Close this content NextShark Chinese corn mill in North Dakota deemed ‘significant threat’ by US Air

https://news.yahoo.com/chinese-corn-mill-north-dakota-224406327.html

"The construction of a Chinese-owned corn mill in North Dakota will likely be halted after the U.S. Air Force flagged it as a “significant threat to national security.”

Fufeng Group, an MSG and xanthan gum manufacturer based in Shandong province, China, previously bought 370 acres of farmland in Grand Forks through its American subsidiary.

The city council approved the company’s $700 million proposal to build the mill last year, citing economic development success.

However, thousands of residents have since expressed their disapproval of the mill. In August 2022, at least 5,000 residents signed a petition that sought to prevent the mill’s development."

 

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/us-tracking-large-chinese-spy-221300297.html

Large Chinese reconnaissance balloon spotted over the US, officials say

"A massive spy balloon believed to be from China was seen above Montana on Thursday and is being tracked as it flies across the continental United States, with President Joe Biden ultimately deciding against "military options" because of the risk to civilians, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

Still, officials insisted, they continue to closely monitor the vessel as they have since it entered the country -- while voicing their concern to the Chinese.

"The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is flying over the continental United States right now," Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement on Thursday."

 

I'm less worried about the balloon, than selling the 370 acres of land - American subsidiary or not. Any land. I know what non-resident Chinese "investors" i.e speculators, have done to the housing market in some areas of Canada. It's awful. There's a tax now - too late. And the tax is only a deterrent. It should be high enough to be preventative.

At least the US isn't as dumb as we are, in this regard. We both sell realty to non-resident Chinese or their related corporate entities. But we Canadians are dumber - we often buy it back - at inflated prices.

 

Why use balloons when satellites exist?
China has an extensive satellite network. In a Nov. 2022 report, the Defense Department said China’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance-capable (ISR) satellite fleet had more than 260 systems, second only to the U.S., as of the end of 2021. A senior defense official noted on Thursday that, for China, the balloon flying over Montana “has limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective.”

Yet even with satellite technology surpassing some abilities of balloons, James Char, a research fellow with the China Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, tells TIME that spy balloons have some operational advantages. For example, balloons can weather extreme conditions, he says, and are less expensive to deploy and operate compared to satellites. Chinese Academy of Science scholars found in 2020 that, despite harsh environments at more than 68,000 feet above ground, “the high-altitude balloon has long endurance time, which can achieve sustained and wider coverage for regional observation and detection.”

“It is harder to be spotted by radar as well, given the fact that they’re simpler in terms of technology,” Char adds. U.S. officials admitted the balloon flying over North America this week was first spotted by civilians on a plane.

High-altitude balloons can also be “trucks for any number of platforms, whether it be communication and data link nodes, ISR, tracking air and missile threats — and without the predictable orbits of satellites,” Tom Karako, senior fellow for the International Security Program and director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Politico.

 

I'd like to see the Air Force bring it down, safely, remove the electronics for study, deflate it enough to fit in a container and ship it BACK, freight collect to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Maybe with a note - at least a semi-snarky one.

Ridicule is sometimes an appropriate weapon. I learned that here on DI.

 

Or feed it with misinformation, the problem it flew over some places and it may already transmitted all the info.
So many theories out there.
Not excluding that it is releasing biological substances(viruses) over the US etc, etc.

Interesting to see what will be done with it

 

We're being invaded by Phineas Fogg.

I have no doubt the Air Force is employing effective counter-measures to that balloon, and would bring it down if it could do so safely. I mean, zero doubt. Like, none.