Hacker News Reader

Of course I agree. Al Qaeda doesn't have the capacity to really threaten world peace except by provoking a shortsighted response, which they did.

But the comparison is meaningless anyway. AQ is not a nation, it's an organization with a certain ideology. It's not comparable to a country, like Israel, which is a collection of various ideologies and worldviews.

View on HN

While I agree with you, I think what is claimed it that Israel and AQ are unique in their potential for destruction ("threaten world peace") not necessarily their previous actions in that regard.

If that is the case, comparing their body count is almost meaningless.

That's ridiculous. In what way is it unique? Nukes are more likely to be used in a Pakistan-Indian conflict and now that the cold war is over there's no chance of a regional war spiralling into WWIII.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com