India is sending its MiG-29Ks north to Ladakh. The MiGs should perform better than their Su-30s in the Himalayas because they are lighter. The MiGs are supposed to fly from the new aircraft carrier, Vikrant, but its construction is delayed, so they may as well send them north and give the pilots some training.
Meanwhile, five Rafales departed France for India, which starts the delivery of this new procurement.
The USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is currently training with the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean.
A large joint exercise with USA, Japan and Australia continues in the vicinity of Guam.
US planes approached the Chinese mainland on Sunday, one within 80km of Shanghai, which is one of the closest approaches in recent memory. A P-8A & an EP-3E reconnaissance plane entered the Taiwan Strait, flying near the coast of Zhejiang & Fujian.
The tensions are certainly rising; the prospect of a conflict in the next couple of years is likely. China is prepared to lose lives to achieve its goals. But are the USA and its allies prepared to lose lives to contain China?
__________________
"If you do not know what you are doing, neither does your enemy."
- - Joe Tzu
The Following User Says Thank You to Baron von Kriterium For This Useful Post:
Baron, do you want to check in on what you think it is?
Lebanese "security" said it was a warehouse ("Warehouse 12") full of fireworks and chemicals. That's a lot of fireworks if so. Could be industrial/chemical. Maybe an ammo dump or ammo manufacturing facility. There was a grain elevator right there and dust from that would contribute to the explosion. I think it's quite reasonable that the fire started at a fireworks storage facility - you can see/hear in one video what could be fireworks exploding - and then something else blew. That explosion was too big for fireworks in my opinion.
The plume almost looks like a Davy Crockett nuke. Not saying that was what exploded, just trying to put some context to the size of that blast.
There is no evidence right now to suggest it was an attack (from Israel, for example). That is, no airplane or missiles tracked. However, Evan Davies from BBC interviewed Layla Melana from France 24 who lives a few blocks from the explosion and she stated that moments before she heard an incredibly loud jet at a "very, very low altitude". She looked up and there was a "blinding flash". All windows "went" immediately; an entire apt destroyed and "doors blown off hinges everywhere". "Whole building and whole street in same condition."
"At the moment I feel that we must [assume a plane]."
The Director-General of the Lebanese Public Security now states: "What happened is not a bomb explosion, but a high explosive material that was confiscated [?] some time ago."
Beirut airport damaged. The airport is 10 km away from the port.
Beirut Port and surroundings:
The dust/smoke cloud has reached Damascus and apparently Cypriots felt the blast.
__________________
"If you do not know what you are doing, neither does your enemy."
- - Joe Tzu
I keep thinking ammunition to be honest, higher concentrations of explosives in a smaller space, then a fire works factory.
Like I said, when I first saw the video with that blast wave I thought nuke.
If there was a plane, I doubt they would attack a fire works factory or storage facility.
The red smoke indicates chlorate which is used in fireworks but fireworks burn slow. The white explosion looks fast, indicating military munitions. This does not look like fireworks to me: https://twitter.com/user/status/1290699607459028998
I don't buy a jet attack right now but that could very easily be verified if the Lebanese government so wanted.
Remember Yemen from 2017?
__________________
"If you do not know what you are doing, neither does your enemy."
- - Joe Tzu
BREAKING — The Beirut explosion caused by highly explosive sodium nitrate confiscated from a ship more than a year ago and were placed in one of the warehouses located in the port — Sources to LBCI
BREAKING — The Beirut explosion caused by highly explosive sodium nitrate confiscated from a ship more than a year ago and were placed in one of the warehouses located in the port — Sources to LBCI
Sodium nitrate isn't highly explosive and it's not even flammable. It's an accelerant in propellants, though. Ammonium Nitrate?
__________________
"If you do not know what you are doing, neither does your enemy."
- - Joe Tzu
BREAKING — The Beirut explosion caused by highly explosive sodium nitrate confiscated from a ship more than a year ago and were placed in one of the warehouses located in the port — Sources to LBCI
If this is confirmed as valid, why on earth would you keep such an explosive item so close to a population center??
They need the new fighter because the F35 can't carry this:
This is their new ship-killer missile.
Sounds like you've been watching plenty of RT and Pravda, I don't think you're an expert because the F-35 can do targeting for missiles fired from any connected platform - which includes other F-35s, F-22, F-15, F-16, F-18, B-52, B-2, B-1, and missiles launched from land and sea platforms. Russia can't do this. And this is why the F-35's able to achieve a kill to death ratio of 21-1 in Red Flag exercises. It doesn't matter what the payload size is for the F-35 - that's just a russian propaganda talking point. You're just building a myth that russia's some kind of unstoppable military might, the US has ship killer missiles too, as well as stealth missiles, and pretty much caught up with hypersonic missiles too. The truth is though, that as soon as one fires on the other, the nukes come out, so it's all null. Now if either side could develop a perfect air defense system - then the other side will have real problems.
Sounds like you've been watching plenty of RT and Pravda, I don't think you're an expert because the F-35 can do targeting for missiles fired from any connected platform - which includes other F-35s, F-22, F-15, F-16, F-18, B-52, B-2, B-1, and missiles launched from land and sea platforms. Russia can't do this. And this is why the F-35's able to achieve a kill to death ratio of 21-1 in Red Flag exercises. It doesn't matter what the payload size is for the F-35 - that's just a russian propaganda talking point. You're just building a myth that russia's some kind of unstoppable military might, the US has ship killer missiles too, as well as stealth missiles, and pretty much caught up with hypersonic missiles too. The truth is though, that as soon as one fires on the other, the nukes come out, so it's all null. Now if either side could develop a perfect air defense system - then the other side will have real problems.
lol
__________________
"If you do not know what you are doing, neither does your enemy."
- - Joe Tzu
The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to Baron von Kriterium For This Useful Post:
If this is confirmed as valid, why on earth would you keep such an explosive item so close to a population center??
Ignorance, incompetence, favouritism and bureaucracy are the short answers. There are lots of dots to connect here and if anyone ever does, it won't be a pretty picture.
A local mafia composed of high ranking officers, customs directors, administrators and security officials controls the Port. Each person in charge has been appointed by a political leader offering his men immunity and protection. This is indeed the case for the Director of#Customs and the Army intelligence General who are responsible for harbour movements and contents. The port produces immense amounts of money and bribes are a matter of course for all those who run this enterprise. In the face of such corruption, it is clear that scientific expertise about what is happening to stored ammonium nitrate and the conditions in which 2,750 tons of it are stored was not that important. So, given all that, when a problem or a disaster occurs, as it did on Tuesday, it will obviously be very difficult to find those really responsible.
When one talks about Lebanon, Hezbollah is almost always brought up. And there are certainly those who claim there was a Hezbollah ammo dump or missile factory nearby that contributed to the explosion. However, I want to point out that Hezbollah has nothing to do with the Port of Beirut. It lies within a Sunni district and the factions running the harbour are generally not friendly with Hezbollah. Speculation about Hezbollah storing weapons at warehouse 12 is unfounded because the place was under constant surveillance by cameras controlled by the local security forces themselves. Hezbollah would certainly not store weapons in an area both unfriendly and not under its own control.
__________________
"If you do not know what you are doing, neither does your enemy."
- - Joe Tzu
The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Baron von Kriterium For This Useful Post:
If this is confirmed as valid, why on earth would you keep such an explosive item so close to a population center??
It was the where the ship was abandoned, this was no doubt the first empty warehouse they had, as the chemical is a weapons precursor it cant just be taken anywhere, and who ever had control of it no doubt thought 'well if things kick off again that might be handy to have'.
