Hacker News Reader

Comment by mrosett | Hacker News Reader

Huh? What air force has the motivation and ability to destroy a nuclear power plant but not the ability to just drop a nuclear weapon?

View on HN

9/11 comes to mind.

I would refer you to the Taliban's air force.

What air force?

You mean the 1 to 3 pilots that used the anti-hijacking doors to help them commit suicide by intentionally crashing passenger airliners? It’s a stretch to blame the taliban for that, and 9/11 was over twenty years ago.

The Taliban has gained control of helicopters that were left behind during the US' retreat from the country.

Additionally, they seem to have a budding relationship with China, who are capable of manufacturing more advanced aircraft.

Canada, and basically any other non-nuke country bordering a country with nuclear power plants.

I guess that the scenario where Canada chooses to launch airstrikes against the US and is able to do so successfully just doesn't get much weight in my risk modeling. And in that scenario, things are very bad whether or not Canada has nuclear power plants to target...

I suspect they mean “what if someone attacks the nuclear plants in southern Ontario”.

Which, I don’t exactly know Canada-US defense agreements, but given we share assets like NORAD—I assume an attack on southern Ontario would be tantamount to declaring war on the US, which would probably go poorly for everyone.

EDIT: Oh, strike that, they literally mean Canada attacking the US, which is the stupidest idea I’ve heard in a while.

I was responding to someone who asked "Who could strike a nuclear power plant who couldn't use a nuclear bomb." Canada is a very valid answer to that questions. No one is talking about the likelihood of such an event.

NATO article five, an attack on any member is to be considered an attack on all members.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com