United States | Shoot first, ask questions later

What America has been shooting down in the sky

After much excitement, there is still only one balloon that was up to no good

FILE PHOTO: The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023.  REUTERS/Randall Hill/File Photo
Image: Reuters

It turns out that the three unknown objects shot out of the skies by American jets in successive days, after the earlier taking down of a Chinese spy balloon, were neither sent from Beijing nor from another galaxy (as some had suggested). They were probably “benign” and employed for commercial or research purposes.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Shoot first, ask questions later”

From the February 18th 2023 edition

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