WI: Nuclear Terrorist Attack at 2011 G-20 Summit in France?

[Laqueesha]

I was reading the synopsis of Command & Conquer: Generals 2, in which the world's civilian political leaders are all killed and the world is run by military juntas. This got me thinking...

What if during the sixth annual Group of Twenty Summit (G-20) at Cannes, France in late 2011, for whatever reason, a group of terrorists detonated a low-yield nuclear device at the Summit, (one that was smaller than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II), killing everybody who was present at the Summit?

What would have been the political, economic, and military fallout (no pun intended) from such an attack? How would the international community react after thirty-seven of the world's most powerful leaders were just killed?

NOTE: These are the delegates who were present at the Summit. In this hypothetical scenario, they all would've been killed instantly in the nuclear explosion. The list includes prominent figures such as the heads of the E.U., the Secretary-General of the UNO, the President of the USA, President of the Russian Federation, etc.

 

[Meadow]

In some of the countries this would be a candidate for Vlad Tepes. Russia might actually be fine, as Putin would just assume Medvedev's post directly and restore order.

In Britain, the immediate consequence would be William Hague travelling to the palace and becoming Prime Minister as soon as humanly possible. The amount of time that Nick Clegg is even nominally in charge (which, even in practice, would be non-existent - Hague would hold power immediately as First Secretary of State) would have to be kept as low as possible because otherwise the 1922 Committee would begin baying for blood. Yes, they would do this even in light of this catastrophe.

Longer term? I imagine Hague would be able to even maybe lead a National Government - he's got the respect on both sides of the house (interestingly, something that the now-late Mr Cameron lacked) that could command such a Grand Coalition and get the country through the terrible crisis the world would now be entering. Good luck, Mr Hague. You'll need it.

 

[RamscoopRaider]

72 hours later and we know where the bomb came from, then either

A) Security for whatever country that made its nuclear material and weapons is heightened and massive scandals leading to mass firings and disgrace etc.

or

B) If it is a pariah state that produced this material, retaliation in the form of instant sunshine

 

[Pangur]

Might be best to start with who was there

Represented by Title Argentina[15] Cristina Fernández de Kirchner President Australia[16] Julia Gillard Prime Minister Brazil[17] Dilma Rousseff President Canada[18] Stephen Harper Prime Minister China[19] Hu Jintao President France[20] Nicolas Sarkozy President Germany[21] Angela Merkel Chancellor India[22] Manmohan Singh Prime Minister Indonesia[23] Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono President Italy[24] Silvio Berlusconi Prime Minister Japan[25] Yoshihiko Noda Prime Minister Mexico[26] Felipe Calderón President Russia[27] Dmitry Medvedev President Saudi Arabia[28] Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf Minister of Finance South Africa[29] Jacob Zuma President South Korea[30] Lee Myung-bak President Turkey[31] Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Prime Minister United Kingdom[32] David Cameron Prime Minister United States[33] Barack Obama President European Commission[34] Jose Manuel Barroso
-- projected co-leader of delegation President European Council[34] Herman Van Rompuy President
Invited states State Represented by Title Ethiopia[35] Meles Zenawi
-- projected leader of delegation Prime Minister Singapore[35] Lee Hsien Loong
-- projected leader of delegation Prime Minister Spain[35] José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
-- projected leader of delegation Prime Minister United Arab Emirates[35] Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan[dubious – discuss] Minister of Foreign Affairs
International organisations Organisation Represented by Title
African Union[35] Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Chairman
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision[36] Nout Wellink
-- projected leader of delegation Chairman
CCASG[35] Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan
-- projected leader of delegation

European Central Bank[36] Mario Draghi[citation needed] President
Financial Stability Board[36] Mark Carney[citation needed] Chairman
Global Governance Group (3-G)[37] Sellapan Ramanathan
-- projected leader of delegation

International Labour Organization[38] Juan Somavía
-- projected leader of delegation Director-General
International Monetary Fund[36] Christine Lagarde[39]/ Managing Director
NEPAD[35] Armando Guebuza[40]
-- projected leader of delegation

OECD[38] José Ángel Gurría
-- projected leader of delegation Secretary-General United Nations[38] Ban Ki-moon Secretary General
World Bank Group[36] Robert Zoellick
-- projected leader of delegation President
World Trade Organization[38] Pascal Lamy
-- projected leader of delegation Director-General
I would expect a strong swing to right and frankly god help the folk who did it. They would have very nation on their case and no where to hide