worldnews

This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

Showroom7561, in Chinese spy balloon didn't collect information while flying over U.S., Pentagon says

So… why fly a spy balloon over foreign lands without collecting data? What was its purpose?

gary_host_laptop, in EU leaders to debate Russia mutiny and pledge support for Ukraine
@gary_host_laptop@lemmy.ml avatar

The very definition of a circlejerk.

gary_host_laptop, in US actively considering giving cluster munitions to Ukraine
@gary_host_laptop@lemmy.ml avatar

Eine neue Wunderwaffe, nicht wahr?

gary_host_laptop, in Poland and Hungary hijack EU summit with anti-migration demands
@gary_host_laptop@lemmy.ml avatar

Ewwrope being Ewwrope.

maard, in French Gov Wants to Inject Domain Blocking Lists Directly into Web Browsers
@maard@lemmygrad.ml avatar

The French government’s drive to prevent children from accessing pornographic content online is well-documented. Few disagree that widely available and openly accessible ‘tube’ sites are unsuitable for minors, but in a world where parental responsibility is considered old-fashioned, not to mention ineffective, France believes that legislation is the only way to protect the country’s children.

Don’t know how to feel about this. On one hand, it’s for a good cause, exposure to porn at a young age can have some pretty devastating consequences later on. The way they’re going about it though, that doesn’t sound too good.

knfrmity,

Ten years ago it was “unfortunately we have to infringe on your civil rights due to terrorism.” That excuse has since been overused and isn’t as blindly accepted anymore, so clever politicians and their bourgeoisie patrons have moved on to “unfortunately we have to infringe on your civil rights to save the children.” It’s the same excuse behind the EU wide proposal to effectively neuter encryption in communications services, and it’s absolutely bullshit. Law enforcement agencies already have the capability to investigate and stop the vast majority of child sexual exploitation, but they don’t get the resources required nor the priority. A healthy society would likely take care of whatever would slip through the cracks. Breaking encryption or free access of information does absolutely nothing to stop this behaviour, and in some ways would put children in an even more dangerous position.

Tldr: this is about controlling the plebs, not about protecting children.

iturnedintoanewt, in U.S. actively considering giving cluster munitions to Ukraine

Oh you mean the cluster bombs banned as war crimes and which we were criticizing Russia for using last year? I think even the ICC was investigating their use by Russia.

Spacebar,
@Spacebar@lemmy.world avatar

It's a war crime to use them against civilians.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) is an international treaty. Russia, Ukraine and the United States didn't sign on to that treaty. I wish they did.

FlowVoid, in US says Chinese spy balloon downed in February did not collect information. Yet, Biden was referring to it as a spy balloon just this month.

And The Guardian referred to it as a spy balloon right in this very article.

Incidentally, the Pentagon said it did not collect information over the US. Perhaps it was intended to collect information elsewhere.

yogthos,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

Or the most logical explanation that it’s a weather balloon that blew off course and that US regime has been cynically lying about.

FlowVoid, (edited )

There have been multiple incidents of Chinese balloons that “flew off course” and ended up over sovereign airspace.

If China doesn’t want its balloons destroyed, it will have to do a better job controlling its “research instruments”.

yogthos,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

Balloons that follow air currents have blown of course more than once, wow that’s sinister. The fact that US reacted in an absolutely deranged fashion to a weather balloon being blown off course is the real story here. It shows the whole world that US is run by a dangerous and unstable regime. The fact that such unhinged lunatics have the second largest nuclear arsenal in the world should worry everyone.

FlowVoid,

But real weather balloons do not follow air currents. They ascend and descend over the same point, so that they can be easily recovered by real scientists. Real weather balloons are also far smaller. Various scientists, not just Americans, said that the Chinese balloons did not resemble the instruments they use.

yogthos,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

Of course they do, there are global air currents that high altitude weather balloons follow. Maybe stop making shit up already?

www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/world/…/index.html

FlowVoid,

I’m afraid you are the one making things up. The article doesn’t say anything about balloons following air currents, quite the opposite:

That’s because balloons still offer unique advantages: They don’t disturb their surrounding environment, they’re very gentle on scientific instruments, they can hover in one place for extended periods of time

Normal weather balloons are far smaller and incapable of crossing an ocean. The Chinese balloon was not a normal weather balloon.

yogthos,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

This is going to blow your mind, but there are different kinds of balloons for different purposes. Also, the word can has a different meaning from the world must. Perhaps work on your reading comprehension?

FlowVoid,

Sure, it’s possible that China deployed a completely novel type of weather balloon. But if so, it should not be surprised by the interception of its unusual balloon when it entered US airspace.

For that matter, if you designed a brand new weather instrument that was carried in the back of a Cessna, and then you flew that Cessna into Chinese airspace to carry out your measurements, then you should expect to be intercepted and probably arrested. After all, Mathias Rust was sentenced to four years for violating Soviet airspace.

yogthos,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

It’s not a completely novel type of balloon, these types of balloons have been used literally for decades. I love how you keep lying about something that’s very easy to verify. At this point you’re just exposing yourself as a clown.

mlive.com/…/balloon-tracking-101-how-weather-ball…

FlowVoid,

You should read the articles before you link to them. This one describes normal weather balloons, which are far smaller than the Chinese balloons and can only travel about 100 miles.

yogthos,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

I have, the article pretty clearly explains how weather balloons can get caught in air currents. 🤡

FlowVoid,

And does it explain how air currents can add two thousand pounds of equipment to a balloon?

yogthos,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

What does that have to do with anything. Just to repeat this, the context of the whole discussion is that US *admitted that there is no spy equipment on the balloon. The fact that you keep keep digging here is absolutely hilarious. You made an absurd statement that is disproved by 2 seconds of googling. Then you got called out on it, and instead of admitting that you stated nonsense you just keep doubling down. It’s absolutely incredible to watch.

FlowVoid,

US *admitted that there is no spy equipment on the balloon.

Once again, you are making things up.

The US said the spy balloon was certainly capable of spying, but it did not collect information over the US, in part because of the American response.

“We’re aware that it had intelligence collection capabilities, but it was our – and it has been our – assessment now that it did not collect while it was transiting the United States,” Ryder said during a briefing, adding, “As we said at the time, we also took steps to mitigate the potential collection efforts.”

yogthos,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

Keep digging

FlowVoid,

No digging required, it’s all on the surface.

Even the headline to the original article said the balloon did not collect information. It never said the balloon did not carry surveillance equipment, you incorrectly assumed that.

EeeDawg101, in US says Chinese spy balloon downed in February did not collect information. Yet, Biden was referring to it as a spy balloon just this month.

Can’t say I believe that one bit. With how small transmitters can be these days, why wouldn’t it have one? Sounds to me like damage control. Not a whole lot of details in the article anyway.

gary_host_laptop,
@gary_host_laptop@lemmy.ml avatar

Jesus Christ you people are just lusting for war.

EeeDawg101,

I don’t want a war with China, that would be awful. I’m just trying to be realistic about it. Seems silly to go through the trouble to make a surveillance craft like that and it not even have the capability to beam back any data.

gary_host_laptop,
@gary_host_laptop@lemmy.ml avatar

Data was obviously transmitted. Weather data, going by recent cyber attacks, there are a plethora of ways where it’s easier to get data.

EeeDawg101,

I’m just gonna be open minded about it and not jump to conclusions. I could see the US gov making it into a big deal for reasons and I could see it being a balloon to take pics of bases, etc on the ground. Both seem like logical outcomes. I mean it could be a weather balloon but I sorta doubt it based on what I know about weather balloons (I’m an amateur weather nerd). But I could be wrong! I’ll admit that. Gotta keep an open mind.

yogthos,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

You do realize China has satellites?

EeeDawg101,

Of course. And you realize balloons can have an advantage over satellites in certain situations?

yogthos,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

If balloons were a good way to spy on countries we’d see US balloons canvas the globe by now.

EeeDawg101,

Lmao that is a valid point.

ghariksforge, in Prigozhin said he was just being a patriot. Do Russians agree?

Probably they do, at least the army does. When he was marching on Moscow nobody tried to stop him.

agarorn, in Spanish inflation now under 2%, at 2-year low

Nice. It seems they do way better than we (germany). But this good news will probably not stop doomers to talk about the failing of the Euro.

cyd, in German central bank risks bailout after money printing spree
@cyd@vlemmy.net avatar

This is a deliberately obtuse take by the Telegraph. Central banks are literally empowered to create or destroy money; the profits and losses they themselves make are accounting fictions.

withersailor, in Want One of India’s Best Jobs? You and 1,800 Other Applicants.

A government job

But the competition is fierce. Roughly half a million young people took the annual preliminary test for the Bihar Public Services Commission in February, for a total of 281 jobs. For every batch of 2,000 hopefuls, 1,999 will walk away with nothing.

Schooner,

Sometimes the only option in a lot of places. The pay and benefits are decent compared to private sector work, especially at the lower level.

dotancohen, in Protests erupt in Paris after police officer fatally shoots teenager for ‘violating traffic laws’

The teen was not shot for "violating traffic laws". The teen was shot for disobeying a direct, lawful order of a police officer to stop his vehicle.

I do not know what the intention of the "news" organization is, but it is clearly inflammatory.

_ak,
@_ak@lemmy.world avatar

Remind me what was the lawful order in "I'm going to put a bullet in your head"?

Raphael,
@Raphael@lemmy.world avatar

Found the liberal.

electriccars,

Idiot who thinks the response to the article should be to argue semantics of why the teenager was fatally shot instead of expressing outrage that the teenager was fatally shot at all =/= liberal.

Stop lumping people you think are stupid together into your single idea of a group you don't like. I'm a liberal and the person you replied to was an idiot.

Raphael,
@Raphael@lemmy.world avatar

The teenager should not have been shot at all, indeed. Fascist police killed a person for shits and giggles.

Barsukis, in Protests erupt in Paris after police officer fatally shoots teenager for ‘violating traffic laws’

Unfortunately the French have lost their touch. If the protests against the pension reform achieved nothing , what can we hope this will achieve :(

withersailor, in Prigozhin said he was just being a patriot. Do Russians agree?

Everyone’s a patriot these days.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • random
  • wartaberita
  • uselessserver093
  • Food
  • [email protected]
  • aaaaaaacccccccce
  • test
  • CafeMeta
  • testmag
  • MUD
  • RhythmGameZone
  • RSS
  • dabs
  • Socialism
  • TheResearchGuardian
  • SuperSentai
  • feritale
  • oklahoma
  • Testmaggi
  • KbinCafe
  • Ask_kbincafe
  • KamenRider
  • All magazines