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Chants of 'revolution' in Beirut as France's Macron is mobbed by angry crowds
Large crowds mobbed French President Emmanuel Macron in Beirut as he toured a neighborhood of the Lebanese capital devastated by Tuesday's massive explosion.
"Revolution, revolution!" people chanted, as shock at the devastation in the city gave way to anger on Thursday. New information reveals that Beirut officials had ignored repeated warnings about a stockpile of dangerous chemicals linked to the blast that has killed 137 people and injured 5,000.
Macron told a crowd of reporters and angry people that he would propose a "new political pact" to Lebanon's embattled political class during his visit to a predominantly Christian quarter of the city.
"The people want the fall of the regime," the protesters shouted, echoing calls for the downfall of Lebanon's long-time political elite that were popularized during a nationwide uprising late last year. "Michel Aoun is a terrorist! Help us," one man pleaded, referring to the Lebanese president. One woman screamed inaudible words inches away from Macron's face. "They are terrorists," came the repeated cries.
Most people were masked, including the French president, who removed his face covering to speak to the press. There was no social distancing.
Previously: Beirut Explosion Kills Over 100, Linked to 2,700 Tons of Ammonium Nitrate in Port Warehouse
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @01:20PM (7 children)
I'm not sure a return to a French mandate is in Lebanon's interest.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday August 07 2020, @01:27PM (1 child)
It probably isn't in the interest of France either, most of the old colonies just didn't work out all that well in the end.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday August 08 2020, @04:17AM
No, the original idea was to basically plunder their resources, but after the resources were depleted and the world mostly got this idea about "human rights", colonies became only a liability and cost.
It's kinda like taking over someone's house: if you just kill the homeowner and sell off all his stuff, you can make a profit. But if instead you try to take care of the homeowner after selling his most valuable assets on Ebay, and assist him in getting an education and a better job, it's most likely just going to end up costing you money, plus a lot of time and effort.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @02:40PM (3 children)
What the fuck is Macron doing there? He comes across as such a small man wannabe. "Hmmm what would a Great Man do, let me copy that because I don't have any ideas of my own. "
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 07 2020, @02:55PM (1 child)
He's French. He would like compare himself to Napoleon.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Friday August 07 2020, @03:59PM
It works. Napoleon was about as well liked as him in pretty much any country of the planet.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by driverless on Saturday August 08 2020, @09:24AM
Does the name "Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban" give you any clues? Or the fact that the locals were speaking French to him?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @06:13PM
France hasn't had a great track record with Libya...
Even recently: https://www.politico.eu/article/frances-double-game-in-libya-nato-un-khalifa-haftar/ [politico.eu]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 07 2020, @01:49PM (10 children)
There will probably be no smooth change of government. If the government falls, there are a LOT of actors who will try to fill the void. Half of those actors have terror in their hearts.
All because some incompetent assholes couldn't decide to dispose of some hazardous materials. As has been pointed out, they could have paid some guy to take one bag a day out of that warehouse, and spread the contents over farmland. It would have been gone long ago, and the crops would have been healthier for it.
Can't blame the Lebanese for wanting a different government, but they need to slow down, and think hard about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @02:33PM
> "All because..."
Bullshit. From what I've read in recent days, Lebanon has been on the banal descent into corruption and decrepitude for years. This is the culmination of years of incompetence you can only get a glimpse of in the USA if you are poor.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Friday August 07 2020, @02:49PM (3 children)
For scale: the bags weighed about a ton each, and you wouldn't want to spread more than ~350 pounds per acre/year. That's about a hundred pounds of nitrogen per acre, and (in my very limited experience managing n=1 hay fields) that's a lot.
Going from the estimate of 2750 tons, they'd need about 25 square miles to dispose of this as a fertilizer.
(Score: 2) by NateMich on Friday August 07 2020, @02:57PM
That doesn't really seem like all that much then. Surely they have at least that much farmland?
If it was a problem, why weren't they giving it away already?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 07 2020, @04:20PM
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/LBN/lebanon/arable-land [macrotrends.net]
1 square mile is roughly 259 hectares, 132,000/259 = ~509 sq mi
So, the chemical could have been distributed wherever needed most in a single year, or, it could have been used up over several years. A crop duster could have distributed the stuff. Note, there is some risk involved - some years ago, we had a crop duster to blow up while applying fertilizer to fields. A fuel leak while spreading ammonium nitrate can be hazardous to the health of the pilot, as well as anyone and anything in the flight path.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday August 08 2020, @09:27AM
Instead they chose to spread the whole lot through the air in one go, a sort of Big Bang approach to disposing of it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @06:40PM (3 children)
spread the contents over farmland
Too much logistics. Surely the military could have taken it. They must have some empty fields somewhere where they could have stored it properly. I'm given to understand that you just have to parcel it out and isolate each parcel behind concrete blocks or at least berms. I don't know much about their military, but surely they have an engineering unit that could dig some ditches in a field real quick. Turning it over to the military is also safer than just doing a give-away to multiple farmer who may or may not be able to keep it away from bad actors, or who might be bad actors themselves.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 07 2020, @06:51PM (2 children)
Well, most farmers are bad actors. If they were good actors, they'd quit farming!
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday August 08 2020, @05:27AM (1 child)
Some of the performances they put on while asking for subsidies and loans are are right up there with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex2r86G0sdc [youtube.com]
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @01:44PM
You should never give up on your dreams, one way or another, you can get up there on the big screen!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 07 2020, @10:30PM
One of those actors was probably responsible for bringing the ammonium nitrate into the country in the first place.
It is interesting how big mistakes can sometimes overthrow governments.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ElizabethGreene on Friday August 07 2020, @02:43PM (7 children)
As an American I am 100% fine with my country not being involved in this. Please, please, please let this one go on by without us. We'll catch the next one.
(Score: 1, Disagree) by nostyle on Friday August 07 2020, @02:56PM (3 children)
I don't know... perhaps it would not be so bad to provide some humanitarian assistance from USA to mitigate suffering, but at what point does it become an "enabling" thing.
Indeed, I have never fully resolved the dilemma of what to do when you hear your neighbor beating his wife yet again.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by nostyle on Friday August 07 2020, @04:12PM (1 child)
The fact is that the people of Lebanon are largely dependent on the import of food and medicine through the port of Beirut. Damage to that infrastructure and economic system will quickly result in widespread want. My heart does not allow me the luxury of turning a blind eye to that imminent crisis. Hence, as an American, I am in favor of humanitarian assistance.
OTOH, the USA seems rather inept at (successfully) influencing/deciding how the governments of other nations should be configured, hence I agree that USA had best refrain from involvement in whatever political turmoil results from this disaster. I pray that the wiser individuals among Lebanon's population might successfully chart a course through those troubled waters.
I am impressed, though, that Macron had the gumption to face the mob.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @07:53PM
They're not inept, those puppets are like that by design.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @02:46AM
Do? Nothing. She's a strong, empowered, independent woman who doesn't need any assistance from anyone!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @04:20PM (1 child)
A little late for that don't you think?
"At 3pm on July 15, 1958, 1,700 U.S. Marines stormed the beaches of Beirut. They were ready for combat, weapons loaded, and backed up by a full 70 warships in the Mediterranean Sea (including three aircraft carriers: the USS Essex, USS Wasp, and USS Saratoga). Back in the United States, the 82nd Airborne Division was on alert in case more troops were needed.
But the terrain they encountered was hardly a battlefield. Lebanese and foreign sunbathers — some in bikinis, the 1950s innovation in lady’s swimwear — scrambled for cover. Lebanese vendors quickly appeared with carts selling cigarettes, cold drinks, and sandwiches for the American soldiers. Scores of Lebanese teenage boys soon arrived to gawk at the scene, eager to help the Marines set up their equipment."
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/10/29/beirut-1958-americas-origin-story-in-the-middle-east/ [brookings.edu]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @04:37PM
Can’t forget this one
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombings [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @07:38PM
oh come on, i'm sure we can spare a few million $ for some humanitarian bombs.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Opportunist on Friday August 07 2020, @04:01PM
They don't like it when their politicians are hated during their visits abroad. It kinda dulls them to the hatred they have for them themselves.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @05:03PM
The Lebanese are screaming for revolution at a foreign politician who himself has been imprisoning his own people?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Nuke on Friday August 07 2020, @06:45PM
Yes, I'm sure a different Lebanese President would have been in that warehouse shifting those sacks out. All presidents have the inventories of every warehouse in their country kept on their desk, don't they?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday August 07 2020, @09:38PM (3 children)
Beirut explosion: former port worker says fireworks stored in hangar [theguardian.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @10:32PM (1 child)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53683082 [bbc.com]
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-security-blast-ship/beiruts-accidental-cargo-how-an-unscheduled-port-visit-led-to-disaster-idUSKCN25225M [reuters.com] (us-lebanon-security-blast-ship? error? slip? aliens? cia?)
Wow, seven years and it went kaboom anyway.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @03:51AM
"loses its useful properties in six months"
What I think he means is that it begins decomposing. IOW, it becomes unstable, and more likely to go boom over time. So yeah, national scale darwin award. But hey, no nation is immune. Beurocracies breed stupidity. Three mile island, Chyrnoble.. Donald Trump. What comes around goes around. Government is like playing hot potato with a flaming bag of shit. Eventually the bag is going to break.
Does France really want to usher in an era of neo-colonialism? If they start that trend, they aren't going to be the last one to come up with the idea that fratricide-by-proxy, is a good way to deal with the unemployed. Which is really what we are talking about here. Starting a war to redirect angst into jingoism and nationalistic violence.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday August 08 2020, @09:34AM
That doesn't necessarily mean much. Port facilities eventually end up storing one of everything on earth somewhere in warehouses or piles of shipping containers, and with badly-managed ones you don't know where or what half of it is. So post facto you can combine any of this random clutter in any way you want to retcon in any story you feel like.