Infidel Dog Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 How worried should we be about this? https://apnews.com/article/politics-antony-blinken-china-314302278a5f05bdc2df146ed5b35ec6 The Chinese say "Nothing to worry about. It's a private weather balloon blown off course." First of all to believe anything in China is "private" you'd need to be impossibly naïve. Secondly the timing of this unusual and might make one curious. Right about the time China is making angry intrusions into Taiwan air space signaling the possibility of invasion here come the weather balloons all of a sudden blowing in over America. What's also curious is apparently the weather watching winds have settled down leaving the balloon hovering over a missile site in Montana. So is it more a warning from China. Stay out of Taiwan? Some say don't be such a nervous Nellie. The Chinese have satellites to monitor sensitive sites. But balloons can hover and watch. Satellites zip overhead. Also balloons have been used to deliver ordinance in the past. Today there's the danger EMP attacks. Apparently high hovering Balloons would be ideal for that. https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwashington-secrets%2Fballoons-called-top-delivery-platform-for-nuclear-emp-attack And now there's a second balloon moving in over Canada. https://www.barrons.com/news/canada-says-potential-second-incident-linked-to-spy-balloon-01675402508 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legato Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 Why is a Chinese blimp flying over Montana, it's to cold for PGA golf right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarian Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 (edited) ---> Blinken, US Secretary of State postpones China trip over 'unacceptable' Chinese spy balloon The communist spokesperson from China said it was a meteorologist type of device. I think the CCP is trying to test the market with comedians. ---> Video report about the balloon entering Canadian airspace: Edited February 3 by Contrarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infidel Dog Posted February 3 Author Report Share Posted February 3 Is this unique? Has it ever happened before? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardner Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 39 minutes ago, Infidel Dog said: Is this unique? Has it ever happened before? Good question. I doubt it. But I will ask this: what is unique about this incident, at least in recent times ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonbox Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 Shoot it down. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarian Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 (edited) 2 hours ago, Infidel Dog said: Is this unique? Has it ever happened before? Your question reminded me of a football game a while ago. Albanian flag bleing flown in by a drone inside a Serbian stadium. Did not end up too well for the drone: Video: https://youtu.be/uE5f0_FaS_k --- On topic, my take: a) either the CCP in Beijing are doing this deliberate, bold message before Blinken was going there. or b) The Americans found a strayed Chinese balloon and are using it to cancel the visit and send the CCP a message in public. It could have been resolved diplomatically but this is an international incident with Canada here involved now too. Edited February 3 by Contrarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aristides Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 2 hours ago, Infidel Dog said: Is this unique? Has it ever happened before? Japan sent fire balloons across during WW2. The jet stream is perfect for sending stuff from Asia to North America. A good forecast could give a good indication of its probable route before you even launched it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herbie Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 13 minutes ago, Aristides said: Japan sent fire balloons across during WW2. The jet stream is perfect for sending stuff from Asia to North America. A good forecast could give a good indication of its probable route before you even launched it. Yeah and that was SO effective wasn't it? SPY balloon my ass. Might as well put cameras on a wasp or hornet they're about as steerable and predictable as a balloon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aristides Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 (edited) 14 minutes ago, herbie said: Yeah and that was SO effective wasn't it? SPY balloon my ass. Might as well put cameras on a wasp or hornet they're about as steerable and predictable as a balloon. It is thought the purpose of the balloon isn't to take pictures but electronic surveillance, including cell phone traffic. On edit. Looking at the current jet stream, in a few days it could wind up over Germany, Poland and eastern Europe. Edited February 3 by Aristides Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athos Posted February 4 Report Share Posted February 4 (edited) Another Anglo paranoia. It was nothing else but kids Balloon for elementary school project 😀 Edited February 4 by athos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infidel Dog Posted February 4 Author Report Share Posted February 4 Or... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infidel Dog Posted February 4 Author Report Share Posted February 4 Tin Foiler says... Dry run for an EMP with a hidden bioweapon payload if it gets shot down. All I know is this wouldn't be happening if Trump was in power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcsapper Posted February 4 Report Share Posted February 4 3 minutes ago, Infidel Dog said: Tin Foiler says... Dry run for an EMP with a hidden bioweapon payload if it gets shot down. All I know is this wouldn't be happening if Trump was in power. I don't know so much. It's difficult to know exactly what Putin would have had him do about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infidel Dog Posted February 4 Author Report Share Posted February 4 Trump Ah ahhh... Saviour of the universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarian Posted February 4 Report Share Posted February 4 (edited) 5 hours ago, Contrarian said: On topic, my take: a) either the CCP in Beijing are doing this deliberate, bold message before Blinken was going there. or b) The Americans found a strayed Chinese balloon and are using it to cancel the visit and send the CCP a message in public. It could have been resolved diplomatically but this is an international incident with Canada here involved now too. The Pentagon released a statement saying that a second balloon has been detected floating in sky transiting Latin America. ABC News first had the story according to this. Edited February 4 by Contrarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonlight Graham Posted February 4 Report Share Posted February 4 We're being invaded by balloons. Its like that movie Red Dawn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcsapper Posted February 4 Report Share Posted February 4 31 minutes ago, Moonlight Graham said: We're being invaded by balloons. Its like that movie Red Dawn. No, it's like "The Prisoner". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougie93 Posted February 4 Report Share Posted February 4 23 hours ago, Infidel Dog said: Also balloons have been used to deliver ordinance in the past. Today there's the danger EMP attacks. Apparently high hovering Balloons would be ideal for that. the LGM-30 Miniuteman III silos are not concealed the TRIAD is hardened against EMP EMP would not effect the LGM-30 ICBM in its silo to disable a Minuteman III in its silo requires a direct hit at ground level by a 1 megaton yield thermonuclear warhead for the Chinese to initiate an EMP or other type of attack over a Strategic Missile Wing, could incite Launch on Warning which would be suicidal on the part of the Chinese, with 450 Minuteman III's inbound on a 30 minute flight trajectory 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougie93 Posted February 4 Report Share Posted February 4 22 hours ago, Infidel Dog said: Is this unique? Has it ever happened before? it's like a meme in nostalgia for the Sputnik panic of 1957 Cold War 2.0 hysteria in full effect the public being whipped up into a frenzy by the media for World War Three Balance of Terror Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougie93 Posted February 4 Report Share Posted February 4 (edited) On 2/3/2023 at 1:23 PM, Infidel Dog said: Some say don't be such a nervous Nellie. I would say it is rational to be concerned over any significant change in the geostrategic worldwide situation but I don't think the Chinese actually have the capability to launch a preemptive counterforce against the CONUS only the Russians have the numbers of warheads & submarines to pull that off in the event of Chinese surprise attack, I would expect something more grey area, in the Western Pacific not even taking Taiwan, but rather seizing all the smaller Islands that are in dispute in the South China Sea at which point, the country China would most likely be at immediate war with, would be Vietnam World War Three would start as a Sino-Vietnamese territorial conflict, Communist vs Communist which then escalated into a theatre war, and then further lateral escalation from there the aggressor in a Hegemonic war will try to win the war in phases they can't win against everyone at once, they can't win a multi front war so they start by trying to take down easy targets at the margins the Kaiser invades Belgium, expecting that the British will stay out of the war the Japanese invade China, not expecting the Americans to go to war against them for China Hitler starts small, simply by taking back the Rhineland, tentatively rather than going for broke right out of the gate, you pick a target where you know you can win one you have taken the target, you pause to see how your adversaries react if they don't go to war on the spot, then you've called their bluff at which point you move on to the next phase, the next most vulnerable target and again, the chief adversary to the Chinese in the South China Sea, is their arch nemesis Vietnam Edited February 4 by Dougie93 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infidel Dog Posted February 4 Author Report Share Posted February 4 Then there's this: Busting That Chinese Spy Balloon Is Harder Than You Think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougie93 Posted February 4 Report Share Posted February 4 (edited) 26 minutes ago, Infidel Dog said: Then there's this: Busting That Chinese Spy Balloon Is Harder Than You Think the Chinese story seems the most plausible, weather balloon straying into airspace unintentionally but now that they are seeing the kind of hysteria it is inciting with the media perhaps they should just go with it, consider it a successful psyop discovered by accident just keep sending the mysterious balloons, and watch how NORAD reacts to them in fact, if you wanted to use these balloons in some sort of surprise attack first you would want people to get used to them, make it into a routine eventually the adversary lets his guard down, and only then do you launch the attack Edited February 4 by Dougie93 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougie93 Posted February 4 Report Share Posted February 4 (edited) On 2/3/2023 at 1:23 PM, Infidel Dog said: Today there's the danger EMP attacks. an Electromagnetic Pulse attack is achieved by detonating a thermonuclear warhead high in the Ionosphere the EMP effect is targeting civilian infrastructure over a very wide area, continent wide to achieve that, they'd have to detonate a thermonuclear warhead much higher than the balloon flies like Operation Fishbowl, Starfish Prime, 9 July 1962 which was 1.4 megatons at 400 kilometres above sea level detonating a nuke at the altitude that the balloon is flying wouldn't achieve the EMP effect it would be indistinguishable from a thermonuclear attack against the CONUS which would just incite Launch on Warning retaliation the way you do an EMP attack is to go so high that the explosion isn't even directly over the CONUS when it detonates an EMP attack would have to be indirect to achieve the desired effects against civilians without inciting retaliation what America was trying to do in 1962 was actually defensive the idea was to detonate nukes high in the Ionosphere to disable incoming Soviet ICBMs you shoot the Thor missile way out over the Pacific, above Johnston Island but at 400 kilometres straight up this creates a radiation shield over the pole, frying the enemy missiles in space this was the first nascent attempts to develop a "Star Wars" ballistic missile defense shield the effect over a wide area was much greater than expected, so rather discovered by accident Edited February 4 by Dougie93 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarian Posted February 4 Report Share Posted February 4 U.S. fighter planes shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, Carolina Coast. Video: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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