Puppet Masters
"The Department of Defense was tracking a high-altitude object over Alaska airspace in the last 24 hours," Kirby said at the White House briefing. He added that the object was flying at 40,000 feet - approximately 12 kilometers - and "posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight."
On the Pentagon's recommendation and out of "abundance of caution," US President Joe Biden ordered the object shot down, Kirby said, adding that Northern Command had carried out the order "within the last hour."
The debris came down "inside our territorial waters," Kirby added.
Kirby described the object as "much, much smaller than the spy balloon" shot down last weekend, saying it was "roughly the size of a small car."
General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, later said he had "no further details about the object at this time, including any description of its capabilities, purpose or origin." He did, however, call it a "balloon."
The announcement comes as Biden faced criticism over his response to the Chinese "spy balloon" last weekend. After the aerostat was spotted by civilians in the skies over Montana, the Pentagon declared it a Chinese surveillance asset - but declined to shoot it down until it crossed most of the continental US, citing potential risk to people on the ground. An F-22 eventually fired a missile at the balloon off the coast of South Carolina, and the navy was dispatched to retrieve the remains.
Beijing explained the object was a civilian weather balloon on a research mission that was blown off course by force majeure. After it was shot down, China condemned the "information warfare" by Washington and demanded the US return the debris as Chinese property.
Biden's critics objected that it took several days for the balloon to be destroyed, during which it could have spied on any number of things, from Americans' phone calls to nuclear missile silos.
Unnamed State Department officials told the media on Thursday the balloon had been equipped with advanced surveillance equipment "capable" of picking up sensitive communications.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his planned trip to Beijing over the balloon incident and the White House vowed to retaliate against "China's surveillance program."
Reader Comments
Ukraine is fcuked, led into a blind alley of hate by the US.
German is fcuked, Industry destroyed by the US.
Poland is fcuked, to stupid to understand the past, yet wanting a different future and trusting the US to deliver.
Lemuel Gulliver "...ever since the War of 1812."Paranoid - maybe. Imperialistic - most definitely.
The idea from the very beginning was to step into the shoes of what was perceived to be an old, failing British Empire.
The stupid ass wipe John Kirby is an ass wipe, the small car was Elon Musks car reentering from orbit the stupid shit. Elon will be pissed at Bribem for sure.....
another bullshit story to show the sheeple whose the boss..
i call bullshit..
if anything, it was probably epsteins ship coming to collect pedo biden clinton and the rest!!
You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base, sparks in the software
Flash the message "Something's out there"
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
The 99 red balloons go by
99 Decision Street
99 ministers meet
To worry, worry, super scurry
Call the troops out in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The President is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by
99 knights of the air
Ride super high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a superhero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk
With orders to identify
To clarify and classify
Scrambling the summer sky
99 red balloons go by
As 99 red balloons go by
99 dreams I have had
In every one, a red balloon
It's all over, and I'm standing pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenir
Just to prove the world was here
And here is a red balloon
I think of you, and let it go...
It suggests there is more to the "Chinese" balloon with English words on it than was originally reported. Balloon warfare, it turns out, is relatively unobservable. Perhaps a test run of an EMP device as some alternative media have suggested.
Comment:
UPDATE: Since they haven't identified it, we guess this technically counts as a UFO. According to the White House, the object was cylindrical in shape, metallic, and ... floating.