It might sound almost too wild a thing to state, but the United States of America right now is in fact undergoing a kind of a major UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) crisis, with national security implications. Sightings are also taking place in other Western countries such as the United Kingdom (UK), but the US seems to be the focal point. The matter has gone beyond the realm of rumor, is in fact triggering a political crisis and unrest in at least three states, with federal investigations going on, and should be taken seriously at this point. Consider the following:
On late Friday (December 13) and early Saturday, officials went so far as to simply close airspace for almost four hours over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, this being one of the country’s key Air Force bases, due to UFO sightings. The authorities described them as “small unmanned aerial systems” (UAS).
Unidentified “drones” were also spotted over three military bases used by the US Air Force in eastern England.
Such activity was also reported (and confirmed) over the Ramstein Air Base, a US base in Germany, around the same period there were sightings over Ohio and Utah. There are thus simultaneous “UAS” activities across the Atlantic, apparently targeting the US.
In fact, for the last 19 days and counting, New Jersey has been haunted every night by unexplained aerial objects or phenomena (mostly drones but the nature of many still being unknown). On Saturday, ABC captured such an unidentified “object” on camera live on TV: it was described by some as looking like a pulsating “orb” of plasma or “energy”. Others have dismissed it as merely a star out of focus on camera causing an optical illusion, but people claimed to witness it visibly “pulsating” to the naked eye.
The White House and the Pentagon have stated the “objects” do not have a foreign origin, while FBI and the DHS have stated they appear to be drones flying “legally”, with authorities saying no one should shoot the objects – which is awkward, to say the least.
Meanwhile, In New Jersey lawmakers have called for a state of emergency due to the “drones”, while such a state of emergency has indeed been declared in at least 4 Ohio counties so far. The New Jersey governor has asked Biden for federal help. Moreover, “drone activity” even shut down runways at New York’s Steward Airfield.
The incidents listed above should suffice, but there are plenty more. It certainly sounds like something straight out of the X-Files TV show, and yet it is happening. The thing is, as recently as last year, there was so much fuss about supposed Chinese balloons spying on US territory, that it fueled tensions between Beijing and Washington, even though there did not seem to be much to it. Now there is a crisis, clearly spiraling out of control, pertaining to the aforementioned developments involving UFOS, UAPs (“unidentified anomalous phenomenon”), UAS, or however one calls them.
If part of those incidents had anything to do (even very remotely so) with American rivals such as China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea, American authorities (who are also news sources for the largest media outlets) would by now have made it known to all – even with some degree of exaggeration, as usual. In today’s new Cold War climate, such findings and accusations can always fuel further sanctions, economic warfare, political propaganda, and belligerent activity in general. There would be warnings, threats of retaliation, diplomatic tensions. The very fact that thus far no such thing happened is peculiar in itself.
In 2022, shortly after the Ukrainian crisis, the US Congress, for the first time in half a century, held a hearing on “UAPs”, with authorities having to clarify that it was not about “aliens”. The Pentagon last month released a report on UFOs, which found over 700 new cases, 21 of which they could not explain. Last month a joint US Congress hearing on UFOs had officials saying “we are not alone“, and it so happens that the source for a large part of ufologist’s claims about “aliens” has long been former military officers and intelligence personnel.
It is part of American pop culture (and there is an industry around it), but some critics suspect there could be propaganda efforts or psychological operations behind some of those “whistle-blowers” with wild claims. Interestingly, whenever geopolitical tensions are on the rise, American discourses about extraterrestrial life intensify – a belief which is becoming more mainstream. One may recall the Roswell incident, the allegation about Area 51 and so on. Such beliefs used to be ridiculed are becoming more mainstream.
In any case, the last weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency have been unusually busy, with the recent developments, all bearing American footprints, in Ukraine, South Korea, and Syria (the latter still not fully clear). The newly-elected President, Donald Trump, has declared war on the so-called “Deep State” and has been himself the target of three attempted assassinations, the first being such a major security breach (a suspicious one, even) during the elections campaign that the US Secret Service Director had to resign amid a scandal. This is the overall context to the current American “UFO” crisis. It does have precedents, as I mentioned but in scope it is totally unparalleled.
This crisis certainly contributes to further undermining the general public’s trust in the authorities: if (let’s call it “alternative 1”) American rivals are behind the “UAPs”, then it demoralizes the American military.
If, instead (“alternative 2”), the US military/intelligence apparatus itself is behind part of the sightings, be it as part of exercises or for whatever shady or classified reasons, then this could be therefore be interpreted either as:
2a) authorities waging psychological warfare operations (PSYOPs) against one’s own civilian population, which is not unprecedented in the US, by the way: for instance, in 2011, the ACLU accused the US military of conducting illegal PSYOPs against their own American senators
2b) or, still on the above scenario (“alternative 2”), it could alternatively be interpreted as intelligence services running out of control, thereby advertently or inadvertently fueling unrest and panic during a delicate “interregnum” period.
As the ancient Romans would say, tertium non datur – meaning, there is no third one (option). Of course anything else beyond those scenarios would involve the so-called extraterrestrial hypothesis that seems to be deeply rooted in the American psyche as a cultural-mystical trope – but thus far, pragmatically speaking, that line of hypothesising only amounts to pure speculation.
In short, there is no good scenario here, and one can only expect further domestic unrest and instability in the American superpower, with unpredictable repercussions globally, in terms of its foreign policy choices and responses.
*
Click the share button below to email/forward this article to your friends and colleagues. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
Global Research’s Holiday Fundraiser
This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Uriel Araujo, PhD, is an anthropology researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image: Area 51 border and warning sign stating that “photography is prohibited” and that “use of deadly force is authorized” (Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)
