Balloon intrigue must be unraveled

The shoot-down of China’s balloon should have been done over the Pacific Ocean [“China’s balloon raises concerns,” Editorial, Feb. 7]. Was the United States asleep at the switch? Was the balloon’s path cleverly chosen to match jet stream flows?

Newsday’s editorial board is correct that any awareness gap must be filled fast.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon started to normalize relations with China, which was expected to contribute to the global system but violated World Trade Organization rules. It violated a declaration ending political and social autonomy for Hong Kong. China is an adversary, not a peer competitor.

The editorial notes that the current intrigue is a thick weave that “won’t unravel quickly.” It must be unraveled because the ancient Chinese philosophy of Tianxia will continue to advance China beyond a military and economic competitor until it controls “all under heaven.”

 — James T. Rooney, Centerport

The writer is a retired Navy captain.

The suspected spy balloon should have been shot down earlier as it moved from coast to coast for days. It is hard to believe there was nowhere to down it safely between the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and the coast of Carolina. Who knows what intelligence was gathered by China before action was taken. Our administration has not prevented this type of Chinese aggression.

 — Rosemary D’Antoni, Sayville

Hold web firm liable for enabling scams

I was heartbroken to read that an off-duty NYPD officer from Deer Park was shot while trying to help a family member buy a car advertised on an internet marketing forum [“Officials: Man is in custody,” News, Feb. 7].

We should not excuse the media company that runs the marketing forum for its lack of monitoring that allows scams such as this to flourish.

Unless the company is accountable for the lack of quality control on its platforms, incidents like this will happen again.

 — John De Vito, Mastic Beach