Why Are We Stuck In This Country?

Throughout Tuesday, I saw news alerts on my phone that Beirut, Lebanon had been rocked by an an explosive blast.  

When I finally had a chance to see footage from the blast, I was astonished at the sudden, sheer power of the explosion. Shock waves radiating out for miles, throwing up a mushroom cloud in the sky. 

Below is a video from the CBS Evening News that aired Tuesday evening. 

Tons of ammonium nitrate stored at a warehouse at the Beirut port have been blamed for this explosive catastrophe but what exactly triggered that ammonium nitrate is not clear as I write this post.  

Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab promised a full investigation.

In case you're sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what Donald Trump thinks of this, he claims that U.S. generals believe the massive Beirut, Lebanon, explosion was "not some kind of manufacturing explosion" adding that "they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind."

Was the horrific explosion an accident or deliberate? Right now, the answer could go either way. It really is too early to make that assessment.  By the way (big surprise here!) there is not one shred of any corroboration from anyone in the Pentagon that anyone has said a damn thing that this "was a bomb of some kind."

What ever the reason why tons of ammonium nitrate were left in a place to be exploded by accident or nefarious intent, it does not bode well for the Lebanon government which it would appear failed to mitigate this situation, potentially preventing this explosive outcome.  

Meanwhile, hospitals in Beirut are overwhelmed even as a sad and angry populace try to cope in a country still trying to pull itself together after decades of civil war, a country in the grip of an economic crisis with spiraling unemployment and severely devalued currency plus dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.  The Lebanese have enough crap to deal with without adding a devastating explosion to the mix.  

Mohamed Abidis owns a wedding store in Beirut and this is what he had to say:  "Even in the civil war we didn’t see anything like this. Our shop is destroyed, our home is destroyed, our life is destroyed. Why are we stuck in this country?"

Here is some footage of a bride in the middle of a photoshoot when the explosion hit.  

Volunteers flocked to downtown Beirut to sweep up debris and give out food and water in the August heat.

The early estimate of the cost of damages to Beirut range from $3 billion and $5 billion with at least 200,000 people left homeless.

Mohamed Abidis wonders "Why are we stuck in this country?"

Given all that the Lebanese people have had to put up with, this devastation is just one more damned thing they did not need to have to up with.