Not negotiating with kidnappers is a game-theory decision. It's not about whether the ransom is a lot of money or not - it's about what it incentivizes. If you pay, you're sending a clear signal that there's money to be made from kidnappings, and you're going to see more of them. If you refuse to pay, yeah, you risk the current hostages dying, but you're way less likely to face the same situation again - because anyone thinking about grabbing someone for ransom knows you didn't pay the last guy who tried it either.
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2026
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I get that, but this isn't a novel situation.
It's not that much of a stretch.
In 1974, scions of the Bunge y Born business, were kidnapped and only released after the payment of a $60 million ransom.
https://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/21/archives/argentine-ransom-is-put-at-60million.html
In 1996, Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, son of the Hong Kong tycoon, Li Ka Shing: Kidnapped by Cheung Chi Keung, AKA "Big Spender". He was released after the world record payment of a HK$1,000,000,000 (US$134,000,000) ransom.
Grenades. You can just toss one a few feet away in movies and be just fine.
In real life they have a kill radius of like 15m.
Also cars exploding because they're on fire. It's relatively difficult to get gasoline to explode.
True, that and the giant fireball from the grenade
Fret not. They're going to run a £750,000,000 op to avoid paying the money and only get the 90% of people at risk killed, then fuck up, then pay them anyway. Comma be very afraid of immigrants and your neighbors. They did this.