Death in Brussels.

#1

Another pointless jihadist massacre. Thanks to the goofy Belgian police system, still no fully clear number for the casualties. Latest figures are 31 dead and 260 seriously injured - but very little information has been supplied as to the identity of the victims, or even definite numbers.

I spent ten years travelling to Brussels for official reasons. My wife is still in a “travelling” job. I probably did 80 to 90 official trips there; she has probably done over 300 in a long career on the Brussels circuit.

I have passed through Brussels (Zavantem) Airport about 180 times, to and from; HERSELF more like 600 times. Both of us have often passed through Malbeek and Schuman metro stations. My wife’s favourite Brussels hotel - the Brussels Thon - is almost directly opposite the Malbeek station. Mind you, she usually travels to and from the airport these days by bus; as the London 7/7 atrocities proved, buses are also highly vulnerable to terrorist attack.

I am something of a “Paris buff”, but my direct knowledge of the locations of last year’s bomb/shooting outrage are not very well known to me. Brussels is different for me. I know these places well. I have passed through them any number of times. I close my eyes, and I can see them.

Apart from the suicide bombers themselves, I can say with absolute certainty that the people killed and injured at Zavantem and Malbeek were ordinary people like you and me, going about their ordinary business. I was once one of them, and my wife still is, from time to time. HERSELF has another meeting date over there in about three weeks time. However a “repeat performance” then appears unlikely, I cannot help being worried.

Heartbreaking. JR.

#2

I hope y’all keep safe as can be. I rue the day these things happen here in the U.S.A., but you have to think it will start happening soon.

#3

I guess the former Belgian Ambassador to the United States was murdered in the bombings. Murdered or martyred!..

#4

I’m just glad I’m not born in Europe and live there. Why?

In the past: civil wars none stop until 1950.

Now: terror attacks. None in US as yet and one in Australia… But Europe?

#5

Depending upon how one wants to define “civil war” the most recent ones in Europe were in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s; Chechnya to about six or seven years ago; or currently in Ukraine.

The Americans contented themselves with just one civil war, which was catastrophic, but stopped in 1865.

None in the US?

9/11?

1993 attack on World Trade Centre?

Boston Marathon?

US army psychiatrist at Fort Hood?

Recent San Bernadino attack?

The above all being Muslim, but America has no shortage of its own home-grown loony non-Muslim terrorists, such as Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing in the mid-1990s and Ted Kaczynski aka The Unabomber.

#6

above all being Muslim, but America has no shortage of its own home-grown loony non-Muslim terrorists, such as Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing in the mid-1990s and Ted Kaczynski aka The Unabomber.

In the name of Islam…There is many whites converting to Islam these days.

#7

While there may be Caucasian Americans converting to Islam Aly, as Nick pointed out, neither Timothy McVeigh nor Ted Kaczynski where among them. Those that do convert to Islam, and do no harm, are left well enough alone, but those who radicalize, or go to fight in Foreign lands for Islam(basically serving / bearing allegiance to a Foreign power over their own Nation) are dealt with according to U.S. Law. For an American Citizen to on their own, that is to say without any manner of official Gov’t Let, or sanction, go to some Foreign Nation, and fight in the name of said Nation, or Faction, they are at that point committing Treason. There are just a few conditions in which the person would not face prosecution, but I cannot remember them at the moment.

#8

Haven’t you had issues the the numbers of Lebanese immigrants?

#9

Lebanon currently has a “stable”, if Balkanised government, admittedly under a sort of informal Syrian guarantee. However, the state itself has been descending into basket-case status for decades, and recently may actually have arrived at it. This started with inter-community warfare - the only word for it. I recall a former Department of Foreign Affairs colleague who was a Trade Attaché in Beirut about 40 years ago who spent two days lying on the floor of his apartment as bullets flew threw his windows back and front during one of these little spats. But what has finally put the tin hat on Lebanon is a refugee crisis that has gone completely out of control. Lebanon has long hosted a huge number of Palestinians displaced from Israel/Palestine. These have now been joined by huge numbers of Syrians seeking refuge from the Syrian madness. This has reached such a point that the institutions of state are collapsing under the pressure. Jordan is under threat of going the same way. As to Greece and Turkey, European Union lack of direction seems destined to inflict a smaller version of the same thing on Greece - an EU member state - and Turkey - a NATO member, and lynch pin for NATO defence in south-east Europe and the Levant. I think we need help … Yours from Shatila Camp, JR.

#10

Brussels (Zavantem) airport is about to re-open. The airport authorities have stated that it will operate at reduced capacity for the foreseeable future, with the Departures area (the site of the airport explosions) operating at only 20% capacity for the moment. The point has been made that, since the demise of Belgium’s old national airline, Sabena, Brussels is no longer the great international hub it once was, with extensive connections to African destinations in particular. The suggestion is that this will allow Zavantem to cope with the “temporary” loss of capacity effectively. Ahem. The loss of some (only some) African and Middle Eastern routes once covered by Sabena may have eased congestion, mainly on the runways. However, the level of traffic related to European Union business has risen by more than enough to cover this deficiency. Zavantem is key to the operation of the Eurocracy, insofar it is the best airport for use by the invisible but vast extension of “Europe’s” consultative bureaucracy, consisting of national politicians and civil servants. The prospect of new security arrangements requiring travelers, for example, to arrive three hours before their flights (that would also apply to other Belgian airports such as Zavantem’s more remote potential substitutes, Charleroi and Ostend, would make the Eurocratic machine unworkable.

Meanwhile, the Belgian-French Keystone Cops alliance continue to bungle around the terrorism position, with little real clarity as to what actually happened on that terrible morning. Plus ca change … JR.

#11

So how is US sponsored Al nusra doin in east Aleppo this days : ?
Some1 said excellent thing, if west likes rebels so much it should transport them to London/Washington and uncle Putin will pay for travel :):):slight_smile:

#12

As long as “Uncle” Putin is paying, you might get him to book you a Flight, and a room in Aleppo for a week, or so. Then you can take a long, and leisurely look for yourself, then come back and tell us all about it.