[bamboleo]

There's been talks of a Chinese Spy Balloon flying over the U.S... China has given the excuse it's deviated from its flight path, and it's used mostly for meteorological research.

A huge, high-altitude Chinese balloon sailed across the U.S. on Friday, drawing severe Pentagon accusations of spying on sensitive military sites despite China’s firm denials. Secretary of State Antony Blinken abruptly canceled a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing U.S.-China tensions.

Aside from the government response, fuzzy videos dotted social media as people with binoculars and telephoto lenses tried to find the “spy balloon” in the sky as it headed southeastward over Kansas and Missouri at 60,000 feet (18,300 meters).

It was spotted earlier over Montana, which is home to one of America’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base, defense officials said.

Later Friday, the Pentagon acknowledged reports of a second balloon flying over Latin America. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement, declining to offer further information such as where it was spotted.

The U.S. actually had been tracking the initial balloon since at least Tuesday, when President Joe Biden was first briefed, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. According to three U.S. officials, Biden was initially inclined to order the surveillance balloon to be blown out of the sky, and a senior defense official said the U.S. had prepared fighter jets, including F-22s, to shoot it down if ordered.

Read More: https://apnews(dot)com/article/politics-antony-blinken-china-314302278a5f05bdc2df146ed5b35ec6

Reminds me a little of another incident like 20 yrs ago (yes, I'm old) when a us navy twin prop collided with a chinese jet - in "questionably international" waters off mainland China.  Jet plane crashed and the pilot died; the U.S. plane was forced to make an emergency landing at nearby Hainan airport  for repairs.  There was a few satellite pics taken of the affair, which showed the plane's condition: at first, banged up but repairable , then later 2) engines entirely  MISSING , then later and finally 3) intact again.  Moral of the story?  Spying is one expensive racket!  Also, The U.S plane was loaded with radio (ahem) equipment which the crew completely destroyed prior to landing.

Why didn't we just knock that ballon down instead of complain about it?  Not exactly a tricky target...