Source: The Washington Post via MSN.
Stories about this balloon popped up this morning like mushrooms after a spring rain all across the web sites I habitually visit. I’m not sure what to make of it.
Are we under attack? Is psychological manipulation involved? Should Stumble Joe have shot the thing out of the sky? Could he?
More basic: How do we know the balloon is Chinese? And, how do we know it is spying on us?
I’m not inclined to worry about it much, as I have no particular animosity for China. I just hope this story is not — literally — a trial balloon for new impending hostilities.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
I saw article too. I got the impression that this is nothing new and shooting it down poses a debris risk. News at 11.
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China says it is just a weather balloon that blew off course. A U.S. defense official claims that the balloon has “limited” intelligence value. However, the balloon has sufficiently spooked our Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he cancelled a planned diplomatic trip to China this weekend.
https://apnews.com/article/politics-antony-blinken-china-314302278a5f05bdc2df146ed5b35ec6
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“Spooked” is not quite the right word. Delaying such as visit is a standard diplomatic response suitable for a very mild provocation.
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“Stories about this balloon popped up this morning like mushrooms “…
Funny. I saw it last night on the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell.
According to the reporting from last night’s EVENING news, Pres. Biden wanted to shoot it down, but he was advised against it by the Pentagon. Stated reason then, if I recall, was debris. IF what the Chinese say is true and that it is a weather observation balloon, it makes no sense to shoot it down. Also, shooting it down COULD be considered overly provocative. – IMO
However, until we KNOW whether it is a spy balloon or a weather one, prudence dictates NOT visiting the Chinese by SECSTATE – IMO.
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Well, the narrative for this story has begun to, er, swell. The Washington Examiner is floating the speculation that the Chinese balloon may be the prototype for a nuclear-armed EMP weapon.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/balloons-called-top-delivery-platform-for-nuclear-emp-attack
I have begun to imagine we will be told soon that the war in Ukraine must wrap up quickly so we can prepare for war with China.
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Another unreliable source. “Washington Secrets”? More like usual right wing conspiracy nonsense attempting to stir up a narrative that Biden is weak on China.
Lots of “possibilities”, but not real reporting.
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RE: “Another unreliable source. ”
Why should anyone believe you?
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Why should anyone believe the Washington Examiner?
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It is pretty obvious we need to take control of this balloon, preferably bring it down intact. Weather balloon? I now doubt that.
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Does it makes sense that China or anyone else would put sensitive equipment in a place where it could easily fall into someone else’s hands or where analysts could determine what it was looking for – very valuable intel knowing what the adversary does not know?
I think there will be an innocent explanation in the end and that our government’s reaction so far is more a political reaction to Fox News’s hair-on-fire reporting and rabid MAGA outrage than it is to China.
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Still, it is our sky and incursions whether intentional or not need to be dealt with. We tried balloons over Russia during the Cold War, but winds made them unreliable. So spying is certainly a possibility.
There is speculation that the solar panels allow power for maneuvering the balloon. Simple diplomacy would be to tell the Chinese to land the balloon and we will return it to them.
Meanwhile, of course the right will make a huge issue out of this. Another reason to confirm the mission of the balloon.
IMO
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Breaking news: balloon shot down off the coast of the Carolinas.
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