Explosions In Brussels

[Lord Jim]

Two explosions at Brussels airport, explosions at metro stations at EU quarters

wo explosions were heard at this morning at the airport in Zaventem, which is the main airport of the European capital, Belgium. The causes remain unclear – but images on social media show smoke rising from terminal building.

Another explosion was confirmed at Maelbeek metro station which is close to the European Commission headquarters and the European Parliament. Gare Central is also being evacuated. CNBC reports four explosions at metros.

There will be a National security council this morning. The whole of Belgium has moved to Alert level 4, the highest possible alert level.

Shots were fired, and Arabic shouted, before the two explosions took place BELGA news agency reports.

Airport spokeswoman Anke Fransen said: “There were two blasts in the departure hall” … “[A] First aid team are in place for help.”

AP reports that passengers were led onto the tarmac and the crisis center urged people not to come to the airport.

Belgian police have confirmed there are “several dead”. Bojan Pancevski, EU correspondent for the Sunday Times tweeted that 25 deaths have been reported but not confirmed. More media reports have that figure at 11 dead. Social Media reports at least 17 killed during attack and that more bombs have been discovered at the airport.

Belgian media and REUTERS report that there are several injured people in the Airport’s departure hall. Moreover, local media say that one of the explosions took place near the American Airlines check-in desk.

No planes are currently landing at Brussels Zaventem airport, which is in lockdown. Airport officials confirmed to New Europe that the airport is closed. Planes are being diverted to Antwerp. Rail traffic to the airport has also been suspended.

Sirens of ambulances heading in the direction of the airport could be heard in the European quarter of Brussels.

Severe controls are already in place at the Charleroi airport, with the army filtering travelers.

Last time a terror attack took place at the Brussels airport was in 1979, when Palestinian terrorists threw grenades.

It remains unknown if the explosion is linked with the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect in the fatal Paris attacks in November which caused the death of 130 people.

http://neurope.eu/article/two-explosion ... s-airport/

[BoSoxGal]

[RayThom]

I sure hope the authorities were not surprised. It must be well know at this point that if a "kingpin" terrorist goes down that's will be the signal to the "cell" to strap on an "off the rack" vest and proceed to scream allahu akbar to any local, high traffic, soft target. This latest carnage wasn't a question of "if" but "when." And now, sadly, the terrorists have the upper hand. They ARE winning.

The governments of Europe can't stop these fanatics and we'd be foolish to think our government can do any better. It's going to be more REACTION than ACTION from here on out. The political conventions scheduled in July may very well be conventions like no other. One thing that's not a variable, it's going to get much worse before it get better. Incoming!!!

National security is a concept... if you think you're safe -- you are. Unfortunately, reality will continue to be the spoiler.

I can only hope our God proves stronger than their God... and may he help us all.

[rubato]

"... They ARE winning.

... " .

Stop being all hysterical and panic-y.

They are not winning and will not. This is an act of desperation by a pissy little group of idiots. Like the Red Brigades and Baader-Meinhof they are in the process of being rooted out, crushed and erased.

As long as we don't do something stupid like isolating and persecuting Muslims their end is certain.

The Muslim community itself is the best protection against violent extremism in countries where Muslims are accepted, integrated into society, and respected.

yrs,
rubato

[Big RR]

Agreed rubato.

FWIW, let's just track down the criminals who did these acts and prosecute and punish them like the common criminals they are; no special treatment, arguing we are in a war, just track down and punish the criminals just like we did in the 20s when the mafia gangs were bombing bars and warehouses.

Indeed, giving them any more recognition plays into their hands. I recall reading that many of the Nazis after WW2 complained about being tried and punished as criminals instead of prisoners of war; they demanded firing squads for execution, but we hanged them like the common criminals they were.

[Lord Jim]

Like the Red Brigades and Baader-Meinhof they are in the process of being rooted out, crushed and erased.

Please refresh my memory...

Just where was it that the Red Brigades and the Baader-Meinhof occupied a territory the size of the state of Indiana? And how many tens of thousands of fighters did they have?

What an utterly absurd comparison...

[rubato]

The Baader-Meinhof gang and the red brigades claimed allegiance to the Soviet ideology Sindero Luminoso claimed allegiance to Communist China's ideology. You're heard of them?


But go ahead and panic.


yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

Of course I've heard of them; that's how I know the comparison is ridiculous.

[Big RR]

And how many tens of thousands of fighters did they have?

and how many of those tens of thousands of fighters planted the bombs in Belgium--3 or 4? Hardly the harbinger of an invasion with the army number tens of thousands; more like a few disgruntled thugs acting out.

[rubato]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/22/europe/br ... xplosions/

"I think, after the Paris attacks, we were assuming something like this would happen," the Brussels resident told CNN. "And it was a matter of time."

Yet Versele, the airport witness, said that he thinks Belgians should not hole themselves up.

Instead, he said, they should continue to live their lives and travel "to prove that we're not afraid of those who have done (the attacks)."

Exactly, we're flying to Provence and Barcelona in a month. I would never consider changing my plans for these nothings.


yrs,
rubato

[RayThom]

... Exactly, we're flying to Provence and Barcelona in a month. I would never consider changing my plans for these nothings...

Nor would I if I had travel in my plans, regardless how unmanageable this whole terrorism epidemic is getting.

I do not live in fear, I live in the reality of knowing that things are never going to get better in my lifetime. Maybe my daughter and her peers will come up with a solution and, therein, lies the hope for a new world.

[liberty]

The Baader-Meinhof gang and the red brigades claimed allegiance to the Soviet ideology Sindero Luminoso claimed allegiance to Communist China's ideology. You're heard of them?

yrs,
rubato

What happened to all the communist and pinkoes in this country . I can remember when Stalin was the savior and the Soviet Union the future. I reckon it is like Kennedy said, “ Success has a thousand fathers and failure is an orphan”. Now that the Soviet Union has died so have the communist, fellow travelers and pinkoes.

Ok Mr. Meade, I know that defunct is the correct term, but died sounds better.

[Econoline]

• A terrible thing happened in Belgium today
  
  It IS terrible, horrifying, the terrorists succeeded in murdering more than 30 innocent people and injuring hundreds more.
  
  And even more terrible is that those terrorists achieved their REAL goal, they terrorized the world.
  
  Predictably, here in America, the usual suspects, of course, of course, wasted no time in blaming the president. This is what they do. Fix blame, by reflex, and leap to wild suppositions without waiting for evidence, and then offer the usual solutions. Genocide. Torture. Bloody murder.
  
  Here, behind our wall bristling with tanks and aircraft carriers and trillion dollar fighter jets and enough nuclear firepower to sterilize the globe, despite our vast military power, our hydra-like intelligence apparatus, our population armed with a hundred million guns, a couple of shitheads in suicide vests have STILL managed to make us terrified.
  
  What power those few terrorists command. All our might, all our military, all our guns, and three men in suicide vests in a foreign land turn our bowels to water.
  
  30,000 people die in America every year from gun violence, we snort dismissively, screw that, the price of freedom.
  
  30,000 more die in car accidents, we shrug, so what? Are we gonna stop driving? Riiight.
  
  800,000 Americans die of a preventable cardiovascular disease. So? We like trans-fat and pass me another piece of pie. 500,000 die of cancer every year and so what? Smoke ’em if you got ’em. YOLO, Baby.
  
  50,000 Americans die from the flu, the flu, every year.
  
  50,000 die from drug related overdoses – heroin alone killed 10,000 Americans last year.
  
  50,000 Americans on average die by their own hand. Year in and year out, like clockwork.
  
  Alcoholic liver disease killed 18,000 Americans last year.
  
  AIDS kills 9,000 people each year on average in America. Outside of a few activists, nobody cares. Most Americans are more terrified of Ebola.
  
  34 people died in Belgium and we Americans shit ourselves.
  
  34 people died in Belgium and prominent Americans are now calling for internment camps and walls and carpet bombing and waterboarding and more goddamned guns.
  
  Why is it that these same people never call for increased police patrols to secure Christian militias when THEY take up arms against America and threaten to shoot down the rest of us? Why is it that many of these same politicians openly supported those homegrown militant terrorists and continue to do so?
  
  Why is it that the very first impulse from these people, always, is to blame the rest of us for the actions of a fanatical few in a foreign country most Americans couldn’t even find on a map?
  
  Why is it, do you suppose, that these same people daily beat their chests in bluster and bombast, loudly proclaiming their strength and determination and manly courage and exceptional greatness … and their very first reflex to any setback every single goddamned time is to piss themselves? Why is that?
  
  A terrible thing happened in Belgium today.

(source)

[MajGenl.Meade]

Why is it that these same people never call for increased police patrols to secure Christian militias when THEY take up arms against America and threaten to shoot down the rest of us?

I'm a bit vague on exactly when that's happened? I didn't check the Source but does anyone have an answer? Was this from Nigeria?

[Burning Petard]

Gen'l, look up the activities of the Christian Identity Movement here in the good ol' USofA.

Get on the mailing list for The Southern Poverty Law Center

snailgate

[rubato]

What happened to all the communist and pinkoes in this country . I can remember when Stalin was the savior and the Soviet Union the future. I reckon it is like Kennedy said, “ Success has a thousand fathers and failure is an orphan”. Now that the Soviet Union has died so have the communist, fellow travelers and pinkoes.

Ok Mr. Meade, I know that defunct is the correct term, but died sounds better.

There was never a communist menace in the United States. It was always an excuse to demonize the civil rights movement and to use violence on people the right didn't like.


The "White Citizens Councils" (all Republicans now) used it as an excuse for domestic terrorism.


yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

Time for the UK to block the chunnel.

[Scooter]

[Econoline]

[Scooter]