Chinese Spy Balloon

[jon-nyc]

[Mik]

Perfect meme fodder.

[George K]

[mark]

[jon-nyc]

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Chinese Spy Balloon:

Nice of us to wait until it had gotten all the pictures it needed.

[jon-nyc]

2 questions about the spy balloon…

Was it really too dangerous to shoot it down over fucking Montana? There’s like half a person per square parsec in that state. Makes me think they were worried about dangerous materials on board. (Rank speculation)

The DoD said it didn’t provide any capability the CCP didn’t already have through satellites. Oh really? How do they know? And if that’s true, why did the CCP bother?

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Chinese Spy Balloon:

2 questions about the spy balloon…

Was it really too dangerous to shoot it down over fucking Montana? There’s like half a person per square parsec in that state. Makes me think they were worried about dangerous materials on board. (Rank speculation)

Here's a suggestion, how about shooting it down over the Aleutian islands, when it was first spotted? It's even more sparsely populated there than Montana.

The DoD said it didn’t provide any capability the CCP didn’t already have through satellites. Oh really? How do they know? And if that’s true, why did the CCP bother?

Excellent points.

Now, what about the OTHER balloon going over Latin America right now?

[George K]

[Mik]

@George-K said in Chinese Spy Balloon:

@jon-nyc said in Chinese Spy Balloon:

2 questions about the spy balloon…

Here's a suggestion, how about shooting it down over the Aleutian islands, when it was first spotted? It's even more sparsely populated there than Montana.

Yeah, I was thinking that too.

[George K]

[89th]

[89th]

[89th]

You can see the missile and jet in this one

[mark]

[Rainman]

Poor widdle balloon. Never hurt anyone.
I hope that pilot can live with himself.
I need a moment.
sigh

[Copper]

F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base downs Chinese balloon

I see, and hear, those F-22s flying over my house.

I'll have to get out my binoculars and see if they painted a balloon on the side.

[LuFins Dad]

[George K]

The WH knew about the balloon on Jan 28, and went public on Feb 2.

As it turns out, US authorities were well aware of the unidentified object that had entered American airspace on Jan. 28, that had then left and re-entered over North Idaho on Tuesday. But with such a high-profile trip at stake, keeping it on the down-low was key.
By the time the thing became visible in Montana, President Joe Biden had already been briefed and the White House was scrambling to decide whether to blast it from the sky.
The gravity of the situation was only exacerbated by Montana being home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, which houses a large portion of the US’s Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The Biden administration knew it had to exercise extreme caution especially in what was a heated political environment ahead of 2024 elections, with Republicans agitating on which party could strike a harder or tougher line on China.

I can see all kinds of reasons to not release it, but when the local paper in Billings MT reveals it, well...

[George K]

And, what the actual fuck happened to Bill Kristol?