Senate The Middle East Discussion Thread

According to documents obtains by CNN, members of the Lebanese government and judiciary were apprised of vast quantities of the ammonium nitrate being stored at the port -- and may have failed to safeguard it.
Despite all of the warnings that were made, according to the news report, the dangerous cargo remained at the port.

 

Unconscionable. I hope they wind up in jail.

Also, UNICEF notified me that they have an emergency fund specifically for Beirut right now. They are on the ground helping the healthcare workers and the 80,000 displaced children. Donate here

https://www.unicefusa.org/?form=Leb..._bsd1699LebanonEmergency2actv_Donate_bsd_none

 

CNN has a Impact Your World page for Beirut as well.

 

Will do. Thanks.

 

300,000 people are now homeless. The scale of the damage is just insane.

 

Oh, gosh. Homelessness is the pandemic that people don't work to solve. There are ways to remedy it, but only a few countries make the attempt. I feel bad for them.

 

Demonstrators erect mock gallows in Beirut as thousands join 'judgment day' protests

Lebanese security forces have fired several rounds of tear gas at anti-government protesters who are on the streets of central Beirut demanding accountability after Tuesday's blast which ripped through the city.
Thousands of demonstrators poured into Beirut's Martyr's Square calling for "revenge" against the ruling class of politicians widely held responsible for the explosion that lay waste to large swathes of Lebanon's capital.
The demonstrators erected mock gallows in what were dubbed "Judgment Day" protests, as grief gave way to anger after more than 154 people were killed and dozens more remain missing. Over 5,000 people have been injured.

Source CNN

I can barely imagine the widespread anger after they found out the authorities knew what was happening and didn't do anything. Hope they all use masks and social distancing while protesting.

 

Apparently the protesters are getting arrested while the officials are not being held accountable. Sound familiar?

 

I’m beginning to wonder if those who believe authoritarianism is the natural state of humanity and that the era of liberal democracies is simply an aberration aren’t wrong.

Hard not to get discouraged nowadays. The pandemic brought a lot things into focus, and it’s disheartening. Hopefully the moment will pass.

 

What does this have to do with authoritarianism vs. liberal democracy? Both feature bureaucratic incompetence and crackdowns on dissent.

 

I’m allowed to be grumpy after 9 days at the hospital. Logic is not necessarily a factor.

 

Liberal Democracy is like God. All the good things get attributed to it. All the bad things are either it not being done correctly or us deserving it somehow.

 

... says the Communist?

 

The walls are coming down.

 

The UK has pledged £20 million in urgent additional humanitarian aid, on top of a package announced earlier in the week.

 

Looks like the government is stepping down in the aftermath of the disaster

 

Ther were bleeding ministers already - and had a third of them quit, which is what they were heading towards, the government would have automatically fallen. It's more saving face than anything else at this point...

 

You can't fire us, we quit.

 

... and all it took was the biggest explosion Beirut has ever seen...

 

Huh, turns out I spoke too fast. A third of the ministers resigning has in fact occurred earlier today, forcing Diab's government's fall. He was only acknowledging his fall.

 

Amazing.

 

Very interesting news this morning