Unidentified objects

Not since the launch of the Soviet Sputnik in the 1950s has there been “so much paranoia about mysterious flying objects over North America”, said the FT. The US shooting down a suspected Chinese “spy balloon” in its airspace on 4 February (pictured) was intriguing enough. Then, in the space of three days last weekend, three further “unidentified objects” were taken out by US fighter jets in American and Canadian skies: over Alaska; Yukon in Canada; and Lake Huron, Michigan. Two were smaller than the suspected spy balloon, and all flew at lower altitudes; none appeared capable of propelling themselves. But their presence set off fevered speculation, including over whether the objects were “extraterrestrial”. Anxious to calm public nerves, the White House has since suggested that they may have had a “benign purpose”; but if they do turn out to be linked to China, Washington will undoubtedly view them as “serious provocations”.

At times during this “helter-skelter weekend”, it felt like the US faced “an invasion of unidentified flying objects”, said Julian E. Barnes in The New York Times – but it’s not clear whether there were in fact any more of them than usual. By way of context, about 1,800 balloons are launched worldwide every day for the purpose of monitoring the weather. But after the recent spy balloon furore, US officials increased the sensitivity of their radars – and duly discovered more objects. They also started showing more willingness to shoot them down, said Juliette Kayyem in The Atlantic. The US is usually pretty tolerant of objects in its airspace; but with the eyes of the world on American skies, it was in no mood to tolerate possible incursions.

This saga could easily turn nasty, said The Economist. Even before the shooting of any balloons, China and the US were already squaring up over Taiwan, and both countries’ leaders face “intense domestic political pressure to stand up to each other”. Now the accusations are flying: the US says that China runs a surveillance fleet of balloons over 40 countries; Beijing accuses Washington of incursions of its own. Most analysts reckon that the risk of military confrontation over balloons is slim, said Michael Day in The i Paper. Far more concerning, however, are reports that phone calls between officials in Washington and Beijing are going unanswered. As long as that continues, we’ll remain in dangerous territory.