U.S. tracked China spy balloon from launch on Hainan Island along unusual path

washingtonpost.com

8 points·oldgradstudent··4 comments

wrapped around the standard 'China bad' rhetoric is quiet confirmation that it was indeed likely accidentally blown off course, as it is indeed, a weather balloon. The entire episode, including the subsequent shooting down of 3 more definitely benign balloons, is an example of media driving policy - the Pentagon very early on established no threat, until sensationalism forced Biden to 'be strong on China'

> the standard 'China bad' rhetoric

You have to keep in mind that from a geopolitical standpoint, China is bad.

>> quiet confirmation that it was indeed likely accidentally blown off course, as it is indeed, a weather balloon.

"So the balloon assessment was up to 200 feet tall for the actual balloon. The payload itself, I would categorize that as a jet airliner type of size, maybe a regional jet such as a [Embraer] ERJ or something like that," VanHerck explained. "Probably weighed in excess of a couple thousand pounds."

Source: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/our-first-look-chinese...

That's quite a payload for a weather balloon.

The weather balloon also just happened to pass over multiple sensitive defense sites:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/map-close...

Such a misfortunate misunderstanding.

Spot on. I’m not an Elon fan but the media is working overtime to prove him right on every point.

With such a strong stance on “misinformation” you’d think they’d have a second thought at suggesting we’re being visited by aliens. But alas clicks and alarm over reason.

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