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[Sergarr]

http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN0FE2L420140709?irpc=932

Isis now nuclear. It's not enriched, might not even be good enough for a dirty bom.

ahahaha

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Alright, line crossed. ISIS needs to be rendered permanently non-existent.

[Sergarr]

If USA gets back into Iraq again I bet half of US population would flip it's shit

And no one else is capable of attacking ISIS right now.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Well, we don't need to "go" there, exactly. We could support ISIS's enemies, or just find and bomb ISIS until they're all dead. But we can't let nuclear material go. That is beyond the pale. ISIS could possibly put all humanity at risk by doing this, and for that we must respond in the strongest terms.

[Sergarr]

The only enemies of ISIS close to them are:
Syria
Iraq
Iran
Pick one to support.

Bombing is also ineffective without ground spotters...

Face it, this is a problem you cannot solve militarily.

[Draxis]

Anyway, how is this worse than all the other violent aggressive states with nukes?  ISIS may be extremists, but they're not stupid enough to start something with nuclear weapons.  They are a state, not a bunch of random terrorists like the article claims, and as such they'll use it as deterrent.  Same as the USA, Russia, Israel, North Korea, China, France...  Invading a nuclear/WMD power is absolutely the worst way to deal with them, and the only likely way to make them use what they have.

[10ebbor10]

Do note, this is just 40 kg of uranium and related materials. I'd be more worried if they got their hands on a rad source from a hospital.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Anyway, how is this worse than all the other violent aggressive states with nukes?  ISIS may be extremists, but they're not stupid enough to start something with nuclear weapons.  They are a state, not a bunch of random terrorists like the article claims, and as such they'll use it as deterrent.  Same as the USA, Russia, Israel, North Korea, China, France...  Invading a nuclear/WMD power is absolutely the worst way to deal with them, and the only likely way to make them use what they have.

ISIS are a group of genocidal religious fanatics, and what they have set up is about as much of a state as Somalia was back in the day. They are in the Would Do It category. We cannot bet the entire world on them adopting deterrence theory, not when their guiding ideology is about killing and dying for their religion.

Do note, this is just 40 kg of uranium and related materials. I'd be more worried if they got their hands on a rad source from a hospital.

It shows that they're trying, though.
EDIT: Also:

The only enemies of ISIS close to them are:
Syria
Iraq
Iran
Pick one to support.

Iraq, Kurdistan, and the Free Syrian Army. Easy.

Face it, this is a problem you cannot solve militarily.

ISIS is a militant group. You aren't going to mutually understand away people who want to literally crucify dissidents and religious minorities.

[Draxis]

ISIS are a group of genocidal religious fanatics, and what they have set up is about as much of a state as Somalia was back in the day. They are in the Would Do It category. We cannot bet the entire world on them adopting deterrence theory, not when their guiding ideology is about killing and dying for their religion.

Most of that also applies to, say, Isreal, and you don't see them nuking any of their plentiful, globally unpopular, deeply hated enemies.  And strength as a state has no bearing on likelyhood to use WMDs - unless that state percieves a threat to be worse than the chance of annhilation if they fire.  Which these guys would likely see a US invasion as.  It's true that they're bad, but US military action can't beat them without making sacrifices we aren't willing to, and even if it could would likely leave something worse in their place (see Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan...), so we need to figure out how to minimize the damage in a different way.

[Loud Whispers]

Exclusive: Iraq tells U.N. that 'terrorist groups' seized nuclear materials

HAPPENINGS NOW

[Loud Whispers]

TOTALLY, BUT THE POINT STILL STANDS IN GIANT CAPSLOCKS

[Helgoland]

Most of that also applies to, say, Isreal

What, exactly? I was unable to find even one.

I wouldn't be too worried about ISIS going nuclear. At most, they'll be able to construct a dirty bomb, and without ICBMs their radius of action is quite limited, to say the least.

[palsch]

Also, the reason I'm worried is that it might not be much, but if they can get their hands on that, what's to stop them getting their hands on more enriched stuff?

The lack of enriched materials in the region?

As weak as non-proliferation efforts have been, there aren't deposits of U-235 or Pu-239 floating around at random out there. The largest supplies I'm aware of are old Russian warheads, of which varying numbers are said to be unaccounted for or flat out lost. But the odds of any of those lying around in Iraq or Syria are long to say the least.

Iraq did run an enrichment program in the 80s and early 90s, but had the program shut down, hard. They never succeeded in producing any weapon grade material, and only enriched less than a kilo of uranium total, I believe with a peak level of a few grams of 40% U-235. In 2008 even most of their non-enriched uranium was removed, leaving them with only token amounts like this lump for continued academic research.

The only enrichment program ongoing in the region is in Iran (ignoring Israel here), and that's out of ISIS's reach and still not near weapons grade (as of last year they had stalled at 20%). Short of taking the entire Iranian nuclear infrastructure and running it for months to years without interference they aren't going to be close to a nuclear weapon.

Seriously, worry about chemical or biological stockpiles, not nuclear.

[Sheb]

Yeah, they got 40 kilos of "Uranium compound". For all we know, it's yellowcake from the geology department, and about as dangerous as any other 40 kg of rocks. Seriously guys, stop freaking out.

[XXSockXX]

Yeah, they got 40 kilos of "Uranium compound". For all we know, it's yellowcake from the geology department, and about as dangerous as any other 40 kg of rocks. Seriously guys, stop freaking out.

But what if they hit someone over the head with it? Think about the children!

Yeah, I guess this is Iraq pleaing for more international support. It's not even evidence of ISIS actively trying to go nuclear really, if you take over a big city like Mossul with a university, you might find all kinds of stuff. One could say It was inevitable. (Oh god I need to stop saying this...)