Massive blast in Beirut

[Rroff]

All those people that thought they were at a safe distance. I probably would have thought the same.

After seeing Tianjin I'd be running a mile, or 2 or 3... but very difficult to know with stuff like that what a safe distance is - a few more warehouses of stuff that goes boom in the mix and it could have flattened half the city.

 

[Puzzled]

Its noted as fake on a youtube copy of these videos but just thought Id pause and have a look at both video perspectives.
The Rocket they added is exactly the same angle, pitch and size from two different capture distances and angles, so lazy editing at its finest.

I wouldn't be surprised if their president starts going down the rocket attack route soon to try and deflect some of the anger and blame.

We know how "some" presidents like to use unverified sources and stick it on twitter.

 

[ianh]

Its noted as fake on a youtube copy of these videos but just thought Id pause and have a look at both video perspectives.
The Rocket they added is exactly the same angle, pitch and size from two different capture distances and angles, so lazy editing at its finest.

The absolute silliest part of that still is that the people who added the CGI dart did such a bad "scaling/size" job in their effort to make it recognisable that, if that "dart" was real, it would have been over 25m long as they made the dart 1/3rd the height of grain silos next to the warehouse (approx 75m tall) which also makes the CGI dart twice the size of a SCUD, Jericho ICBM or even a 1.5x the heights of a US Minuteman ICBM, thats how massive it would have been!

 

[Nasher]

I found one which the Russians cleaned up. You can clearly see the CIA markings:

Spoiler

 

[StriderX]

Jokes aside, it's honestly a little frightening that if there was a sufficiently well-edited piece of propaganda, it could end up in situation of justification for numerous acts of belligerence or even collapsing a country into a failed state (though Lebanon seems quite close to that regardless).

It's only going to get worse when uncanny valley quality of deepfakes are on the go as well, which to the mass of ignorant unthinkers of the world may as well be the real thing.

 

[Dis86]

Jokes aside, it's honestly a little frightening that if there was a sufficiently well-edited piece of propaganda, it could end up in situation of justification for numerous acts of belligerence or even collapsing a country into a failed state (though Lebanon seems quite close to that regardless).

It's only going to get worse when uncanny valley quality of deepfakes are on the go as well, which to the mass of ignorant unthinkers of the world may as well be the real thing.

Do you not remember Russia's attempt to add a mig to Tue mh17 shoot down?

 

[sideways14a]

it would have been over 25m long as they made the dart 1/3rd the height of grain silos next to the warehouse (approx 75m tall) which also makes the CGI dart twice the size of a SCUD, Jericho ICBM or even a 1.5x the heights of a US Minuteman ICBM, thats how massive it would have been!

Obviously this was a round deployed from an orbiting station using kinetic energy from the impact to do the damage, ala project thor.

or it could be BS

 

[Unseul]

Jokes aside, it's honestly a little frightening that if there was a sufficiently well-edited piece of propaganda, it could end up in situation of justification for numerous acts of belligerence or even collapsing a country into a failed state (though Lebanon seems quite close to that regardless).

It's only going to get worse when uncanny valley quality of deepfakes are on the go as well, which to the mass of ignorant unthinkers of the world may as well be the real thing.

Deepfakes are already pretty much there. Truly scary stuff is now possible. The most annoying thing is, you then have to rely even moreso on the media to present you with honest footage/interviews, and go along with their biases/editing of such interviews/footage. I mostly read/view mainstream media anyway, but still dislike the idea that the likes of Fox, Daily mail, etc etc gain more power as simple videos become less and less trustworthy.

 

[Twinz]

Deepfakes are already pretty much there. Truly scary stuff is now possible. The most annoying thing is, you then have to rely even moreso on the media to present you with honest footage/interviews, and go along with their biases/editing of such interviews/footage. I mostly read/view mainstream media anyway, but still dislike the idea that the likes of Fox, Daily mail, etc etc gain more power as simple videos become less and less trustworthy.

Are you suggesting "mainstream media" have no biases/editing issues, or that you prefer the mainstream media's bias over that found in other sources?

 

[ianh]

I wouldn't be surprised if their president starts going down the rocket attack route soon to try and deflect some of the anger and blame.

Didn't take too long - "President Michael Aoun said there was a 'possibility of external interference through a rocket or bomb' "

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...n-Politician-blames-Hezbollah-government.html

 

[Unseul]

Are you suggesting "mainstream media" have no biases/editing issues, or that you prefer the mainstream media's bias over that found in other sources?

I'm saying they have plenty of biases and editing issues. It's just once deepfakes become commonplace, only major media outlets will have any sort of credibility that what they're showing is legitimate.

 

[Nasher]

Do you not remember Russia's attempt to add a mig to Tue mh17 shoot down?

And that hilariously bad "American" comms chatter they "intercepted" lol

 

[Brizzles]

I'm pretty sure that Israel, or whoever you want to suspect, would have the ability to covertly attack a non military port without the use of an easily tracked missile launch or drones.

A small remote detonated bomb would have been enough to trigger the explosion on what was not exactly a top secret storage of volatile materials.

Why complicate things with missiles etc if there is an easier and anonymous way to do it ?

It was an accident, but CT need to make something out of it so it's either missiles or aliens.

 

[ik9000]

it's either missiles or aliens.

omg was it aliens? no way? Quick turn off the 5G it must be calling them. That's why there's global warming right? It's their spaceships warming up our atmosphere with those hypersonic fly-pasts and recon flights. They hide under the lip of the world then pop up and blitz past us before ducking under the other edge.

 

[Malevolence]

Apparently, according to some idiots on another website, this was a nuke. Makes you wonder just how halfwits like that manage to function in real life.

 

[StriderX]

I'm pretty sure that Israel, or whoever you want to suspect, would have the ability to covertly attack a non military port without the use of an easily tracked missile launch or drones.

A small remote detonated bomb would have been enough to trigger the explosion on what was not exactly a top secret storage of volatile materials.

Why complicate things with missiles etc if there is an easier and anonymous way to do it ?

It was an accident, but CT need to make something out of it so it's either missiles or aliens.

Boggles the mind, starting to think they weren't slapped hard enough as kids.

 

[ik9000]

Apparently, according to some idiots on another website, this was a nuke. Makes you wonder just how halfwits like that manage to function in real life.

I quite agree. But careful what you call them. I got a mod slap-down for similar.

 

[dowie]

Lebanon doesn't want an international probe into the blast:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...eirut-blast-live-updates-200807062157963.html

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun rejected calls for an international probe into the massive port blast, after world leaders and Lebanese nationals abroad and at home pressed for an impartial investigation.

When asked by a journalist during a televised interview if he thought an international probe would dilute the "truth", the president answered, "of course".

Moments later on his Facebook page, the president spelled out his position further, saying, "the goal behind calls for an international investigation into the port issue is to dilute the truth."

More speculation about the friendly local political group, granted it comes from an Israeli publication:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israe...nted-beiruts-ammonium-nitrate-for-israel-war/

Hezbollah apparently planned to use the ammonium nitrate stockpile that caused a massive bast at Beirut’s port this week against Israel in a “Third Lebanon War,” according to an unsourced assessment publicized on Israel’s Channel 13 Friday night.

The report was broadcast hours after Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, gave a speech “categorically” denying that his group had stored any weapons or explosives at Beirut’s port, following the massive explosion there Tuesday that has claimed over 157 lives and wounded thousands. “I would like to absolutely, categorically rule out anything belonging to us at the port. No weapons, no missiles, or bombs or rifles or even a bullet or ammonium nitrate,” Nasrallah said. “No cache, no nothing. Not now, not ever.”

Also:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...78297e-d819-11ea-a788-2ce86ce81129_story.html

Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, warned Friday not to hold the Shiite militia responsible for the massive blast at Beirut's port, as many Lebanese point to Hezbollah as a source of problems that helped bring about the tragedy.

Nasrallah — in a televised address as the death toll from Tuesday’s explosion and fireball topped 150 — responded to growing calls that Hezbollah be held at least partially accountable.

The group, which has a powerful place in Lebanon’s government, is widely believed to use the port facility for its own smuggling operations and is under scrutiny more generally because it operates a parallel state outside official structures, and is seen as contributing to the weaknesses in institutions to run and regulate the country.

Hezbollah is strong enough to counter challenges from any faction, Nasrallah cautioned in an address televised live by the movement’s Al-Manar TV station.

Whether or not they were behind the scenes/involved in some of the screw ups that lead to the blast occuring they're certainly wary of the fall out from it - quite reasonable questions to be asked about their stores of weapons/ammunitions not just possibly at the port and questioned re: any connection to this issue but in general where they might be stored near to civilians etc..

 

[StriderX]

Well one would hope for change, but considering all the other attempts in the ME have ended in a worse situation (perhaps Egypt got off lightly?), change is likely to just end up with some other fundamentalist faction winning power. I don't know what the Lebanese should do honestly, they can't really just let this opportunity pass them by.

 

[ianh]

Apparently, according to some idiots on another website, this was a nuke. Makes you wonder just how halfwits like that manage to function in real life.

Luckily for the vast majority of people, they have no actual experience of seeing large explosions like this, so the closest they can come up with is "Nuke". Unfortunately, despite having the literal world's worth of information at their finger-tips, the vast majority of people are (as unkind as all this sounds) just too lazy/stupid/incompetent/uncaring to even think about doing a "5 second internet search" first before posting whatever nonsense gets pushed out of their brain and onto the web as a "fact" for all the world to see.

Personally (and I realise how snobby this may make me sound) I miss the "good old days" when accessing the dial-up web meant you needed some technical skills, which meant you had to have some form of intellect to be able to use it. Now that access is as easy as grunting "WiFi Password?" at someone, I would suggest there's been an extremely downward trend in the overall level intelligence of what we see posted generally on the web (especially on SM).