Citing this in first paragraph takes away any credibility:

'Prominent anti war activist, Caitlin Johnson, has weighed in to express concern at " the entire American political/media class having an existential meltdown over what the Pentagon claims is a Chinese spy balloon."'

She is Australian, chooses to be based in the US, promoted as geopolitical expert on Russia and Ukraine which means blaming US &/or NATO of provocation for the invasion of Ukraine; she's published (too) often in the supposedly 'left' Pearls & Irritations along with other RWNJs and Putin apologists.

Their modus operandi is to focus on NATO/US and cold war with USSR, but then ignore any credible analysis from Russia, Ukraine, Europe and Anglosphere; 'horseshoe theory'?

I'm not sure what point the author is trying to make, but China flying what is clearly a device carrying nearly 1 ton of spying equipment over some of the most sensitive areas is not a friendly act, and I cannot see China accepting an American balloon floating over it.

That this is not an isolated incident with Chinese spy balloons floating around the world this discovery has deeply humiliated China and pissed off the US again just when Xi was supposedly trying to rebuild bridges his stooges are busy burning them.

What if?

Thd Canberra Clowns would probably gather outside Parliament House and wave to it.

There are no secrets in Australia aside from the Voice, and I doubt that China would have any desire to find out about that.

The what if!
What if the naughty Chinese were delivering a nuclear bomb by balloon to be dropped over Washington ?
Well we could maybe hope against hope, Biden would be sitting in his office at that moment!

One unintended fly over perhaps. Two, barely possible. Three, you can't be serious!

Clearly this is a very clumsy attempt at intel gathering that may even have gone unnoticed previously.

As for, what if we spot a UFO flying over our airspace. We need to shoot it down. No ifs, buts or maybes.
Alan B.

The Japs tried to use balloons & the jet stream to bomb the US during WW11.They did not have any control over the things & failed.

Remote control is now practical & proven. These are probably a test run to see how they could use the jet stream to attack the US, & if they could accurately attack targets.

A wave of a couple of thousand of these things would be cheap by comparison with any other weapon delivery system, & could so flood us defense hardware that they would be virtually parallelised elsewhere.

A very cunning ploy, to which the yanks were far too slow to react.

The jet streams don't allow China to use balloons to target Australia from China. They would need a launch sight in Africa or South America for that.

However why the hell would China bother with us if push comes to shove. Until we have nuclear armed nuclear subs, & both ICBMs & cruise missiles we don't have the capacity to inflect even a pin prick on China. Other than taking out any US bases here, they would bypass us as the yanks did with many Jap outposts during WW11, then come back & clean us up when it was all over.

Some times we do take ourselves far too seriously.

I think the whole affair has been amusing.
A great way to get Blinken to stay home.
US has been trying to call China but they're not picking up the phone right now.

The whole thing is likely also a distraction from Pfizer and Nordsteam.
The US is just a warmongering nation and the other Western muppets in general are no better.

As for the EU, Samantha Power (current head of USAID) who was largely responsible for sending Libya back to the dark ages, has now flown into Hungary to try to take advantage of their current inflation rate of 25% to try to oust Orban, and both Hungary and Serbia are being blackmailed and have little choice except to support sanctions on Russia which they oppose.

Democracy is a system of putting guns to other people heads.
The US attitude of exceptionalism and belligerence will never change until someone else puts their foot on their throat, and breaks their spirit.
Hopefully their loss of global hegemony will do the trick without it ending in WWIII, which is a big ask.

US test launches unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2023/02/10/us-test-launches-unarmed-intercontinental-ballistic-missile/

>>Feb 9 "VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from California to test the defense system, the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command said.
The Minuteman III missile lifted off at 11:01 p.m. Thursday and its reentry vehicle traveled 4,200 miles over the Pacific Ocean to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands."<<

- Seems the US really flipped out, fired an unarmed ballistic missile nearly 7000klms (flight path directly at Australia) to thump it's chest in protest, then we hear the US sent at least 10 of it's own weather balloons over China last year.
Later on the 11th Feb we saw another balloon over Montana and the US closed it's airspace.

China says US sent balloons into its airspace more than 10 times since beginning of January 2022
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-13/china-says-us-sent-balloons-10-times-since-2022/101968772

>>China says US high-altitude balloons have flown in its airspace without permission more than 10 times since the beginning of January 2022. "It's not uncommon as well for the US to illegally enter the airspace of other countries," foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a briefing.
"Since last year alone, US balloons have illegally flown above China more than 10 times without any approval from Chinese authorities," he added.<<

Montana airspace briefly closed, FAA blames radar anomaly
http://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-faa-closes-some-airspace-montana-defense-department-activities-2023-02-12/
>>WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said late on Saturday a radar anomaly prompted the temporary closure of airspace to civilian airplanes in Montana but no threatening object was detected.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) sent fighter aircraft to investigate but the aircraft "did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits. NORAD will continue to monitor the situation."<<

This balloon was later shot down over Lake Huron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Lake_Huron_high-altitude_object
>>On February 11, 2023, an unidentified flying object was detected over northern Montana. Tracked by NORAD, the object was shot down over Lake Huron on the orders of U.S. President Joe Biden on February 12, 2023.<<

Montana's 150 missile sites in line for replacement as Chinese spy balloon questions remain
http://www.ktvq.com/news/local-news/montanas-150-missile-sites-in-line-for-replacement-as-chinese-spy-balloon-questions-remain

AC,

meteorological balloons are released all the time to measure weather. The balloons are filled with helium and generally carry a small package of instruments that provide details of temperature, windspeed pressure etc in an unencrypted format and are generally ignored if they fly over borders as they provide the weather information to the new host country as well.

The problem is that China clearly thought that this was an opportunity to float spy equipment over other countries. Their cock was building them so big and heavy that there was no chance of them being just meteorological balloons.

The danger is that China might take this as a license to shoot down US drones in the south china sea in areas it claims as Chinese airspace that is not recognised globally.

Hey shadowminister,

"The problem is that China clearly thought that this was an opportunity to float spy equipment over other countries. Their cock was building them so big and heavy that there was no chance of them being just meteorological balloons."

China has nearly 500 satellites and it's own space station.
- Though I don't have an exact number for how many are military satellites. (I heard there's about 70)
http://www.statista.com/statistics/264472/number-of-satellites-in-orbit-by-operating-country/

They can read US citizens number plates from space if they want to already.

"The danger is that China might take this as a license to shoot down US drones in the south china sea in areas it claims as Chinese airspace that is not recognised globally."

Yes I know, I actually already stated this over on Binoy's China balloon thread.
- But I incorrectly stated there that China had 300 satellites, when it seems from the link above that they have more.

If the US doesn't like other countries flying 'weather balloons' over its country, then it should stop flying them over other peoples countries itself
(assuming it is sending 'weather balloons' over the Chinese mainland)

As for the South China sea, yes there is an increase in danger now for the US and allies spying on China's military bases there.
- But the US is acting belligerent anyway, talking out of both sides of it's mouth in regards to it's 'strategic ambiguity'.
- It claims to recognise the 'One China' policy, but then it sends Naval vessels up the Taiwan Strait.
I don't believe it can can't hold both of these conflicting positions at the same time.

This will only escalate tensions, and I don't want a military confrontation (potential WWIII) that our country will get dragged into with our largest trading partner.
The US seems happy to ruin the economies of its own allies.
(Nordstream) and drag them into wars for it's own interests.
China seems to have played this one out quite well.

AC,

What is clear is that the balloon the US shot down was not a weather balloon, and as the weather balloons generally float down eventually as the helium leaks and if any of them were spy balloons there would be no end of noise from China. The US has 1000s of satellites but uses drones where satellites are not suitable (for loitering around a particular area.

If China dares to shoot down a US drone they will quickly regret it.

"If China dares to shoot down a US drone they will quickly regret it."

I think you meant to say that if China dares to shoot down a US drone, that WE WILL quickly regret it.
America will start a conflict they can't win so far from their homeland, we'll get dragged into it and our boys will end up paying a price.

What's America going to do?
Attack one of China's military bases in the South China Sea?
Launch nukes from subs in the Pacific, and then China will nuke a carrier fleet and the US continent?

None of this in our interest so what do we have to gain from this?
Does what we stand to gain outweigh what we stand to lose?
If they resulting war doesn't destroy us the economic outcome will.

WE WILL QUICKLY REGRET IT.

AC,

There are much more effective ways of dealing with China. China's economy is on a precipice due to the collapse of the housing bubble and their zero covid policy it has built up massive debt and the banks.

Further sanctions or tariffs would cause enormous damage. Alternatives such as arming the Philippines or other countries with anti-ship missiles along the South China sea would leave China's islands very vulnerable etc.

Western consumers denounce China yet they're supporting its economy more then their own.
Talk about stupid !

China was until about a decade or so ago a sensible and law-abiding member of the global community. Since Xi took power, most of this trouble with the South China Sea island and the Wolf worriers started to seriously piss off its neighbours and the rest of the western world.

The world's reaction was to take note of China's poor trade and financial practices and start to apply tariffs and other restrictions to the point where Xi and his cronies are starting to realise where their business came from and dial back their aggression and rhetoric.

Objects shot down aren't from China, likely ‘benign,' Kirby says
http://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/14/objects-shot-down-arent-from-china-likely-benign-kirby-says-00082876

I've heard they were part of a Covid Digital Detection program, but I don't have any proof this was the case.