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[Haspen]

Oh no, now China threatens to shoot down the balloon that got into its airspace!

It's a balloon war after all!

Either that, or ufos.

[Random_Dragon]

Here I was expecting my original thread on Russia's invasion of Ukraine was going to become the WWIII thread, instead the balloon thread's gonna end up being the WWIII thread at this rate. What a world we live in.

[King Zultan]

One minute everyone's saying the worlds gonna end because of Russia, now people are making it seem like it's gonna be because of some dumb ass balloons, wonder what the next potential world ender will be?

[jipehog]

(1) That just the reality of modern media landscape in the social media environment, you have to take any issue up to eleven relying on sensationalistic viral form and breaking news content. That true for any political issue and is actually a very interesting topic of how AI algorithm and content aimed to elicit specific emotions is used to affect audiences and how it affect discourse.

Also there is an interesting dynamic here, as every successful political activist understand political realities and tries to play the game, trying to create awareness by any meanness possible. There also the Zealots, who live inside their echo chambers and can't separate narrative and reality, a holier than thou bunch who lay claim to ultimate truth, believing that their issues are the most important, and others are deranged idiots who use dirty tricks.


(2) One should understand that modern conflicts aren't only fought on the ground, and the role of media in public support and political will. In past conflicts Putin learned that all he need is wait out the westren media short attention span, securing his objectives and then waiting out the media outrage and impotent response, and here we are with war that no one believed could happen.

(3) Regardless of the media narratives. Russia hasn't been considered a competitor for a long while, for that matter China became the focus of USA with Obama pivot, long before Trump's twitter loud mouth brought it to public attention, and mind you despite all Trump's big talk USA strategy didn't changed much with him or after him (nor with Obama for that matter)

[Random_Dragon]

I can definitely say that of all the things that've ended up on the "is this gonna cause WWIII?" list, a balloon war definitely seems like the most amusing one. And definitely in line with the kind of luck we've all been having so far this decade...

[jipehog]

"is this gonna cause WWIII?"

Surely you jest.

Btw on the two month prior to this event China had a border row with India; Continued in its military harassment of Taiwan, conducting a large exercises simulating attack against Taiwan, while its carrier strike group conducted exercises simulating attacks against USA ally which enjoy its nuclear umbrella; And have intercepted U.S. reconnaissance plane operating in international airspace over South China Sea.

Also just prior to the event was scheduled the first visit by a senior White House official to China in five years. And after its cancelation came report of evidence suggesting Chinese companies support Russia's military effort in various capacities, and the declaration of strengthening trust between China and Russia.

Anyway there is a lot of things going on right now on the world stage that likely influence USA tone and I would like to know more about.

[Flying Teasets]

Nena was a prophet.

[EuchreJack]

Ukraine should replace their Starlinks with balloons.

[anewaname]

To really get the war started, you need balloons that change color, while flying over another country.

[Random_Dragon]

Surely you jest.

I didn't say it's particularly HIGH on my list. Just the most inane event in particular to ping my "if everyone involved in this is sufficiently stupid enough it might escalate into something, if not necessarily WWIII itself" radar.

[King Zultan]

Wonder if the planet would win Darwin Award if everyone died because of a war over a bunch of stupid balloons?

[jipehog]

Ukraine should replace their Starlinks with balloons.

It would have many advantages. A platform at 20km would have lower latency than one at 550km, would be able to service more connections in the battlefield (and rural settings), and possibly taking the role of cellular base station or early detection and other functions that currently filled by NATO fleet of AWACS(these aircraft cost roughly $10k an hour to operate), there is a reason why USA army is actively investing in this capability. Also presumably the two would work together with low orbit satellite provide backhaul network connectivity to high altitude balloon sats the rest of the world.

Btw a lot of modern warfare solution are networked e.g. active protection system advertise more than just individual tanks ability to destroy incoming threats but the ability of tanks and other system to work together share sensor data, sharing commands, choosing which system is better suited for each task depending on ammo availability position etc. Hugely increasing the the value of all these high cost gadgets on them. (Think on F35, one of their great advantages is network ability, often you'd see F35 fly along other previous gen planes just for that function) There is also the idea of huge drone swarms which starlink wouldn't be able to service.

That said, outside of USA umbrella Russia would shoot them, but in real scenario they would be much cheaper and easier to deploy/replace, much harder to detect and in case they go down no long lasting space debris problem in orbit.

Wonder if the planet would win Darwin Award if everyone died because of a war over a bunch of stupid balloons?

That belongs to USA social media constant state of outrage.

[EuchreJack]

Ukraine should replace their Starlinks with balloons.

It would have many advantages. A platform at 20km would have lower latency than one at 550km, would be able to service more connections in the battlefield (and rural settings), and possibly taking the role of cellular base station or early detection and other functions that currently filled by NATO fleet of AWACS(these aircraft cost roughly $10k an hour to operate), there is a reason why USA army is actively investing in this capability. Also presumably the two would work together with low orbit satellite provide backhaul network connectivity to high altitude balloon sats the rest of the world.

Btw a lot of modern warfare solution are networked e.g. active protection system advertise more than just individual tanks ability to destroy incoming threats but the ability of tanks and other system to work together share sensor data, sharing commands, choosing which system is better suited for each task depending on ammo availability position etc. Hugely increasing the the value of all these high cost gadgets on them. (Think on F35, one of their great advantages is network ability, often you'd see F35 fly along other previous gen planes just for that function) There is also the idea of huge drone swarms which starlink wouldn't be able to service.

That said, outside of USA umbrella Russia would shoot them, but in real scenario they would be much cheaper and easier to deploy/replace, much harder to detect and in case they go down no long lasting space debris problem in orbit.

Wonder if the planet would win Darwin Award if everyone died because of a war over a bunch of stupid balloons?

That belongs to USA social media constant state of outrage.

You forgot the #1 advantage: It would belong to Ukraine, and they could do whatever they wanted with it.

[martinuzz]

At least it's nice to know that if ever a highly advanced alien race decides to take a look at earth with balloon probes, that they will be welcomed with a boom. I am sure that will make us very pop-ular with them.

[jipehog]

You forgot the #1 advantage: It would belong to Ukraine, and they could do whatever they wanted with it.

True.