Is anyone else a little nervous about the balloon that's hovering over the west of the US now?

[Amy10223]

It's been reported that a large hot air balloon, or what looks like it is above the state of Montana and a few others. It's also been ascertained by some officials that it's from China. It may be used for spying, and the Chinese foreign ministry has not denied it's theirs but has been vague about it as well. It floating well up above the country so that it can't be said to be in a prohibited airspace. Also, it's been said that the US won't shoot it down because of the potential harm to people below.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/02/politics/us-tracking-china-spy-balloon/index.html

Updates

+1 y

As some of you may have already seen or heard about, that Chinese "weather" balloon was shot down yesterday near the North Carolina shoreline. The Navy and Coast Guard vessels are now scouting for the debris that fell in the ocean, and whatever is found will be taken to an FBI lab in Virginia. Meanwhile, the Chinese ministry has said China has expressed "strong dissatisfaction and protest" and "reserves the right to use necessary means to deal with similar situations."

[NewsReader]

You can relax now

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-says-us-is-going-take-care-of-chinese-balloon-2023-02-04/

[Chad345]

I don't understand why it hasn't been blown out of the sky yet.

[Amy10223]

Because of the risk of having whatever is in it fall to the ground and injuring someone or something. It's technically not in American airspace--it's way above us.

[Agape93]

Nope. It can't see anything id be concerned with. If I did, I'd try to shoot it down

[AviatorTom]

It's apparently a Chinese surveillance balloon. I'm not concerned about it, or about surveillance... all countries do it. If it wasn't a balloon, the Chinese have several satellites orbiting the earth that do surveillance as well.

[Amy10223]

Yes, it's a surveillance balloon. I'm still concerned about it. Reason being--they're not answering all questions about it when our officials asked them about it.

[AviatorTom]

@Amy10223 The Chinese are probably embarrassed... either the balloon wasn't supposed to go this far, and be detected. They would lose face if they admitted what it was for, and Orientals cannot lose face... it's cultural.

[Amy10223]

Well, not to mention that they don't want us to know what it's for in the first place. They're claiming it is a weather balloon, but US officials can see what looks like solar panels on the bottom and are sure it is used for spying. They may wait until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean and then see if they can bring it down so that no one is hurt. What's fishy is that there is another balloon over Venzuela now. And, last year in February one was seen in Hawaii, and shortly before that one was seen over Guam, So it's been happening for some time. I'm sure the US does the same over some countries using whatever technology they have for this, but theirs veered off course.

[AviatorTom]

@Amy10223 Here's what the online news service "MorningBrew" says about the balloon...

Not since Balloon Boy has a balloon flying over the Rocky Mountain region caused such a kerfuffle: Yesterday, the US canceled the secretary of state’s planned visit to China after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was spotted over military sites in Montana before drifting eastward.

China claimed the object, which is still floating over the US, is merely a “civilian airship” conducting weather research that got blown off course, and expressed “regrets” for the incident. The Pentagon, however, is giving that as much credence as it would a liposuctioned celebrity paid to hawk weight loss teas.

Why bother with a balloon when China has satellites and TikTok to spy with? The older technology is cheaper to deploy and can be fitted with modern tech like cameras and radar sensors. Plus, they can linger over a spot longer than satellites can. But experts say the most likely reason China went with a balloon was to make a statement that it’s ready to take the US on. It likely even wanted to get caught snooping.

Zoom out: This probably isn’t going to help warm up the frosty relations between the US and China. The two countries have been feuding lately over issues like chip technology and the status of Taiwan.—AR

[Amy10223]

Why bother with a balloon? For one thing, we have ballistic missile silos in Montana and some other spots in the US, so when they were flying over Montana, obviously they were looking to see where exactly those silos were. They are claiming now that the people who put up the "weather balloon" has been fired-- so a to lead us into thinking it was indeed a weather related device and not a surveillance one. Only when the FBI analyzes the debris will they know for sure.

Of course, it won't thaw out the tensions with China and the US. But they were not great to begin with.

[Leopard23]

I'm sure it's not spreading biological agents like covid 20.

[lightbulb27]

or maybe it's dropping some fentanyl or new virus...

no, but maybe I should be.

[exitseven]

I am nervous that Biden won't shoot it down. He is clearly in the tank for th Chinese

[driven159]

Now that has been shoot down hoping they can retrieve it and find out if it was spying or not if it was then it took a turn for the worst not the better but it's not the first one to fly over the USA

[Anonymous]

Yes, Chinese has proven now they have hot air balloon technology. 😆😆😆

[gorydetails]

I’m more concerned our feckless president sits with his thumb up his ass and does nothing about it

[ManHater]

USA is owned by the chinese why would they shoot it down?

[NathanDavis]

it's just a balloon...

[Jennz6]

Yes, why can’t we capture it?

[TrillXHippy]

I don’t care tbh

[BarryLiverstone]

I’m not nervous

[In_Trance]

Jesus...