By all indications, this balloon is not by itself an unprecedented threat, and the Pentagon says that its intelligence-collection abilities aren’t any better than other means at China’s disposal.

The discovery of the balloon set off a diplomatic crisis, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken immediately calling off a weekend trip to China - the first such high level US-China meeting ...

Chinese officials confirmed Friday that the balloon is indeed theirs, but claimed it’s a civilian airship used for weather research. “The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used ...

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and we’ve got our first floating red balloon, complete with the goosebump-inspiring sounds of Pennywise’s hyuk-hyuk laughter.