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Originally published by ZeroHedge
Previous constant headlines of the Ukraine-Russia war were put on pause Friday into Saturday as the American public’s attention and discourse got temporarily consumed by the bizarre Chinese ‘spy balloon’ saga, which grew more dramatic by the hour until it was shot down by the Pentagon over the Atlantic Ocean.
But few are currently asking the necessary deeper questions related to the timing. Given the last major balloon crisis to take over 24/7 network news coverage ended up being a complete hoax (remember the “balloon boy” stunt of 2009 which had the world breathless and on edge for a full news cycle?), the current context to the Chinese balloon story and the question of cui bono is worth a deeper dive…
Entrepreneur and geopolitical commentator Arnaud Bertrand, who as a Westerner has spent many years living in China and frequently attempts to correct the often misleading analysis of mainstream press reports, offers an ‘alternative view’ of what’s fast unfolding below (emphasis ZH’s)…
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“I took a bit of time to dissect the “spy balloon” story – both how it is portrayed in the US and China’s response,” Bertrand begins a lengthy thread. As you’ll see, the more you think about it, the more stunned you get at the sheer absurdity of the whole thing.”
I took a bit of time to dissect the “spy balloon” story – both how it is portrayed in the US and China’s response.
As you’ll see, the more you think about it, the more stunned you get at the sheer absurdity of the whole thing.
A small 🧵
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) February 4, 2023
First, the US story.
China sent a “spy balloon” over highly strategic US sites. It chose to spy on these sites with a big visible balloon (reported as being “as big as multiple school buses”), that anyone can see with the naked eye from the ground, to “demonstrate it had the capability”, despite having a plethora of other more discreet ways to spy like satellites or stealth drones.
Unclear that anyone doubted China had mastered the technology of *check notes* hot air balloons and why it therefore needed to demonstrate this capability… China chose to do so on the eve of Secretary of States Blinken’s visit to China, where he was invited, and hours after signaling Blinken would also be meeting with Xi during his visit, a high-level meeting not granted to any US Secretary of States in years.
The story therefore being that China chose to disrupt a meeting with its own president and to sabotage its own efforts at détente in the US-China conflict… The Pentagon said it had been “tracking the balloon for quite some time” and that it wasn’t the first time such an incident occurred, but this time – for unclear reasons – it chose to do a public announcement. As a result, Blinken announced he was postponing his China trip.
Now the story from the Chinese side.
To them this is a fluke accident, the balloon being “a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes” that “deviated far from its planned course” because of strong “Westerlies” (wind that flows west to east) and “limited self-steering capability”, the main characteristic of a balloon being of course that it can only go up or down.
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A piece in WaPo seems to confirm this, quoting “experts in national security and aerospace [who] said the craft appears to share characteristics with high-altitude balloons used by developed countries around the world for weather forecasting.”
(Source: washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/… )
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The Pentagon itself said that “the payload wouldn’t offer much in the way of surveillance that China couldn’t collect through spy satellites” and that “the balloon posed no serious physical or intelligence threat”.
I.e. the Pentagon themselves say it would make zero sense for China to use a balloon like this for intelligence purposes when it has satellites. Kind of begs the question why they decided to make a big deal out of it in the first place…
I’ll let you decide for yourself which story makes more sense… The sheer ridiculousness of this Nth “red scare” episode is absolutely obvious to anyone with an iota of common sense. Except, sadly, common sense seems to be in critically short supply nowadays.
Also, as often, the real story is probably why this story became a story in the first place.
And the important context here is of course Blinken’s visit to China, which could – one can always dream – have been a step towards some form of de-escalation in China-US rapports. It was quite easily foreseeable that a story like this one on the eve of the trip would have made it politically very difficult for Blinken to go.
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So a plausible hypothesis is that this whole episode is an attempt by internal US forces to prevent any US-China détente. One alternative hypothesis, much less likely, is that it’s internal Chinese forces trying to do the same thing by sending this big balloon.
Unlikely because:
a) China has time on its side so it gains from reduced tensions with the US and there isn’t any obvious “faction” in China who believe the contrary
b) it’d be immensely risky for anyone in China to do something like this as it’d undoubtedly be seen as an act of high treason with grave consequences for themselves
c) again, balloons like this particular one basically can’t be steered so…
To plan sending a balloon like this from China to a place over US land isn’t even doable in the first place. The last hypothesis, which I guess is also somewhat likely, is that this is a series of unfortunate events without any malice on either side.
1) Balloon deviates from course and gets in US airspace,
2) people see it and Pentagon feels it has to communicate about it
3) the media, wearing their usual “China bad” hat, decide to go all-in on the scare-mongering,
4) political opposition and China hawks jump on the bandwagon,
5) administration feels it has no other choice than to cancel the trip and doesn’t have the political courage to say “this is just a balloon that drifted off course”.
If Putin doesn’t do anything this month, then the biggest story of February 2023 would be a balloon.
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) February 4, 2023
Well I guess in this scenario there is in fact malice on the media’s part and that of politicians and wider members of the blob but it’s “organic malice”, so to speak, jumping at a golden opportunity to scare-monger.
Conclusion: however you see it, this story is absolutely shameful and a sad reflection of the insane times we live in, when rather than take the time to carefully consider facts, apply reason and common sense, we instead choose as a society to incite fear and hostility.
So, the US has finally gone full retard. You never go full retard, Unless you’re in the media or government.
Prerequisite for employment
American balloon satellites illegally enter Chinese air space all the time. Here is one from UoA: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/104/1/BAMS-D-21-0135.1.xml
Balloon if burst will release zombification virus over American people. The balloon carries a very dangerous zombie virus which covid vaccines fail to protect
The US armed forces could have taken out that balloon when it was transiting over the Aleutians. The politicians, MIC and the MSM are beginning to shape public opinion and indignation for the coming war with China.
BEGINNING???
So USA donated to ballon to China or what?
We see the same argumentation about the liberated parts of East and Middle Europe. Even USSR collapsed it and itself by homemade infections by own choise, we are the one being blamed for it and Ukraine included.
China actually now has excused making the weather ballon mistake(s).
I look forward to see what equipment is found. Most likely its dumped.
America is in bad shape. The power of the evil masters is ruinous and ridiculous. It can only get worse. A revolution is needed.
US will use anything to get the Anti-China public response !! Every story I read in the Western media and then you see the comments it shows the government how brainwashed the American/Canadian average person is !! This is a WIN-WIN story for the corrupted Western politicians !! It is appalling to see how idiotic these people are here in Canada and USA, what has China or Russia ever done to these nations ?? Absolutely nothing, yet the animosity towards both is beyond imaginable !!
However, China did bad things to Tibet though.
When Trump said us companies should return their production from china and stop buying russian energy everyone said he is an idiot.
Now instead of slowly and coordinated return of production and slow and coordinated buying of engergy elsewhere we rush everything and cause chaos and decline in the west …
They’ve accused Chine of:
A) Uighurs genocide B) Hong Kong protests C) Taiwan crisis D) Covid origin
Now the dumb ballon…
China is the new “Russia elections meddling”.
Well at least they would be capable of it if they wanted. If russia would be capable of election meddling then the us would not be able to “meddle” antirussian polititians into every eastern european country. Well in every but poland and baltics those are all genuine antirussian.
Nasa Balloon Program has these all over the world. The only satellites, are either on low altitude balloons (like this one launched from ground) or high altitude balloons sent up by rocket. Only idiots fall for all the Nasa and Jew USA Lies.
That was Joe Biden, some helium got into his empty skull after huffing at a children party.
Anyway US need but fell to reduced tension with China because one balloon , it hurts US because US need China help for their economic crisis and catastrophic debt .
Only a weather balloon. Chinese spy balloons are fluorescent orange, glow in the dark and have flashing signs: “WE ARE SPIES”.
All so-called Satellites are on balloons, either low altitude balloons launched from ground or high altitude balloons launched from rocket. Only stupid Low IQ fools believe Nasa Lies or Space Lies.
Don’t forget as well that while this story dominated the news cycle
Hunter Biden’s lawyers admitted that the data from his laptop was legit
Which means that the US president has been selling out the US for decades
As if anyone didn’t already know that
US imperialists are roighly in 2 camps: „Dems“ are fight Russia first, Reps are fight China. Hence also Trump‘s „shoot it down“.
Reps are fighting Iran first actually.
“99 Luft Ballons” by Nena comes to mind. 1980s song predicts the future.
You know it will turn out to be a weather balloon. The US had to send out a F-22 to take down a balloon because they felt that this was the only plane that could do. F-15’s were back up encase the F-22 fails or was taken out by an unmanned and unarmed balloon. It was decided by the US Military Command that the F-35 and F-16 would not be up to the task to do the job. My question is why did the F-22 use an expensive missile to take out a balloon when it has a multiple barrel cannon?
Just for my understanding: the balloon started in China and was driven by a westwind (a wind blowing from the west to the east) to America? So it orbited once the earth or what?
satellites are not able to scan local internet traffic
The US Administration is setting ever lower levels in its extreme incompetence, stupidity, endless misinformation and downright lies. It has a moribund, nasty little crook as a President backed by a veritable “drone army” of corrupt Neocon halfwits and Russia haters. The so called “Collective Western World” is run by a corrupt, blackmailed mob of sycophantic Globalist narks, nuts and placemen. Alexander Solzhenitsyn had he lived to see this would never have believed it, as it really does beggar belief. However, this bodes of evil times ahead for the Collective West and its hapless population. Russia’s inevitable victory in Ukraine will catapult the West into an existential crisis of epochal proportions.
This ain’t a “story”… But THIS https://ae911truth.org certainly “IS”!…
Someone needs to find a deep hole for $ir Anthony out in the remotest of deserts where the scorpians and the flies can do the rest!…