An alleged Chinese spy balloon that traversed the US had western-made components with English-language writing on them, members of Congress were told on Capitol Hill Thursday, people familiar with the matter said.
However, you can send it in the air streams that have predictable patterns due to Earth rotating. So you can put a balloon up in the upper atmosphere and have it drift around the world with high likelihood of eventually making it over some part of US.
The Moon of Alabama article mentioned a polar vortex that led to difficult to predict effects on the balloon’s float path. Before being set off course by the vortex, it seemed like the balloon would keep floating over Canada without touching the continental United States.
It is of course absolutely possible that this was just a random fluke. However, the fact that it happened just as Blinken invited himself to China seems a bit too much of a coincidence.
The Moon of Alabama article mentioned a polar vortex that led to difficult to predict effects on the balloon’s float path. Before being set off course by the vortex, it seemed like the balloon would keep floating over Canada without touching the continental United States.
It is of course absolutely possible that this was just a random fluke. However, the fact that it happened just as Blinken invited himself to China seems a bit too much of a coincidence.