by Pepe Escobar : Republished from Asia Times by permission of author
The narrative that the Beirut explosion was an exclusive consequence of negligence and corruption by the current Lebanese government is now set in stone, at least in the Atlanticist sphere.
And yet, digging deeper, we find that negligence and corruption may have been fully exploited, via sabotage, to engineer it.
Lebanon is prime John Le Carré territory. A multinational den of spies of all shades – House of Saud agents, Zionist operatives, “moderate rebel” weaponizers, Hezbollah intellectuals, debauched Arab “royalty,” self-glorified smugglers – in a context of full spectrum economic disaster afflicting a member of the Axis of Resistance, a perennial target of Israel alongside Syria and Iran.
As if this were not volcanic enough, into the tragedy stepped President Trump to muddy the – already contaminated – Eastern Mediterranean waters. Briefed by “our great generals,” Trump on Tuesday said: “According to them – they would know better than I would – but they seem to think it was an attack.”
Trump added, “it was a bomb of some kind.”
Was this incandescent remark letting the cat out of the bag by revealing classified information? Or was the President launching another non sequitur?
Trump eventually walked his comments back after the Pentagon declined to confirm his claim about what the “generals” had said and his defense secretary, Mark Esper, supported the accident explanation for the blast.
It’s yet another graphic illustration of the war engulfing the Beltway. Trump: attack. Pentagon: accident. “I don’t think anybody can say right now,” Trump said on Wednesday. “I’ve heard it both ways.”
Still, it’s worth noting a report by Iran’s Mehr News Agency that four US Navy reconnaissance planes were spotted near Beirut at the time of the blasts. Is US intel aware of what really happened all along the spectrum of possibilities?
That ammonium nitrate
Security at Beirut’s port – the nation’s prime economic hub – would have to be considered a top priority. But to adapt a line from Roman Polanski’s Chinatown: “Forget it, Jake. It’s Beirut.”
Those by now iconic 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate arrived in Beirut in September 2013 on board the Rhosus, a ship under Moldovan flag sailing from Batumi in Georgia to Mozambique. Rhosus ended up being impounded by Beirut’s Port State Control.
Subsequently the ship was de facto abandoned by its owner, shady businessman Igor Grechushkin, born in Russia and a resident of Cyprus, who suspiciously “lost interest” in his relatively precious cargo, not even trying to sell it, dumping style, to pay off his debts.
Grechushkin never paid his crew, who barely survived for several months before being repatriated on humanitarian grounds. The Cypriot government confirmed there was no request to Interpol from Lebanon to arrest him. The whole op feels like a cover – with the real recipients of the ammonium nitrate possibly being “moderate rebels” in Syria who use it to make IEDs and equip suicide trucks, such as the one that demolished the Al Kindi hospital in Aleppo.
The 2,750 tons – packed in 1-ton bags labeled “Nitroprill HD” – were transferred to the Hangar 12 warehouse by the quayside. What followed was an astonishing case of serial negligence.
From 2014 to 2017 letters from customs officials – a series of them – as well as proposed options to get rid of the dangerous cargo, exporting it or otherwise selling it, were simply ignored. Every time they tried to get a legal decision to dispose of the cargo, they got no answer from the Lebanese judiciary.
When Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab now proclaims, “Those responsible will pay the price,” context is absolutely essential.
Neither the prime minister nor the president nor any of the cabinet ministers knew that the ammonium nitrate was stored in Hangar 12, former Iranian diplomat Amir Mousavi, the director of the Center for Strategic Studies and International Relations in Tehran, confirms. We’re talking about a massive IED, placed mid-city.
The bureaucracy at Beirut’s port and the mafias who are actually in charge are closely linked to, among others, the al-Mostaqbal faction, which is led by former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, himself fully backed by the House of Saud.
The immensely corrupt Hariri was removed from power in October 2019 amid serious protests. His cronies “disappeared” at least $20 billion from Lebanon’s treasury – which seriously aggravated the nation’s currency crisis.
No wonder the current government – where we have Prime Minister Diab backed by Hezbollah – had not been informed about the ammonium nitrate.
Ammonium nitrate is quite stable, making it one of the safest explosives used in mining. Fire normally won’t set it off. It becomes highly explosive only if contaminated – for instance by oil – or heated to a point where it undergoes chemical changes that produce a sort of impermeable cocoon around it in which oxygen can build up to a dangerous level where an ignition can cause an explosion.
Why, after sleeping in Hangar 12 for seven years, did this pile suddenly feel an itch to explode?
So far, the prime straight to the point explanation, by Middle East expert Elijah Magnier, points to the tragedy being “sparked” – literally – by a clueless blacksmith with a blowtorch operating quite close to the unsecured ammonium nitrate. Unsecured due, once again, to negligence and corruption – or as part of an intentional “mistake” anticipating the possibility of a future blast.
This scenario, though, does not explain the initial “fireworks” explosion. And certainly does not explain what no one – at least in the West – is talking about: the deliberate fires set to an Iranian market in Ajam in the UAE, and also to a series of food/agricultural warehouses in Najaf, Iraq, immediately after the Beirut tragedy.
Follow the money
Lebanon – boasting assets and real estate worth trillions of dollars – is a juicy peach for global finance vultures. To grab these assets at rock bottom prices, in the middle of the New Great Depression, is simply irresistible. In parallel, the IMF vulture would embark on full shakedown mode and finally “forgive” some of Beirut’s debts as long as a harsh variation of “structural adjustment” is imposed.
Who profits, in this case, are the geopolitical and geoeconomic interests of US, Saudi Arabia and France. It’s no accident that President Macron, a dutiful Rothschild servant, arrived in Beirut Thursday to pledge Paris neocolonial “support” and all but impose, like a Viceroy, a comprehensive set of “reforms”. A Monty Python-infused dialogue, complete with heavy French accent, might have followed along these lines: “We want to buy your port.” “It’s not for sale.” “Oh, what a pity, an accident just happened.”
Already a month ago the IMF was “warning” that “implosion” in Lebanon was “accelerating.” Prime Minister Diab had to accept the proverbial “offer you can’t refuse” and thus “unlock billions of dollars in donor funds.” Or else. The non-stop run on the Lebanese currency, for over a year now, was just a – relatively polite – warning.
This is happening amid a massive global asset grab characterized in the larger context by American GDP down by almost 40%, arrays of bankruptcies, a handful of billionaires amassing unbelievable profits and too-big-to-fail megabanks duly bailed out with a tsunami of free money.
Dag Detter, a Swedish financier, and Nasser Saidi, a former Lebanese minister and central bank vice governor, suggest that the nation’s assets be placed in a national wealth fund. Juicy assets include Electricité du Liban (EDL), water utilities, airports, the MEA airline, telecom company OGERO, the Casino du Liban.
EDL, for instance, is responsible for 30% of Beirut’s budget deficit.
That’s not nearly enough for the IMF and Western mega banks. They want to gobble up the whole thing, plus a lot of real estate.
“The economic value of public real estate can be worth at least as much as GDP and often several times the value of the operational part of any portfolio,” say Detter and Saidi.
Who’s feeling the shockwaves?
Once again, Israel is the proverbial elephant in a room now widely depicted by Western corporate media as “Lebanon’s Chernobyl.”
A scenario like the Beirut catastrophe has been linked to Israeli plans since February 2016.
Israel did admit that Hangar 12 was not a Hezbollah weapons storage unit. Yet, crucially, on the same day of the Beirut blast, and following a series of suspicious explosions in Iran and high tension in the Syria-Israeli border, Prime Minister Netanyahu tweeted , in the present tense: “We hit a cell and now we hit the dispatchers. We will do what is necessary in order to defend ourselves. I suggest to all of them, including Hezbollah, to consider this.”
That ties in with the intent, openly proclaimed late last week, to bomb Lebanese infrastructure if Hezbollah harms Israeli Defense Forces soldiers or Israeli civilians.
A headline – “Beirut Blast Shockwaves Will Be Felt by Hezbollah for a Long Time” – confirms that the only thing that matters for Tel Aviv is to profit from the tragedy to demonize Hezbollah, and by association, Iran. That ties in with the US Congress “Countering Hezbollah in Lebanon’s Military Act of 2019” {S.1886}, which all but orders Beirut to expel Hezbollah from Lebanon.
And yet Israel has been strangely subdued.
Muddying the waters even more, Saudi intel – which has access to Mossad, and demonizes Hezbollah way more than Israel – steps in. All the intel ops I talked to refuse to go on the record, considering the extreme sensitivity of the subject.
Still, it must be stressed that a Saudi intel source whose stock in trade is frequent information exchanges with the Mossad, asserts that the original target was Hezbollah missiles stored in Beirut’s port. His story is that Prime Minister Netanyahu was about to take credit for the strike – following up on his tweet. But then the Mossad realized the op had turned horribly wrong and metastasized into a major catastrophe.
The problem starts with the fact this was not a Hezbollah weapons depot – as even Israel admitted. When weapons depots are blown up, there’s a primary explosion followed by several smaller explosions, something that could last for days. That’s not what happened in Beirut. The initial explosion was followed by a massive second blast – almost certainly a major chemical explosion – and then there was silence.
Thierry Meyssan, very close to Syrian intel, advances the possibility that the “attack” was carried out with an unknown weapon, a missile -– and not a nuclear bomb – tested in Syria in January 2020. (The test is shown in an attached video.) Neither Syria nor Iran ever made a reference to this unknown weapon, and I got no confirmation about its existence.
Assuming Beirut port was hit by an “unknown weapon,” President Trump may have told the truth: It was an “attack”. And that would explain why Netanyahu, contemplating the devastation in Beirut, decided that Israel would need to maintain a very low profile.
Watch that camel in motion
The Beirut explosion at first sight might be seen as a deadly blow against the Belt and Road Initiative, considering that China regards the connectivity between Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon as the cornerstone of the Southwest Asia Belt and Road corridor.
Yet that may backfire – badly. China and Iran are already positioning themselves as the go-to investors post-blast, in sharp contrast with the IMF hit men, and as advised by Hezbollah Secretary-General Nasrallah only a few weeks ago.
Syria and Iran are in the forefront of providing aid to Lebanon. Tehran is sending an emergency hospital, food packages, medicine and medical equipment. Syria opened its borders with Lebanon, dispatched medical teams and is receiving patients from Beirut’s hospitals.
It’s always important to keep in mind that the “attack” (Trump) on Beirut’s port destroyed Lebanon’s main grain silo, apart from engineering the total destruction of the port – the nation’s key trade lifeline.
That would fit into a strategy of starving Lebanon. On the same day Lebanon became to a great extent dependent on Syria for food – as it now carries only a month’s supply of wheat – the US attacked silos in Syria.
Syria is a huge exporter of organic wheat. And that’s why the US routinely targets Syrian silos and burns its crops – attempting also to starve Syria and force Damascus, already under harsh sanctions, to spend badly needed funds to buy food
In stark contrast to the interests of the US/France/Saudi axis, Plan A for Lebanon would be to progressively drop out of the US-France stranglehold and head straight into Belt and Road as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Go East, the Eurasian way. The port and even a great deal of the devastated city, in the medium term, can be quickly and professionally rebuilt by Chinese investment. The Chinese are specialists in port construction and management.
This avowedly optimistic scenario would imply a purge of the hyper-wealthy, corrupt weapons/drugs/real estate scoundrels of Lebanon’s plutocracy – which in any case scurry away to their tony Paris apartments at the first sign of trouble.
Couple that with Hezbollah’s very successful social welfare system – which I saw for myself at work last year – having a shot at winning the confidence of the impoverished middle classes and thus becoming the core of the reconstruction.
It will be a Sisyphean struggle. But compare this situation with the Empire of Chaos – which needs chaos everywhere, especially across Eurasia, to cover for the coming, Mad Max chaos inside the US.
General Wesley Clark’s notorious 7 countries in 5 years once again come to mind – and Lebanon remains one of those 7 countries. The Lebanese lira may have collapsed; most Lebanese may be completely broke; and now Beirut is semi-devastated. That may be the straw breaking the camel’s back – releasing the camel to the freedom of finally retracing its steps back to Asia along the New Silk Roads.
“The problem starts with the fact this was not a Hezbollah weapons depot – as even Israel admitted.”
I can find no reference to Israel admitting this. Can anyone cite a source?
Does Israel ever admit anything wrong? Give me a break. Which planet are you living on?
Complimenting all this are now the riots in Beruit. They having all the hallmarks of “color revolution” MO.
“Thierry Meyssan, very close to Syrian intel, advances the possibility that the “attack” was carried out with an unknown weapon, a missile …”
Agree. That flash of light, bright as the sun, makes no sense in an “ammonium nitrate only” scenario, i.m.o.
I think the author is being very optimistic. China has already backed down when faced with economic threats. There’s no way the ZioWest will let go of Lebanon without a majot fight, as its on Israhell’s menu for expansion not to mention that these are the opening steps in the future attack on Hezbollah.
“China has already backed down when faced with economic threats.”
Would you be referring to the 25-year agreement that China signed with Iran, against the strict sanctions that the US have implemented against any country buying Iranian oil? China will invest US$400 billion in high speed rail, telecommunications, port construction, industrial development, ignoring US diktats that nobody do any business with Iran. Is that backing down when faced with economic threats?
Dont play naive. Have you heard about Huawei, Tik tok, Wechat , and others ? What about the sanctions on HK officials ? What baout the constant ” freedom of navigation ” in Chinese claimed waters ? Dont forget the murdered Chinese ambassador to Israhell ? How ” forcefully ” has China reacted to any of these attacks ?
But this time the Beirut issue is part of an existential threat for China’s OBOR. Remember previous movements are, first Syria’s invation altered the route and was changed to pass through Palestine (occupied by “Israel”) when they hand it over one of their major port to be used as instead and then US pressured “israelis” to cancel it, and they are now desperated for getting control over Beirut’s port, while for China it’s an opportunity to fix the missing gaps in OBOR. When it comes to existencial threats to their main development plans, China will react differently.
” instead and then US pressured “israelis” to cancel it, and they are now desperated for getting control over Beirut’s port, ”
I disagree, that was just a game of ” good cop bad cop ” meant to fool China. ZioAmerica doesnt order Israhell to do anything, Its the other way around.
@Fog of War
I try to follow the intent and actions of the Chinese leadership verrry closely because their actions are key to understanding the future. The instances you quote are certainly very real affronts to China, but you are mistaken to impose your expectations of what you call a “forceful” response by the Chinese. They are playing another game altogether. I would not say the Chinese are showing maximum resistance, although their increased military expenditures suggests they are. Probably, the Chinese see time as being on their side, so they prefer to stay on their chosen path. Of the items you mention, the only serious damage is to deprive Huawei of buying IC’s from Taiwan and the US. I suppose China will eventually build their own super-high tech wafer fabs, and over the next 5-10 years, the US move will be seen as a mistake.
You can make the same criticism against Russia and Iran. Kiev is still held by fascists and Iranians have been killed by the Israeli air force, and no “forceful” response have been forthcoming. Such a response doesn’t fit their strategic plans, because, as with China, time is on their side. All three nations are working hard to build up their economies and armed forces, and to build ties with the rest of the world. The Empire wants a confrontation now while it still has strength (and before the EU implodes), but even the Empire does not dare to launch any wars because it can only lose. So both the Empire and the Resistance try to grapple on the margins.
You should not think you know enough to understand the game from both sides of the table.
” You should not think you know enough to understand the game from both sides of the table. ”
Thankfully, you do, All kidding aside, your theory is totaly based on the premise that China / Russia / Iran actually have ten years left to prepare, thats a faulty assumption with possible deadly consequences.
The ZioAmerican movements are decades, if not longer, in planning. Based on the actions of the past 10 years or so, its obvious the Zios have entered the final stages of these plans. They will not back down because of China or Russia, most people just refuse to understand this. The Zios will not let go the reighns of power and global control without a massive fight. Thinking otherwise is a self delusion.
The Zionists thought that Israel would stretch across the entire Mideast by now. If it wasn’t for the Iranian revolution, it would.
Their plans have all gone haywire.
The only point of disagreement is the idea that I “understand the game from both sides of the table.” I don’t claim to know, except in general terms.
For discussion only, let us suppose that in, oh, three years, the Empire attacks Iran, China or Russia singly or all of them. What do you think these nations should be doing differently ? Should they conduct a more intense arms buildup than they already have ? That would come with its own risks. Don’t forget that the Empire can always decide the timing of war or peace. So: (1) All military buildups direct investment away from economic growth, and it’s the economy that supports military potential. (2) Such a buildup could result in amassing soon-to-be obsolete weapons. I think that happened with the French who had a large quantity of 1932-design tanks and airplanes in 1939. (3) Such buildups stoke war passions and tend to make wars more likely – the Thuicidydes Trap. (4) In the fight for “hearts and minds,” such a buildup paves the road for Empire propagandists. (5) Some part of the ruling elite may be truly suicidal. With control over thousands of nuclear warheads, that elite has the means to end all of mankind with a nuclear winter. This sucker is coming down, in Bush The Shrub’s immortal phrase, but it has to come down gently.
I wholeheartedly agree that the Empire plans many decades in advance. Around 1820, the British Parliament extensively examined the question of what to do about the fact that Britain would run out of coal in a few hundred years. Zionism tried hard in the 1700’s to get re-established in Palestine but failed, and it was also in the 1700’s that British agents started to create the utter heresy of Wahabbism, which they nurtured – starting in 1860 – by allowing Arabs to set up a great many madrassas in what’s now Pakistan, and which would play out as terrorism over 200 years later.
Having world dominance allowed the Empire to plan ahead with success. It’s less clear now, at least to me, how the Empire might still have strategic areas of dominance that could give it more tricks to play, but I’m sure they will try more tricks.
All fair points, however:
” For discussion only, let us suppose that in, oh, three years, the Empire attacks Iran, China or Russia singly or all of them. ”
I dont believe it will take that long, the confrintation will happen this year, or next year at the latest. ZioAmerica will not attack all of them at once, thats not how they operate, they will pick off each opponent one at a time.
” Should they conduct a more intense arms buildup than they already have ? That would come with its own risks. Don’t forget that the Empire can always decide the timing of war or peace. ”
No need for increased ” arms spending ” as China is already pursuing a mass buildup, while Russia has plenty of of weapons especially from the Soviet era. Yes, these weapons might be outdated, however, as shown in Syria that doesnt really matter that much in a modern battlefield. The future is in Drones, ATGM, anti-aircraft systems and fast modernized ” technicals “. Russia is foolish to waste its money on anything else, as is China. Also, it seems the empire also operates under contraints ( public opinion i.e. ) as it would have already attacked. Keep in mind, that while Russia and China are ” buying time ” for themselves, ZioAmerica is also building up its resources.
” Some part of the ruling elite may be truly suicidal. With control over thousands of nuclear warheads, that elite has the means to end all of mankind with a nuclear winter. This sucker is coming down, in Bush The Shrub’s immortal phrase, but it has to come down gently. ”
Even if some elites had a death wish, I dont believe the top echolons do. They want world domination not death as all their plans point in that direction. If they really wanted to, they could have ended humanity during the cold war.
” What do you think these nations should be doing differently ? ”
All the resiatnce players are making the same, fatal, mistake ZioAmerica always capitalizes on, meaning, they dont have a unified front, dont support each other completely, and actually play stupid ” games ” against each other. For instance, see the idiotic relationship Iran and Russia have in Syria.
The Empire will not have the luxury of picking off one enemy at a time, and the Pentagon understands this. If the Empire were to start a war in one spot, all the others – and here it’s not just Russia, China, Iran – would see a window of opportunity and cause more wars, which ZATO can’t win. Russia came to the aid of Syria in 2015 exactly because the Kremlin saw that if Syria were to be defeated, that would be a big strategic defeat for Russia. Russia still hopes to re-integrate the Jews who emigrated to Israel, and has great hopes for mediating the existential struggle between the synthetic Jewish State and their unfortunate neighbors. Likewise, Iran has difficult business with Turkey. I believe Iran supports Erdogan because the only alternative is some Gulenist puppet ran by the CIA. It’s Realpolitik and while it looks haphazard, it’s all a “long game.”
It’s clear that Russia and China are totally welded together, thanks to intense pressure from the US. Neither can survive without the other and by now, everyone knows this simple truth. Iran is less crucial, but far more crucial than Syria. Iran provides “cover” for Persian Gulf oil deliveries to China, and helps provide legitimacy in the struggle for hearts and minds from Ingushetia all the way to Xinjiang. Iran has highly developed technology, especially in drone swarm AI, and Iran offers an opportunity to actually test some parts of new military technologies.
For example, Iran just showed the video of the launch of two ballistic missiles emerging from bare ground. Presumably, the most intense aerial and satellite reconnaissance could not pinpoint the launch sites, so it’s impossible to destroy the sites before the missiles are launched. Now, perhaps Iran developed the technology all on their own. But China is said to have something similar for its ICBM’s. There are supposedly thousands if kilometers of secret train tunnels in China, and mobile ICBM launchers roll around on a random schedule. It was assumed that there are spots where the launch trains can emerge and launch missiles, but now it’s more likely the Chinese have the same technology as Iran, where there’s no need for obvious launch points. Probably the ground has launch “doors” built entirely from below.
Last thing, is that the ruling elite of the Cold War US may be different from today’s ruling elite. We are long past the utter smack-down of the USS Liberty and other events in the long sado-masochist degradation of the US by the Zionists, and the horrific satanism of Pizzagate means the ruling elite may have gone beyond the point of no return. People never want to acknowledge the possible worst-case scenarios, and I don’t want to spread fear porn, but we have to check our assumptions to be sure we haven’t missed anything vital.
Another reason why the zionist project called “israel” should be obliterated.
MOD: John, your post is basically a pointer to your videos. It is totally off topic in this thread. You are free to re-post it in the Moveable Feast Cafe section.
Cheers and thank you for letting me know.
John
The news video of anti-government protesters in the streets of Beirut shows long banners, with nice graphic design (blood and nooses) printed in both Arabic and English. Allowing the NED to operate in Lebanon may have been a mistake.
” Allowing the NED to operate in Lebanon may have been a mistake. ”
A mistake most countries of the world shockingly commit . Why would they allow know intelligence fronts NED / NGO’s to operate feely in their countries. It reeks of madness.
Back in July 2019, presenting no evidence except for a cartoonLebanon accuses Israel of threatening civilian infrastructure (likely what Meyssan refers to in his article but uses UN’s Natanyaho speech instead)
One year later:
BREAKING: Israel Bombed Beirut
Is this it? It does not bode well…
Referenced in Pepe’s article is an article by Meyssan. His website now issued a correction and clarification concerning some parts of the article. The video of a missile, a photo of Bibi, and information that Hezbollah had moved their weapons from the area in 2018.
https://www.voltairenet.org/article210676.html
“We published, in the night of 6 August 2020 , an article by Thierry Meyssan titled ” Israel destroyed Beirut-Is with a new weapon “. To illustrate our point, we have attached a video showing a missile fired on the warehouse supposed to Hezbollah in the Beirut port.
This video, which we specify do not know the origin, appeared to be a fake made from a sequence of CNN.
We have removed from the article. In fact, it was not necessary. We ask our readers to excuse us for this error of illustration.
Incidentally, the photo of Benjamin Netanyahu is not the right one. It shows the site of the Hezbollah on the side of the highway near the airport and not the port site. This is the only image we have found to be free of rights. If you have the correct photo, also royalty free, please send it to us, we’ll be at the square of the current.
Finally, it should be noted that Hezbollah had evacuated its weapons from that warehouse after the speech of Netanyahu, in 2018. What Israel seemed to ignore.”
This is an object lesson in open sourcing. Things often aren’t what they seem to be. So be careful when using what looks like factual, historic information. At best, sometimes the truth is no longer knowable about a specific event.
CNN is well known propaganda organ of the US Military Industrial Complex owned by Northrup Grumann.
I agree. People need to be more discerning and check out the ‘About’ on websites to see who owns them/runs them.
The words of William (Bill) Casey ‘We’ll know our disinformation campaign has been successful when the American people dont know what to believe’ (words to the effect)
Strangely enough, I tried to routinely access Voltaire Network on the 6 August and I was met with an access denial message (Malicious ware) situation which lasted several days.
I have been reading Thierrey Meyssan and voltairenet.org since 2009. The only areas where his statements are possibly incorrect have to do with his appraisal of Iran’s leadership. He thinks Rouhani started out as a sell-out, for example. Everything else is pretty close to gospel truth.
A personal story: I started to read Meyssan in the winter of 2008-2009, and then abandoned the site when he made the claim that the bombing of Hariri Sr. may not have been by a truck bomb (Syria maybe), but by a missile (Israel only) because the crater was so deep. He wrote that the French Army scooped up 20 tons of dirt from the site, to be tested in France, to figure out if it was a truck bomb or not. Well, that was too far-fetched and I stopped reading voltairenet.org. But … I was reading the French media and about 6 months later, I came across two differently-sourced French news items which said the French Army had indeed tested the dirt from Beirut with explosives on an army base in central France. The Army did not explain why they tested the dirt, nor hint at any conclusions. Of course not … Whoah ! So Meyssan had told the truth, unbelievable as it had seemed. I’ve been a constant reader ever since.
There is a very interesting 5 part video with Gilad Atzmon, in which Thierrey Meyssan provides an over-arching narrative. It’s tri-lingual, subtitled in English and French but not Arabic, by a French production team. It’s from 2014, and not outdated in the least. The first 3 parts are better than parts 4 and 5. Watch until you are satiated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUJ_s4HvtozaX0JdD8F4NI2A&v=LfDbiDVKceA
Meyssan wouldn’t acknowledge that the removal of the Shah was due, besides his ‘ambitions’ to ‘Make Persia Great Again’, to his increasing rapprochement with USSR and attempts to secure a central position in the growing ‘Pipelinistan’. Khomeini was an agent of the West.
Myself, I’ve never seen anything to suggest the Shah was trying for a rapprochement with Russia.
If you have any sources, I’d be very interested.
As for Khomeini, there’s a huge difference between having a number of Western agents in the entourage, and actually being a Western agent. It’s actually a comical difference, as it turned out. It’s pretty clear that Khomeini was never a Western agent, and I’m curious to know how the West could have been so mistaken. Iranians tell me there is a pretty straight line, that the writings of the young Khomenei are in a straight line with the vision of the old imam.
“This is an object lesson in open sourcing. Things often aren’t what they seem to be. So be careful when using what looks like factual, historic information. At best, sometimes the truth is no longer knowable about a specific event.”
I fully agree with you, but standards need to apply equally across all media, not just independent media.
The strange thing is that the MSM can have an article which is 95% fake and 5% factual.
Someone in the alternative media comes up with a story which is maybe 30% correct and they make some factual errors in sourcing or on details. They are still more accurate than the mainstream!
That CNN video is strange because they didn’t claim it at first and then it turned out to have been made by a CNN reporter walking his dog!!!
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/06/world/fake-beirut-video-missile-intl-trnd/index.html
I don’t understand: a CNN reporter takes the footage but doesn’t give it to CNN and instead posts it on facebook and twitter? And how can CNN know the footage was manipulated from the facebook page? It could have also been stolen from twitter. Surely it’s possible?
The lid begins to be lifted on yet another false-flag cauldron of deceit by the usual suspects. The disinformation counter reverberations are no doubt already on their way as we speak. Great piece!
No air defense radar, no way to identify the source of the object Paul’s video in the Cafe shows:
/moveable-feast-cafe-2020-08-05/#comment-840376
?????
Or is that easy to fake??
Looks real to me.
That is the video that was retracted by Meyssan in the link mentioned by Larchmonter445 (again the retraction and the now edited original) It has been recognized as a fake infrared via invertion of original color and addition of an object pretending to be a missile.
Thank you, Vasco…..cn’t be here all day long and missed those things…………
.now to check the cafe to make sure Paul knows of all this debate/retractions etc….. After reading/watching your links, of course.
The main follow-up question …”from whence?” that I asked …………and what about radar telling us from whence…..and if that doesn’t exist….then doubt HAS to creep in………..
Now the question (secondary but interesting) is WHY the fake???
Who faked and what do they gain by the confusion…..Everyone always in doubt about everything??? I suppose that could be some twisted goal of the Evil Ones.
Pretty well covered here by Silverstein….
https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2020/08/04/breaking-israel-bombed-beirut/
https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2020/08/08/senior-israeli-opposition-leader-hezbollah-arms-cache-caused-beirut-explosion/
https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2020/08/06/ex-cia-analyst-confirms-beirut-blast-initiated-by-munitions-explosions/
silverstein also reiterates that rafi eitan created hezbollah. bragging or lies. his wifes personal diary supports it. and the israeli “60 minutes” also repeated this in a documentary on his national hero life.
https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2014/12/02/israels-top-spy-kidnapped-eichmann-ran-pollard-created-hezbollah/
who to believe? especially when one group has a religious principle of lying to others
Brilliant analysis.
The Lebanese have some hard choices to make and they will need to be made quickly:
`1.Unite with Syria/Iran or become a debt slave to the West
2. Put into power a government of national defense which will purge the crooks, criminals and Western foreign agents –everyone surely knows who they are. When Russia is under attack, it already has in place and standing by something like a government of national defense but then, it already knows ” the drill”
so sad to watch the ghouls gather and feast on the misery:
https://www.rt.com/news/497476-injured-clashes-lebanon-beirut/
The US #miga #kag #cia narrative of the protests in Lebanon.
“HORROR! Iranian-Backed Hezbollah Forces Open Fire on Lebanese Protesters in Beirut (VIDEO)”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/horror-iranian-backed-hezbollah-forces-open-fire-lebanese-protesters-beirut-video/
This reeks of desperation tbh.
in your link i read in second paragraph….
”riots against the terrorist organisation. hezbullah…”
i stopped reading at that point.
In February 2005 a massive bomb was detonated in Beirut killing Rafik Hariri.
Without a shred of evidence, this odious crime was pinned on Hezbollah and seized upon as excuse to demand the ouster of Syrian Troops from Lebanon – a long time demand of Lebanon’s enemies.
The real perpatrators scored a huge 2 for 1 crime deal, in that they were able get Syrian troops kicked out of Lebanon, while at the same time, have Hezbollah bogged down with having to defend itself against the charge that it was responsible for the crime.
Fast forward to August 2020 and another massive explosion has gone off in Beirut.
Its the same perpatrators from 2005 and like the last time they are again seeking a 2 for 1 deal.
They want the public to once again blame Hezbollah for the crime and this time around oust Hezbollah from government and Lebanon, if possible.
Fool me once shame on you
Fool me twice and I deserve what I get
The enemy is persistent but the Axis of Resistance, hardened by battle and tested by time will survive this and emerge even stronger.
Selah
And now the Turks…
ИЗВЕСТИЯ, 8 August 2020, 12:49:
“… Turkey is ready to rebuild the explosion-damaged port in Beirut and has offered Lebanon to temporarily use its port in Mersin. This was announced on Saturday, 8 August, by Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay during a press conference. …”
https://iz.ru/1045721/2020-08-08/turtciia-predlozhila-livanu-otstroit-razrushennyi-port
I believed in the story of an incident, because I live in a country that it could happen easily. But when reading this news, I believe that there is more behind it, because the timing of the message is not a coincidence.
https://www.rt.com/russia/497378-moscow-respond-nukes-any-attack/
And after this
https://www.rt.com/news/497301-elliott-abrams-iran-representative/
and
https://www.rt.com/usa/497490-lebanon-us-embassy-peaceful-protest/
This, with the declaration of the Trump, the fall in the American GDP, seems to me an acceleration of events.
Wow. There are so many villains to point at. Let me just catch my breath. One scenario would be that the Rhosus was sent to Beirut by Zionists as a “Trojan Horse,” set to detonate once inside the port — but a series of clown-car pratfalls foiled that attempt until eight years later.
Then let’s point our finger at the Usual Suspects — western capitalists. Pepe did a great job on that one. Thirdly, there’s the Hand of Fate. Scratch that. Nothing ever happens in the Middle East by accident. Period. Not since the Balfour Agreement and the CIA joined hands together and started singing Kumbaya.
All I can say is it sucks to be Lebanese right now and my heart goes out to each and every one there, caught in the cross-hairs of living on valuable real estate. I’ve been there four times already. Hope to go there again. It’s lovely. But that doesn’t mean that it can be abused with impunity.
It is stuff, just like that, which, despite all of the truly retrograde things he has done, much of which under full-on bipartisan support, (I believe it is relevant to note it), strengthen my conviction of his undeniable benignedness, compared to the opposition, both in 2016 (very obvious), and now. It is interesting to see the opposition pick, for while it looks more and more like Trump is starting to lose it, if you follow almost any of the few and far between appearances of Sleepy-Creepy-and-likely-incontinent, it seems difficult to deny that starting to lose it, is a long, long way in the rearview mirror.
About the news coverage of the Beirut bombing
I was surprised at how fast and consistent the determination of what had happened, including the harping on corruption and incompetence, (definitely on repetition-penetration mode)! At the time I remarked upon it, even on RT!
I refer you to the enjoyable article here at the Vineyard, by Thorsten J. Pattberg for The Saker Blog, /how-western-media-fabricate-the-china-experts/
Lately I see coverage of the protests and calls for the prime minister and Hassan Nasrallah… ?!?! and we can see shaping of the narrative…for sure!
Any rapid dismissal of the neighbouring geopolitical entity, in which only co-adherents of a specific racial-supremacist ideological collective are recognized as human, let alone citizens, including the original indigenous peoples, with a published plan to take over all neighbouring countries, the most militarily aggressive geopolitical entity on the planet, who just happens to be currently at war with you, is…
This thing was a bomb that was put there, for when it was needed.
Was corruption and incompetence part of it… just happening to stay there for six years…?
Of course, but that is just part of the overall weapon/operation.
Thinking this Beirut thing was just an accident is just like thinking the Halifax explosion, of a similar magnitude, as just an accident…not!
The neurotic collective of haters of humanity are predictable, in their neurotic disorder.
First they have their own neurotic little skirmish at the border, against… themselves, only, then Nasrallah weaponizes the neuroses pattern by saying that they know all about the border skirmish the Israelis had with themselves (implicitly how laughable the entire incident is), and will take appropriate counter-measures (my paraphrasing).
Well that’s like poking a collective adherent of Rabbanical Talmudism in the eye with a pointy stick (to the collective adherent of Rabbanical Talmudism).
They have itchy trigger fingers when they are baited so, these days (now that they have the power and license from accountability, as they have engineered, these days).
.
…and for some reason I think about the firing of Notre Dame….curious…..
thanks Pepe and our host for another great article.
@Jane Stillwater: “…and for some reason I think about the firing of Notre Dame….curious…..”
Perhaps because the blast damaged the mainly Christian district of Beirut?
Whatever is going on, in Serbia as in Syria as in Lebanon, is profoundly anti-Christian as well as anti-Islamic.
anti- everything that isn’t them!
…and even them… more often these days…. predictable
Coincidences are rife/plentiful with us Anglo zionists!! Same dates.. Hiroshima 1945, Nebraška 2003, 100 military and US politicians secret meeting agree on First strike with tactile mini nukes.. eg., Bunk busters etc. Yemen, Syria not fully verified. Now scapegoat Beirut with Zionists warnings for years previous.
This is typical anglo zionist sadistic humour and timing. So forget about covid PLANDEMIC, Methane mega burps and polar melt downs, food shortages, Eppy and Ghissly, Assange, 5G etc., just wallow in our cognitive dissonance and zap channels… from an ex Anglo Rhodesia 1976, when Israel-Palestine developed and delivered 4 nukes to Pretoria, South Africa.. plus full cooperation on African-Arab targeted bio weapons. Kaffirs and wogs all the same hey!! Don’t play rugby, Jong!! Excuse my language…
You have tip-toed around this topic very carefully, Pepe. Well done.
When you announced your intention to try I doubted the possibility of making any sensible statements through the din-of-war.
Like “Building 7” which just fell down by itself and never ended up in an official report, I suspect this to will fade into the convenience of history.
You covered briefly two interesting aspects, imo: the war on wheat harvests and silos in the region; and the Chinese investment in port construction and management etc (within the Belt and Road schema).
Looks like a lotta ‘win-win’ in this for various meta-players.
Btw, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is said to be planning to help rebuild Beirut port — https://usatodaynews.live/1702-mexican-billionaire-carlos-slim-to-help-rebuild-beirut-port.html
I’m just waiting for the fast train ride from Beirut to Hong Kong via Lassa (and other places of historic note) — tacos or noodles is fine by me.
agree. china moving in with investment and infrastructure . a huge bomb. mysterious food supplies destroyed. macron and BIS (satanists) arrive with offers of help. rebuild lebanon israels/rothschilds way (smart gulag cities) future NEOM style. robot wives and hover bikes for all if you just accept a 5g chip and do any job your tasked to. the perfect life sanctioned by elites as a plebian dystopia
A camel w/a broken back is about as useful as a $3 bill.
…”someone” knows perfectly what happened there. (…why the “Russkies” are so quiet..? Surely they know it… I would be very glad if they say something.)
Agree with Pepe´s analysis; great, as usual with him.
Many thanks.
The initial fire did not appear to be burning fertilizer. Rather, it was a continuum of smaller explosions. The fire fit the exact description of a bunting weapons depot… many small explosions over an extended time period. It was Israel’s stated intention to destroy Hezbollah’s weapon’s depot located at the port. However it appears as though the weapons attack was actually a cover for a far more sinister operation. From recorded evidence, we see that one or probably two missiles, fired by jet aircraft into the burning warehouses, caused the subsequent two major explosions. The initial attack on the weapons depot was a cover for the destruction of the port by what appears to be a tactical nuclear weapon.
Mod needs to filter this comment.
No “tactical nuke” comments, and violates Saker’s adamant rules.
@ E.J. Sharp,
Where’s the radiation from this tactical nuke? Oh, I know, it’s a magical tactical nuke. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Magical, nuclear and very tactical.
I was 12 years old and understood radiation is a direct product of building and detonating nuclear weapons.
Maybe this one was built out of sunflower seeds.
Obviously there was no device like such when we were children.
Nobody (among us, non-initiated) knows their functioning. “Pero las hay”.
Só true!!! Tks
Portuguese translation:
A quem aproveita a tragédia de Beirute
at
https://www.resistir.info/p_escobar/beirute_08ago20.html
I think Pepe got the answer, not what we’d like, but it’s there. The firtilizer was likely being used by CIA terrorists for bomb material in Syria. How to remove it from thier inventory? It was, that the blast was so big, with so few dying, well any death is not nice but really the outcome should have been worse, much worse. Not saying who took it out, but the huge upside is a large quantiy of amonia nitrate, easily obtained, easy to transport, relitively safe to work with bomb material is now gone from the ME.
The government of Lebanon is now resigning – where does the country go from here?
A very positive article by Pepe Escobar. I like his vision! I wish that this horrific incident will be the straw that breaks the camels back once for all in Western Asia and set the camel free for a joyful walk along the new Silk Road.
As a miserable vulture the global finance and the IMF have no vision, no understanding of the people’s creativity and love for community existence and togetherness which will prevail in the near future and thereby will finish off this miserable stinking financial mob.
The attached video: https://www.voltairenet.org/IMG/mp4/Syrie.mp4
There was a very similar explosion in Iemen in 2015 but all the videos were erased: http://defesadalibia.blogspot.com/2015/05/bomba-atomica-no-iemen.html
Yes! I thought immediately of the Yemen explosion in 2015 which was rumoured to be a new type of small tactical nuclear device…
As a whimsical side note, the very beginning of the novel (not the horrible film) Starship Troopers, shows soldiers dropping literally tactical nukes onto the insectoids… was Heinlein anticipating the anglozionist preventive wars against everything?
So long as Lebanon has more than one alternative for funding reconstruction, they are in a position to negotiate in their own interests.
If the only option is the IMF, they are screwed…..
great read’ to Read ‘