Chinese balloon flies over america at 18 miles altitude. Shot down over ocean.

[Morpheus, the unwoke.]

It is now confirmed that President Biden ordered the balloon taken down some time before it was actually show down. He left the how to the Pentagon who decided to wajt till it was over water due to the risks of injuring Americans if it were brought down over land.

[ralfy]

"China accuses U.S. of flying spy balloons into Chinese airspace more than 10 times"

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/13/1156488174/china-us-spy-balloons-airspace

China is now countering U.S. claims more vociferously with accusations of its own. At a regular press briefing on Monday in Beijing, Wang Wenbin, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, claimed that it is "common for U.S. balloons to illegally enter other countries' airspace."

The Chinese spokesperson also said the U.S. was using warships and planes to gather intelligence on China 657 times since the start of last year. All this was proof, Wang claimed, that the U.S. is "without a doubt the world's largest surveillance habitual offender and surveillance empire."

[Rev. Powell]

The best analysis I read of this suggested that the Chinese's main purpose with the balloon would be to see how Americans would react---whether they could freak us out, as a form of low-level psych warfare. Mission accomplished.

[ER]

Until proven otherwise, I'm going with Victorian time travelers.

[Trevor]

I'm going to tie a pair of my undies to a balloon and fly it over one of f the two airbases we have here in Pretoria and see what happens.

I think I might need some bail money 😳😳

[ralfy]

From

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/the-coming-war-on-china-pilger-says-us-is-real-threat-in-the-pacific-not-china-20170209-gu96bp.html

[claws]

Beware!  The BALLOON!