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There's an insane amount of shipping going on right now and I seriously can't imagine terrorists can disrupt those supply chains. We'll just reroute around them

There's an insane amount of shipping going on right now and I seriously can't imagine terrorists can disrupt those supply chains. We'll just reroute around them - there is plenty of duplicate shipping channels in the world. If terrorists can get us to slide to the assumption of attacks instead of realizing shit happens and we're trying to fix it...well, they've already won.

1_listerine_pls 10y ago
Imagine what would happen if a major power plant stopped working.
jomamaxx 10y ago
A dirty bomb or gas attack would make it very difficult to get supplies to the right place. If you are 'near' an attack zone, and stay inside your house, you may be able to safeguard yourself from most of the radiation or gas or whatever. But the area may be too unsafe for other people to regularly travel to, in which case water/food will be a problem. It may take a few days for the gov. to get people geared up to travel in 'somewhat dangerous zones' around the attack with food/water etc..
smacktoward 10y ago
> there is plenty of duplicate shipping channels in the world But there are choke points, too. For example, the Strait of Malacca (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Malacca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Malacca), the relatively narrow passage that connects the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. Something like 25% of the entire world's shipped goods pass through the Strait; and it's especially important for China, as nearly all of the imported oil that keeps her industrial machine running is shipped to them from the Middle East via that route. A terrorist attack on the Strait isn't inconceivable, either. Al Qaeda experimented with attacks on ships in the years before 9/11, culminating in the attacks on the USS Cole in 2000 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing) and the oil tanker MV Limburg in 2002 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Jewel#Bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Jewel#Bombing). This line of effort petered out following the capture of the "terrorist entrepreneur" who had driven it, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Rahim_al-Nashiri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Rahim_al-Nashiri), but that doesn't mean some other ambitious fellow won't pick it up again in the future. None of which is to say that the sky is falling and people (in Germany or elsewhere) need to start stockpiling water and digging their Apocalypse Bunkers, of course. It's just worth noting that the space through which goods can be shipped is narrower than most people may realize.

1_listerine_pls 10y ago

Imagine what would happen if a major power plant stopped working.

jomamaxx 10y ago

A dirty bomb or gas attack would make it very difficult to get supplies to the right place. If you are 'near' an attack zone, and stay inside your house, you may be able to safeguard yourself from most of the radiation or gas or whatever. But the area may be too unsafe for other people to regularly travel to, in which case water/food will be a problem. It may take a few days for the gov. to get people geared up to travel in 'somewhat dangerous zones' around the attack with food/water etc..

smacktoward 10y ago

> there is plenty of duplicate shipping channels in the world But there are choke points, too. For example, the Strait of Malacca (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Malacca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Malacca), the relatively narrow passage that connects the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. Something like 25% of the entire world's shipped goods pass through the Strait; and it's especially important for China, as nearly all of the imported oil that keeps her industrial machine running is shipped to them from the Middle East via that route. A terrorist attack on the Strait isn't inconceivable, either. Al Qaeda experimented with attacks on ships in the years before 9/11, culminating in the attacks on the USS Cole in 2000 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing) and the oil tanker MV Limburg in 2002 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Jewel#Bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Jewel#Bombing). This line of effort petered out following the capture of the "terrorist entrepreneur" who had driven it, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Rahim_al-Nashiri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Rahim_al-Nashiri), but that doesn't mean some other ambitious fellow won't pick it up again in the future. None of which is to say that the sky is falling and people (in Germany or elsewhere) need to start stockpiling water and digging their Apocalypse Bunkers, of course. It's just worth noting that the space through which goods can be shipped is narrower than most people may realize.