on pause Friday into Saturday as the American public\u2019s attention and discourse got temporarily consumed by the bizarre Chinese \u2018spy balloon\u2019 saga, which grew more dramatic by the hour until it was shot down by the Pentagon over the Atlantic Ocean.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But few are currently asking the necessary deeper questions related to the timing. Given the last major balloon crisis to take over 24\/7 network news coverage ended up being a complete hoax (remember the \u201cballoon boy\u201d stunt of 2009<\/a> which had the world breathless and on edge for a full news cycle?), the current context to the Chinese balloon story and the question of cui bono <\/em>is worth a deeper dive<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entrepreneur and geopolitical commentator Arnaud Bertrand, who as a Westerner has spent many years living in China and frequently attempts to correct the often misleading analysis of mainstream press reports, offers an \u2018alternative view\u2019 of what\u2019s fast unfolding below [emphasis ZH\u2019s)\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI took a bit of time to dissect the \u201cspy balloon\u201d story \u2013 both how it is portrayed in the US and China\u2019s response,\u201d Bertrand begins a lengthy thread. As you\u2019ll see, the more you think about it, the more stunned you get at the sheer absurdity of the whole thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the US story.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

China sent a \u201cspy balloon\u201d over highly strategic US sites. It chose to spy on these sites with a big visible balloon (reported as being \u201cas big as multiple school buses\u201d), that anyone can see with the naked eye from the ground, to \u201cdemonstrate it had the capability\u201d, despite having a plethora of other more discreet ways to spy like satellites or stealth drones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unclear that anyone doubted China had mastered the technology of *check notes* hot air balloons and why it therefore needed to demonstrate this capability\u2026 China chose to do so on the eve of Secretary of States Blinken\u2019s visit to China, where he was invited<\/strong>, and hours after signaling Blinken would also be meeting with Xi during his visit, a high-level meeting not granted to any US Secretary of States in years<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story therefore being that China chose to disrupt a meeting with its own president and to sabotage its own efforts at d\u00e9tente in the US-China conflict\u2026 The Pentagon said it had been \u201ctracking the balloon for quite some time\u201d and that it wasn\u2019t the first time such an incident occurred, but this time \u2013 for unclear reasons \u2013 it chose to do a public announcement. As a result, Blinken announced he was postponing his China trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the story from the Chinese side.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To them this is a fluke accident, the balloon being \u201ca civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes\u201d that \u201cdeviated far from its planned course\u201d because of strong \u201cWesterlies\u201d (wind that flows west to east) and \u201climited self-steering capability\u201d, the main characteristic of a balloon being of course that it can only go up or down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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