Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Sun 05/25/2025 View Sat 05/24/2025 View Fri 05/23/2025 View Thu 05/22/2025 View Wed 05/21/2025 View Tue 05/20/2025 View Mon 05/19/2025
2023-02-05 China-Japan-Koreas
US shoots down Chinese balloon over ocean
See yesterday’s stories here and here. Friday's report here.
[An Nahar] The United States on Saturday downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America and became the latest flashpoint in tensions between Washington and Beijing.

An operation was underway in U.S. territorial waters in the Atlantic Ocean to recover debris from the balloon, which had been flying at about 60,000 feet and was estimated to be about the size of three school buses.

President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. The nincompoop who dumped Afghanistan. The copier doesdn't exist that could reelect him....
 had told news hounds earlier Saturday that "we're going to take care of it," when asked about the balloon. The Federal Aviation Administration and Coast Guard worked to clear the airspace and water below the balloon as it reached the ocean.

Television footage showed a small explosion, followed by the balloon descending toward the water. U.S. military jets were seen flying in the vicinity and ships were deployed in the water to mount the recovery operation.

Officials were aiming to time the operation so they could recover as much of the debris as possible before it sinks into the ocean. The Pentagon had previously estimated that any debris field would be substantial.
That's just dumb. It's a balloon.
The balloon was spotted Saturday morning over the Carolinas as it approached the coast. In preparation for the operation, the FAA Administration temporarily closed airspace over the Carolina coastline, including the airports in Charleston and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina. The FAA rerouted air traffic from the area and warned of delays as a result of the flight restrictions.

The Coast Guard advised mariners to immediately leave the area because of U.S. military operations "that present a significant hazard."

Biden had been inclined to down the balloon over land when he was first briefed on it on Tuesday, but Pentagon officials advised against it, warning that the potential risk to people on the ground outweighed the assessment of potential Chinese intelligence gains.
Posted by Fred 2023-02-05 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11140 views ]  Top
 File under: Commies 

#1 
Posted by badanov 2023-02-05 01:01||   2023-02-05 01:01|| Front Page Top

#2 
Posted by badanov 2023-02-05 01:04||   2023-02-05 01:04|| Front Page Top

#3 
Posted by badanov 2023-02-05 01:26||   2023-02-05 01:26|| Front Page Top

#4 F22 and a $400k missile, for a balloon?

They needed a Door Gunner!
Posted by Skidmark 2023-02-05 06:28||   2023-02-05 06:28|| Front Page Top

#5 Third Chinese spy balloon is ‘operating near US interests’ – but officials won’t say where, after shooting down first balloon off South Carolina coast
Posted by Skidmark 2023-02-05 08:04||   2023-02-05 08:04|| Front Page Top

#6 Three Chinese spy balloons infiltrated the US during Trump administration but he NEVER shot them down or told the public - as Republicans call for Biden to resign for putting Americans at risk
Posted by Skidmark 2023-02-05 08:05||   2023-02-05 08:05|| Front Page Top

#7 So Trump did it worse. Unexpectedly.
Posted by Bobby 2023-02-05 08:42||   2023-02-05 08:42|| Front Page Top

#8 ^ Or so we are now told.
Posted by M. Murcek 2023-02-05 08:43||   2023-02-05 08:43|| Front Page Top

#9 Re: #6
According to a senior Pentagon official, three balloons made it into the US during the Trump years, but never for as long as the one that recently flew across the country.
Esper told CNN that he was 'surprised' by the Pentagon's statement, saying he was never told about Chinese surveillance balloons entering the US when he served between July 2019 to November 2020.

'I don't ever recall somebody coming into my office or reading anything that the Chinese had a surveillance balloon above the United States,' Esper said, adding that 'I would remember that for sure.'

So some anonymous ass-kisser (Milley? Kirby? Austin?) tries to claim it's just like Trump's? Ima calling bullshit
Posted by Frank G 2023-02-05 08:48||   2023-02-05 08:48|| Front Page Top

#10 ^ Yep, Trump team never informed by Deep State which was working with CCP the whole time to allow said infiltration.
Posted by Rex Mundi 2023-02-05 09:19||   2023-02-05 09:19|| Front Page Top

#11 US military is obviously envious of that "least trusted" rating that our media and pols are always competing for.
Posted by M. Murcek 2023-02-05 09:23||   2023-02-05 09:23|| Front Page Top

#12 So one of Bidet’s excuses is “Everybody else was doing it(ignoring the ccp ballon-fest)”; and now a bevy of defense officials seem to confirm DJT did too, i dare the congress to convene hearings and get those officials AND DJT in and testify under oath. Find out real quick who is fibbing. Might be a great boost to unseating China Joe.
Posted by USN, Ret. 2023-02-05 10:03||   2023-02-05 10:03|| Front Page Top

#13 Someone go tell Joe "everyone" is sitting in their garages with the engine running...

Snark O'The Day
Posted by M. Murcek 2023-02-05 10:09||   2023-02-05 10:09|| Front Page Top

#14 ^^^--- Snark of the day right there...
Posted by CrazyFool 2023-02-05 10:49||   2023-02-05 10:49|| Front Page Top

#15 seconded
Posted by Frank G 2023-02-05 11:00||   2023-02-05 11:00|| Front Page Top

#16 Thirded.
Posted by AlanC 2023-02-05 11:13||   2023-02-05 11:13|| Front Page Top

#17 it is all bs smoke mirrors shadows whats that word word a LIE what is flash mob impromptu theatrics card board half shell dry pea? does anyone want to get RICH got a no bid pentagon us woke CON tract to sell war bonds in china for their war with china and for metal and rubber exports to us to build machines of WAR! when in all of history has a country PLOWDLY proclaimed that they would be going to war within a couple years! will all the idiots who sold out the country to china be rounded up now tried and EXECUTED AS OUR LAWS CLEARLY STATE !!!!? !!!!!!!!!
Posted by Cholutle Thrans9751 2023-02-05 12:09||   2023-02-05 12:09|| Front Page Top

#18 Chinese balloons taking out Biden.
Posted by Besoeker 2023-02-05 12:14||   2023-02-05 12:14|| Front Page Top

#19 Obviously stealth balloons, B.
Posted by Bobby 2023-02-05 12:51||   2023-02-05 12:51|| Front Page Top

#20 RE#17 Sir, I believe you caused me to have a stroke trying to decipher that statement.
Posted by Chris 2023-02-05 14:29||   2023-02-05 14:29|| Front Page Top

#21 'when in all of history has a country PLOWDLY proclaimed that they would be going to war within a couple years!' gave it away for me, Chris. Cholutle is just 'so ronery', that's all.

Otherwise I don't know if even Joe M. would have figured it out, either.
Posted by Mullah Richard 2023-02-05 16:06||   2023-02-05 16:06|| Front Page Top

#22  Japan wanted to start fires and explosions with the 9,300 balloons carrying bombs that were sent across the Pacific. He says of them, about 285 were discovered during the war, and there were only several explosions — the worst being in Oregon.
Posted by crazyhorse 2023-02-05 16:07||   2023-02-05 16:07|| Front Page Top

#23 #4 Skidmark, hey thanks for pointing this out to me! I'm a local and I didn't know they had helo door gunner tours. I'm definitely doing it.
Posted by Penguin_of_the_Desert 2023-02-05 16:08||   2023-02-05 16:08|| Front Page Top

#24 The Chinese 'Spy Balloon' Story As Manufactured Crisis: An Alternative Reading

Posted by DooDahMan 2023-02-05 23:15||   2023-02-05 23:15|| Front Page Top

13:48 NoMoreBS
13:37 NoMoreBS
13:18 Skidmark
13:12 Pancho Poodle8452
13:09 Skidmark
13:09 Clem+Elmish4239
13:08 Clem+Elmish4239
13:06 alanc
12:48 Besoeker
12:48 Besoeker
12:37 Frank G
12:35 SteveS
12:22 Grom the Affective
12:15 Skidmark
12:09 Grom the Affective
12:00 Skidmark
11:52 Skidmark
11:45 Skidmark
11:41 Skidmark
11:38 Skidmark
11:33 Skidmark
11:22 Rambler
11:13 ed in texas
11:07 ed in texas









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com