As If They Were Not Destroying the Country Fast Enough

No, I don’t. However, do you think the Dumbocrats are going to take any chances on that, now or in the future, especially when they have a opportunity to stack the deck?

First you ask “Where is your evidence?” .

Sigh…. You find a drone video spliced with a snapshot (In its opening) of OPEN FLAME HALF A**D welding/maintenance going on within mere FEET of the degraded and homogenizing ammonium nitrate! The destruction/devastation shown is exactly what would be expected…

(That very relevant shot was pulled from another/earlier video and spliced in to show the cause/affect). In fact when the fire first started there on the warehouse peninsula the local fire department was looking for a welding crew that was missing in the vicinity of the fires origin…

So what? -- A high order detonation of a mountain of poorly stored and red tape laden fertilizer = conspiracy?

Conspiracy VS Gross incompetence/Negligence?

Unfortunately, Occam’s razor and Murphy’s law have a tenancy to meet up in tragic ways.

You don’t think somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 metric tons of poorly stored ammonium nitrate did this? ANY amateur bomb maker would know -- or at least have the tiniest inkling of the level of destruction that that amount of potential explosive base.

CREDIBLE Journalists???? Really is there even such a thing as a non biased or “Jaundiced Eyed Journalists” anymore? -- Especially news organizations/individuals covering political dramas outside of their own backyard?

Incidentally, the “Proof” you are linking to towards the end of your response is in and of itself anecdotal and biased. Filtering through a single source and their interpretations is less than an all inclusive in depth perspective of something that is abhorrently complex.

Honestly you would be best served to pull up the archived Beirut/local news coverage and have it translated/interpreted to get the actual feeling/meaning of the situation as it was there on the ground.

I can tell you I spoke with a couple close friends there in Beirut just after the explosion took place. I answered many questions concerning different types of munitions (Both stored, and or aerially dispensed) that could have possibly caused the detonation and corresponding level of destruction as knowing these things is an integral part of my profession.

At that time in Beirut there was an INCREDIBLE number of rumors and a plethora of disinformation going around.

Neither the close local authorities could or would give any answers and the countries government itself was literally (This time) caught flat footed and went into “What the hell happened??/Who’s fault is this??!!/Are we under attack??/Cover our A** mode”.

Again -- I have actual personal and cultural experience in Lebanon. In that very vicinity actually. I can’t force you to believe me. I believe that you would very much like for this tragic incident in Beirut to “Fit into” this construct/collage of reason or train of thought and events you have determined to be factual. People are people and nobody is correct 100% of the time, we are perfect creations and yet flawed individuals -- ALL OF US, myself included.

When living there personally witnessed people standing barefoot in 6″ of water handling high voltage lines -- LIVE ONES! In Bourj Hammoud (A predominantly Armenian refugee settled area which is VERY close to the detonation site) there are M A N Y auto re-builders and welding shops there along that portion of Beirut. They are commonly called out and hired to do work both locally and at times farther out. $$$s to doughnuts there are a couple distraught Armenian or Syrian refugee families devastated at the loss of their missing family members.

OSHA does NOT EXIST in Lebanon.

-- Yes this disaster FURTHER crippled Lebanon’s grain storage and infrastructure that was already BEYOND strained. It also further wounded a country that was reeling economically due to being a 93% import economy. ANY further large scale interruption to the already strained Lebanese life style is disastrous. COVID has had its own unique and terrible affect upon the country -- especially since MOST of the wealth coming into the country is from family/business associates abroad in the U.S., Australia, Senegal, -etc. Slowing economies and lock-downs in each of these countries (And others with a transplanted Lebanese population) seriously affect their solvancy.

The Lebanese are a tough resilient people -- and they have endured A LOT. But debacle, after bad break, after tragedy is becoming overwhelming to them.

-- Yes, your “Vagabond” source has a decent’ish/mediocre grasp of the politics in Lebanon. (And yes I did suffer through all of his quick study/second hand source/detached political analysis and “Well reasoned conclusions”). Coming from a “Non immersed individual” he does have an ok’ish perspective (Again albeit a detached one).

Again I WAS THERE. I worked through and lived with the politics on a daily basis. I was there for the garbage “Riots” (There was garbage piled up under every overpass). 90% of the “Riots” were overblown/manufactured. I was there in the vicinity of 4 such “Riots” that were filmed and broadcast. They were literally composed of 40-60 people that were organised with a filthy trash strewn backdrop and and filmed in a bunched up group protesting/rioting and edited so they would look like “Hundreds/thousands”. (Most of the filming for those broadcasts were actually done probably not 1000 ft away from the port itself -- close to the “City Mall” -- NOT City Center Mall).

I was IN MARTYRS square for the beginning of one of the REAL riots that was about the electricity shortages/garbage crisis. I even ended up on camera (In the crowd attempting to leave) on one of the feeds that was shown around the world.

I literally stood the day prior within 2-3 yards of where the ISIS retaliatory bombing (Crude Plast/Ex on a scooter) took place in the Hezbollah neighborhood just outside of Rafic Hariri airport.

I was THERE for the first presidential election that ended their 2+ year leaderless governmental quagmire (And brought the newspapers back home to frame them).

I was also there on business and visiting the very week that the current economic crisis started -- IE the decoupling of the U.S. dollar (Which WAS fixed at and = to 1500LL). I watched as the LAF had helicopters running damn near 24/7 in and out of MOD and the presidential palace just as things got weird. (The LAF DO NOT fly at night or almost EVER in anything but clear and perfect/ideal conditions with their few helicopters (Huey IIs)). So yes there was something definitely going on (I could NOT withdraw any U.S. currency, or LL from any institutions ATM during my last 2 days there -- I LITERALLY left the country with $7 in my pocket, even credit cards were iffy on transactions.

I even paid and tipped my contracted taxi driver in 1 Troy ounce silver ingots upon my departure.

Turns out that the rest of the ME world that was extending both the Lebanese government, and Lebanese businesses loans in U.S. Dollars decided to call in said loans early due to their displeasure of Hezbollah’s rhetoric/expanding influence in the Lebanese government. And they demanded to be paid back in U.S. currency not the Lebanese Lira.

Accordingly the banks/Govt officials hoarded and cut off almost all BUT A TRICKLE of U.S. Dollars/currency available in the country.

But again the powers that be proclaimed that: “They were caught flat footed and didn’t know where all the Dollars went”.

This first affected gasoline and petrol sales and distribution, then it hit the staple grain and food imports. The vendors in Lebanon HAD to accept the LL and were forced under contract to repay their lenders in U.S. Dollars. So shortages erupted everywhere and the LL value plummeted (Fluctuating between 4000LL -- 9000LL to the U.S. Dollar). As of the time I left circa Oct of 2018 there was less than 7 months supply of grain stores left in the country -- and imports were an ongoing nightmarish iffy prospect.

This crisis was manufactured. It is/was a hard push by the rest of the Sunni dominant -- IE wealthier Arab countries to penalize the country as a whole for the (Growing) Shia/Iranian/Hezbollah influences in the Lebanese government and policy decisions as a whole.

It also doesn’t help that Europe likes to dangle money and aid in front of the struggling country and its lethargic administration at the cost of ecological agreements that Lebanon (Even with the best intentions) can’t realistically implement (Garbage crisis being just ONE example).

-- Is the system corrupt? YES

-- Is cronyism rampant? YES

-- Are there a disproportionate number of disaffected and unemployed Lebanese young men angry as hell there YES (Syrian refugee men abound there and work for a pittance 4 male Syrian workers = the cost of a single Lebanese male worker).

-- Is there a high degree of outside (International) geopolitical influence (Tampering?) involved in the country’s politics YES

-- Does the deeply cultural Arab mentality (“Bukra” -- do it later tomorrow, and then the “Me first -- family first” (Coffee first??) pervade all things organizational/governmental Y E S

The Muslim/Christian/Druze divided government there works in theory -- (The LAF is structured the same way when it comes to the percentages in their military -- especially the officers). The LAF is actually very well structured and is a GREAT example of how things could/should work within the government/people it is trying hard to serve.

But even as your “Vagabond” stated there is (Again) an incredible level of “Culturally expected Arab” graft, nepotism ad nauseum, present in the government at large.

Currently the French and a few other countries are trying to help them with food imports, medicine, lines of credit, military armament, etc -- but again COVID has really gummed things up terribly.

Concerning Hezbollah:

Hezbollah has actually become semi legitimate since their elected representatives were brought into the won official government positions. This has caused trepidation in not only the U.S., but many other western, european countries (And for good cause from their perspective). They are an officially listed terrorist organization. (Like Hamas).

That said what the WEST does NOT see OR understandis that 80-90% of what is presently considered “Hezbollah” is normal everyday people (Muslim and Christian alike) that are basically forced to affiliate and work together as the smaller towns and cities are not maintained in any meaningful was by the revenue generated by taxation (VAT). So really how ELSE are the people there supposed to get things done/make things work in those areas that are not SAIDA, BEIRUT, or TRIPOLI?

Now that last 10-20% of Hezbollah varies from “Aggressive to Bat S**T insane/extremest” and has deep ties to (Shia dominated) IRAN and there machinations… (Starting trouble with Israel etc, etc…

Again -- I can’t force you to believe me, but I really have been there and done that there in Lebanon. To boot I am actually planning to go back for a month or so at a time for professional reasons for more than a couple times in the next 2 years. Perspective and experience in Lebanon I have in spades…