Devastating explosion in Beirut, Lebanon.

I'm sure he wishes the people of Lebanon well.

why is he focusing on how great the generals are instead of how handsome

To be fair, the generals might be basing their assessment on the explosion as well

https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2014/4194/crew-kept-hostages-floating-bomb-mv-rhosus-beirut/

This appears to be it. A ship abandoned by its owners when it stopped off part way from Georgia to Mozambique in 2014. Described at the time as ‘a floating bomb’.

Moldova, eh?

A Lebanese friend here in LA says "2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was stored in a warehouse for six years without safety measures." Still hearsay but maybe some truth in it.

I think that's what the government said, that it had been stored there since 2014, though I might have misheard NPR.

I freaked out when I woke up to this news as they said an Australian had died and Ive a friend who works NGO in Beirut but she's already posted on FB saying she is ok phew.

JFC. Lebanon imports $42 M in fertilizer annually (39 thousand tons of NPK fertilizers, not all ammonium nitrate). They should have just discounted it for farmers.

This photo is making the rounds this evening on Telegram. Appears to show numerous parcels of bagged Ammonium Nitrate.

Was going to write this off as horse shit, but those are the exact same warehouse windows.🤔 pic.twitter.com/RLEe3XWawA

— The Intel Crab (@IntelCrab) August 4, 2020

nobody likes DHS as an agency but I’m pretty damn certain US Coast Guard port security and the DHS CFATS office wouldn’t let any facilities here get away with that

This reminds me of the big fertilizer plant explosion that happened near here a couple years ago, except that was in a much more rural area.

I mean that’s the thing, storing tons of fertilizer has to happen somewhere, but you control where and how. Not in the middle of a densely populated area.

It’s horrible, this whole thing is horrible.

The people of Lebanon have been in the streets protesting how horrible their government is for many months now. No confirmation was required, but this confirms their grievances x1000.

This whole saga is crazy. The ship carrying the ammonium nitrate was basically abandoned in Beirut port, the crew were repatriated (partly because of how dangerous the shipment was!) and the cargo was left to rot while they worked out what to do about it. https://t.co/FtsTyAahDT pic.twitter.com/7ezJ3xv6GS

— The Ultimate Worrier (@AvOpJGA) August 4, 2020

Even more worryingly the explosion appears to have wiped out most of Lebanon's grain reserves.

jfc

THE
FUCKING
STUPIDITY

The head of the Beirut Port openly admits, "We were aware of the presence of explosive material in the port, but we did not expect them to be this explosive."

Hundreds are dead and missing, thousands injured, millions displaced.

Fuck you and your team. https://t.co/iH1ftRlPIu

— Malek | مالك 🍎 (@malekawt) August 5, 2020

corruption and laziness are the lesson and the lesson won't be learned

Just heard 300 000 have now been left homeless in a country already ravaged by hunger, a severe economic crisis and the Rona. The aftermath is going to be catastrophic as well.

A horrific stat and will include people with and getting over Covid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0tURkKTaf8

wow, my wife's friend lives in Beirut and works at a hospital there. She, her husband, and child are alive, but their house was utterly destroyed and their kid suffered major cuts from glass.

Apparently a lot of places were closed due to the covid lockdown, devastating as this is that might have saved a lot of lives.

very good background in this article

https://stableseas.org/blue-economy/explosion-beirut-seafarer-rights

I've seen this a couple of times:

Although currently unsubstantiated, it is possible that legal claims prevented the auctioning of the ammonium nitrates which left on land storage as the only avenue for the safekeeping of the material.

The ship owners had run up substantial debts and there were competing creditors laying claim to the assets, including the ammonium nitrate.

It was apparently being shipped to Mozambique for use as an industrial explosive, rather than for agriculture.

has anyone made a donation to a charity providing aid/relief in Beirut that they would recommend?

evol j, from people on the ground writing on Twitter, they say donate to the Red Cross based there, many other orgs are run through the government and hopelessly corrupt.

cool, thanks!

Those asking how they can help, please consider donating directly to organizations and groups in Lebanon, especially those with strong ties working with local communities, migrant workers and refugees. Here is a list below with donation details

— لميا (@shamshoumah) August 6, 2020

So is no one going to take Trump to task for daring to publically announce this was a planned bomb when it clearly wasnt? Why would he lie about something like that unless he wante to stir shit with Israel or someone?

Nobody is going to take Trump to task for being an idiot about events in foreign countries. Foreign policy doesn’t matter to the American electorate, on the left or the right.

The closest we get to caring about foreign policy, as voters, is what we want included in the inevitable defense appropriations bills.

Where one side pays no attention at all and the other side says “this proves why the democrats are traitors to the cause and we can’t trust anyone, that’s why I’m gonna avoid answering the census and stay punk as fuck”

Got this from a co-worker:

new compilation featuring some friends that benefits NGOs on the ground in Beirut. Featuring fantastic tracks from Monolake, The Bug, Donato Dozzy, Rabih Beaini/Morphosis, Neel, and others https://morphinerecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-sacred-rage

Great explainer and visualisation here:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/09/world/middleeast/beirut-explosion.html

(Did you have anything to do with this, Alba?)

that is a good visualization. I know sometimes the nyt can be slightly reductive on these things, caveats about data journalism and visualizations etc. but I feel like I got something out of it

also, I completely misinterpreted that comment, Tracer, when I read the last line first on accident. yikes

haha

That’s a good piece of journalism. What a sad state of affairs in Lebanon.

Explainer from Forensic Architecture...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mQ60wNgKrQ