Hypothetical Synopsis for an Asteroid

Hey ATSers,
Lets just imagine a "WHAT IF" on this synopsis:

What if an asteroid just like TU24 or maybe a little bigger was hurling to earth and there was the means and enough time to divert it and What If only America had the means to do something about it, like say knock it out of the sky or divert it or whatever to leave the populous in the world safe and no other damage was incurred like manmade raining down.

Now What If this asteroid was big enough to do major destruction in a country and that we knew it was going to strike lets say Iran or China or any of our enemies, ok, would any of these countries ask us for help to save them, if there was nothing they could do to save their own skin.

Would America save it's enemies that have wrecked havoc in America's life, like say Iran or many others like say from the Islamic world, or maybe even China or Russia etc:

Would a straw poll be taken across America for the popular vote to decide whether or not we should save our enemy or would our government step up and take the initiative without popular consent, how would ATSers vote if given the choice to save our enemy. Would Americans want the choice to vote on this issue.

Is it our moral duty as a nation to save our enemy, even if they refuse help and rely on their God to save them or do we refuse to help them unless they stop their aggressions against us, like using our technology as a form of carrot on a stick to win their love and respect and would it work.

How say you ATSers on this Hypothetical Synopsis for an Asteroid.

I think the point is here, gwhint, that an asteroid if the type you describe would be extremely unlikely to cause damage on a local level. The site of the impact itself would of course be obliterated - but the effect of the debris in the atmosphere would be enough to cause significant danger to the entire globe.

We do not live in a world where nation states are so comfortably divided. American interests in the middle east are not just political ideas - or at least they are not wholly so - they can be physical entities that the US relies on. So, even if the "target" were Iran, America could not afford the potential fall out on Iran's neighbours that such a disaster would incur.

The powers that be would almost certainly portray their asteroid-busting actions as a purely philanthropic exercise, but the reality is that geographically speaking there are few places isolated enough not to touch America's economic heart.

Since 70% of the globe is ocean, of course, and America points on to the majority of that ocean space, the chances are that any asteroid would a) hit ocean, and b) cause huge damage to America via some sort of unimaginably large tsunami....

reply to post by LoneWeasel


Thanks LoneWeasel for your keen insight, but I'm just thinking at a local level and not global anialation scenario. Like for instance, it's hurling at Tehran or Moscow, like for example and what would we ask for in concessions from the country in danger, would we give or deny help or would they even ask us for help, its just hypothetical, but you're right as to America would still be affected in some way either political or physical in the long run.