Whatever happened to Christian Lebanon?

[Reaper]

Last century it was a majority christian country. Now, Christians are a minority. Here is what happened:

[Don Giovanni]

The Muslims moved in. It's that simple.

[Reaper]

As 'refugees' hosted by a soft left christian government..

[Don Giovanni]

Very powerful speech.

[Reaper]

Wow..

[Don Giovanni]

The Lebanese PM said almost 3,000 tonnes (3 million kilos!!!) of ammonia nitrate is what caused the explosion. At least 4,000 injured, another 78 dead and counting! I can't understand how something like this could have happened, but Lebanon has a lot of corruption problems and is currently undergoing a lot of financial strain, near to what Venezuela is experiencing.

[Don Giovanni]

Get a load of this...

It appears this explosion took place at or near site #1.

[Don Giovanni]

Source: Al-Mayadeen, Lebanese TV channel pro-Hezbollah, August 5th, 2020

This cargo has been in the port since 2013, by decision of the Lebanese justice, under the mandate of the former head of government, Najib Miqati, the Minister of Transport Ghazi al-Aridi and the Director General of Customs at the time, Chafiq Mir’i.

A Moldovan ship coming from Georgia and heading for Mozambique was then immobilized when it entered the port of Beirut, carrying tonnes of ammonium nitrate which, after inspection, were prohibited from returning to sea. In addition, the cargo was seized. Then, the Beirut urgent applications judge, Nadim Zweyn, decided to bring the ship into the port and empty its cargo after it was seized by the Baroudi & Associés law firm.

Subsequently, the justice did not respond to requests from the Customs Department to consider moving the cargo. In 2017, the Customs Department sent a written request to the Beirut urgent applications Judge, requiring authorization to re-export the ammonium nitrate or sell it to an explosives factory.

Even more serious, the General Directorate of Security of the Lebanese State sent an urgent report to the former head of government Saad Hariri and his Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan, warning of the dangers these stocks represented, but no one took these warnings seriously.

[Reaper]

I would be curious to know if it was being siphoned off by Hezbollah. The whole thing stinks and that much free explosive is valuable to terrorists.

[Don Giovanni]

Who knows. Maybe Hezbollah was saving it for something, but even so why keep it there? Why not store it somewhere less threatening? Most seem to think this is consequence of neglect on the part of Lebanon's notoriously corrupt political class. I'd have to agree.

[Reaper]

Who knows. Maybe Hezbollah was saving it for something, but even so why keep it there? Why not store it somewhere less threatening?

Same reason Turks used the parthenon as a explosives warehouse, same reason jihadists across Syria used densely packed civilian areas to store weapons and explosives, etc etc.

If these weapons are stored out in the open, they will be picked off by Israel in seconds.

[Don Giovanni]

That certainly makes sense, but I would still think they would be smarter about it than this. Stupid.

[Reaper]

That certainly makes sense, but I would still think they would be smarter about it than this. Stupid.

They are smart. To turn a country muslim - sacrifice is required. It has worked every time. Even at this late stage, NATO, US, EU, UN are apologising for Islam. To convince Westerners in high positions that islamic fundamentalism is the way to go takes skill. More skill than a Greek has managed to show since Venizelos.

[Don Giovanni]

Lebanon suffers many of the problems countries throughout the Middle East have, they were countries whose borders were decided by foreign powers, in their case the French. Having the Muslim minority in the first place was always going to lead to problems. If they were a nation of a more unified people, but geographically smaller, they would have been better off.

[Reaper]

Lebanon suffers many of the problems countries throughout the Middle East have, they were countries whose borders were decided by foreign powers, in their case the French. Having the Muslim minority in the first place was always going to lead to problems. If they were a nation of a more unified people, but geographically smaller, they would have been better off.

But you watched the video right? The Maronite Christian leaders incharge of Lebanon let in any muslim who wondered in. They were leftists. They welcomed in the Palestinians despite other nations - muslim nations - closing their borders to them. No one forced lebanon to take muslims. No one pressured them. If you watch the politicians of the time in lebanon, they were all progressives. They invited Yassar Arafat to live in Beirut and make his headquarters there! They were mocking even the idea of borders. I don't buy this, 'they were at the mercy of other nations' stuff. They were the richest nation in the region, the most educated and the most liberal.

For me their biggest problem was the christian population not abandoning arabic as a lingua franca. Most Christians spoke French but the fact that wrote everything in arabic made a mockery of their identity. Even Assyrians never adopted arabic. The lebanese christians abandoned aramaic in the 13th century..

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Midd...ian-population

The other problem is the Maronites (those who have always controlled Lebanese politics) have always been a bit more stupid than the Orthodox in the country. They have always called themselves Christian arabs unlike the Orthodox.