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      Chinese balloon recovery

      US Media 'Spy Balloon' Obsession a Gift to China Hawks

      Despite uncertainty about the purpose of the high-altitude balloon shot down by the U.S. military last week, American corporate media "overwhelmingly interpreted the Pentagon's conjecture as fact."

      Julianne Tveten
      Feb 12, 2023

      For over a week, U.S. corporate media have been captivated by a so-called “Chinese spy balloon,” raising the specter of espionage.

      NBC News (2/2/23), the Washington Post (2/2/23) and CNN (2/3/23), among countless others, breathlessly cautioned readers that a high-altitude device hovering over the U.S. may have been launched by China in order to collect “sensitive information.” Local news stations (e.g., WDBO, 2/2/23) marveled at its supposed dimensions: “the size of three school buses”! Reuters (2/3/23) waxed fantastical, telling readers that a witness in Montana thought the balloon “might have been a star or UFO.”

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      chinese balloon

      America's Secret 4th Branch of Government: Did the NSA Keep Even Obama in the Dark?

      Juan Cole
      Oct 28, 2013

      The revelation from the Snowden Papers that the National Security Agency had German Chancellor Angela Merkel's personal cell phone under surveillance has produced a central fallout. Dueling leaks over the international embarrassment have forced the White House to a key admission: President Barack Obama did not know what the NSA was up to.

      Ever since the Snowden revelations of the massive, world-girdling extent of NSA electronic surveillance surfaced, I have been wondering two things: Did they tell Obama about it when they took office in 2009? And, do they have something on Obama?

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