[WendyTheWillow]

No, what I disagree with is his inconsistency, and also his manipulatability by the Russians, who allegedly told him a nuclear war would erupt if he didn't do what they said.

What's to stop someone else from otherwise manipulating him to not stop the asteroid, using similar threats or similar reasoning? Perhaps he finds a way to survive for a time off planet (or sufficiently deep underground), for example. He's the kind of unstable that might result in him not therefore caring how the rest of us fare.

[inemesitaffia]

Sometimes you walk with someone for a while but you don't go all the way.

The USG had weapons that could reach there. As at the time they finally decided to pay, they didn't send those weapons.

He shouldn't have been in that place in the first place.