I’m wondering if we could do it with the technology we have already. Say you jerry-rigged the most powerful bomb ever, the Tsar Bomba, at maximum possible output, to the Saturn V, the most powerful rocket ever.

The dangerous part is that the Russians have nuclear weapons, or that nuclear weapons exist at all. Testing them on an asteroid is actually a logical reason to have them in the first place. Getting huffy about this particular instance seems... shortsighted?

I definitely don’t trust the Russian government or Russian military, but I am 100% behind them trying to do this.

The Tsar Bomba as tested was “only” about 50 megatons, but most thought the design was good up to 100 megatons — not that you’d ever need that kind of power against another Earth enemy.

I guess sticking your head in the sand is also a viable strategy

The idea that you have to “vaporize” or completely destroy an asteroid has always seemed silly to me. All you have to do is apply enough force, with enough time, to knock it slightly off course. Space is pretty huge...

Disagree.

Check Robert Fisk’s history. It’s not that he has an axe to grind against an administration or political party, so much as an axe to grind with the US and western Europe generally. Nobody would refer to him as an unbiased source on the Near East. And yeah, he was Osama ibn Laden’s favorite journalist. You need only…

Incoherent anti-American rant is incoherent

Dumb poster maeks dumb poast

And our lack of response was borderline shameful, but the Saudis also didn’t gas the Shiites who were protesting in Bahrain. But this is a red herring anyway, and you know it.

I do not know an individual leader, but I guess moving the goalpost is fun. That having been said, I love how by your logic that somehow proves everyone who opposes Assad is a terrorist — like this whole mess didn’t start out AS A PEACEFUL PROTEST.

Dude, I’m not the one pushing Russian conspiracy theories.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t tell Seymour Hersh shit. But seriously, it really does speak poorly to you that you keep using him as a source of your information.

Look at a map of where ISIS controls. Look at the same map of where Assad controls. Look at where Assad is attacking. (Aleppo)

He “took a stand against” peaceful protests by responding with violence. There was no “stand against islamofacism”. The choice he presents is a choice between “islamofascism” and “secular fascism”.

And are you seriously trying to convince me that Assad is still just “an opthamologist”?

Syria is hardly “sovereign”. But I suppose intervening in Syria is waaaaay worse than, say, intervening in an actual sovereign Ukraine...

Fair point, though not relevant

I have found, from personal experience, that Russians are actually extremely generous with their vodka... whether on the clock or not.