2 explosions at the airport, one on the subway. 13 dead and 35 wounded confirmed so far.

Here we go again

3/22/2016 5:59:09 AM

3/22/2016 6:01:24 AM

3/22/2016 6:04:59 AM

bbc's report
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35869254

all live updates are being posted here
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-35869266

if this was in response to the capture of the paris bomber in belgium, they hit back very quickly. that means they already must have had contingency plans at the very least, or were going to do it anyway.

the world is so fucked.

rip europe

3/22/2016 6:20:43 AM

This kind of awful shit has been happening in Syria multiple times, everyday, for FIVE YEARS. I don't see how the world is suddenly fucked. THIRTEEN YEARS in Iraq. The 13th anniversary was Sunday actually. I wonder if that had anything to do with the recent stuff.

3/22/2016 6:28:44 AM

i didn't say it just got fucked.

it got fucked decades ago, which is when this game started. it has just extremely intensified recently, starting a few years ago.

3/22/2016 6:33:03 AM

you also said rip europe. care to elaborate?

3/22/2016 6:41:52 AM

It's been long past time to get the fuck out of Iraq. It would have been best to never have gone in the first place. The same can be said if virtually every military escapade of the last 20 years by the US.

There's no doubt that Western involvement in the region is partially to blame for what's going on there, but by and large it's a sectarian issue that has been allowed to flare up because of destabilization we are responsible for.

However, Shias and Sunnis are and have been engaged in conflicts since the schism a thousand plus years ago. The fact that Iran and Saudi Arabia are huge state sponsors means that there's likely not going to be a peaceful end to it any time soon. That whole region has been a cluster fuck since at least 1918, but the fact that it's spilling over into Europe in such a dramatic way is what makes it such a big deal now. Even though the body count is thankfully relatively low by comparison it was also unseen there prior to this decade. This is exactly the kind of event that can precipitate large conflicts happening that can potentially lead to a massive, massive war.

The EU is under a lot if stress as a political unit as well, there have already been several countries threatening to leave based on economic decisions, and a lot of the Eastern countries were rather unhappy with the immigration decisions and relocation accords that were struck. It's a bit fragile now, how Europe reacts to this even could be very important to the future existence of a meaningful EU.

[Edited on March 22, 2016 at 6:50 AM. Reason : EU stuff]

3/22/2016 6:43:09 AM

^^ i will elaborate on that later.

as usual, the DM has the best pics and videos

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3503928/Two-explosions-heard-Brussels-Airport.html

the pics from inside the airport are really terrible

3/22/2016 6:57:18 AM

Quote :

"However, Shias and Sunnis are and have been engaged in conflicts since the schism a thousand plus years ago. The fact that Iran and Saudi Arabia are huge state sponsors means that there's likely not going to be a peaceful end to it any time soon. That whole region has been a cluster fuck since at least 1918, "

I knew this bullshit was coming. Sure, there were conflicts, but suicide attacks were very rare before the war. Now they happen everyday. Its very malicious to say "they've had issues for a hundred years" in response to the problem you created.

3/22/2016 6:58:23 AM

Which war? Pick one. Iraq-Iran war? 1964 Israel vs. The rest of the mideast war? Gulf War? Second Iraq war?

Christ, I said we're very culpable for a lot of what's going on right now, but even prior to our latest bout of military adventures there was plenty of sectarian violence. Unfortunately suicide bombings have been all to common there for decades.

Th biggest single factor for the sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia is the redrawing of borders with no concern for where they should have been based on where the sunni Shia border is. It's also why only a 3 state solution has any chance of stabilizing the shitshow in Iraq. Syria is a whole other fuck fest that frankly is even more complicated and involves Russia as well.

[Edited on March 22, 2016 at 7:23 AM. Reason : So many spelling issues. I hate typing on this phone]

3/22/2016 7:20:53 AM

3/22/2016 7:21:27 AM

Brussels is interesting. Why is it such a hotbed of Jihadi activity?

There are plenty of outright lies (like Trump and other people saying London has no-go zones) but areas of Brussels really are areas where Jihadis have carte blance to plan more or less.

** I think we will see a scary rise of authoritarianism in Europe (and to a lesser degree here).

[Edited on March 22, 2016 at 7:34 AM. Reason : X]

3/22/2016 7:33:19 AM

Quote :

"I think we will see a scary rise of authoritarianism in Europe (and to a lesser degree here)."

I hope you're wrong about Europe. I would be very surprised if Western Europe ever suffered another authoritarian to come to power. In a lot of ways Western Europe has been inoculated to war and authoritarian governments. WWI and WWII beat a lot of the violence out of that continent. They suffered the horrors of war in ways that almost no other place on the planet did.

I would not be surprised if you see some extremely nationalistic and xenophobic political parties make major headway in elections in Eastern Europe. I'm sure anti-immigration parties will make strides in Western Europe too, but it could be a real problem in places like Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and Greece.

I also think it's almost a mortal lock now that Trump will actually be able to get the 1237 delegates he needs to avoid a brokered convention and win the GOP nomination. If there's an attack on US soil or if there's a spike in US military deaths he will probably win the presidency. I can't fucking stand the idea, but it's now looking like a very strong possibility.

3/22/2016 8:05:50 AM

Today we are all

3/22/2016 8:06:25 AM

Thanks Obama

3/22/2016 8:16:25 AM

This just goes to show that if they want to do something its gonna happen doesn't matter what the "security level" is. They knew this was coming and still couldn't stop it. Maybe this can be used for the argument that having such high security at airports that delays everything by a ton isn't really helping anyone. In reality they will turn this into we need to start screening people before they even get into the airport to prevent this.

3/22/2016 8:25:52 AM

Brace Yourselves.

Republican Rhetoric is Coming

3/22/2016 8:36:18 AM

Twitter is, not surprisingly, a complete shitshow right now and has been for the last couple of hours.

3/22/2016 8:44:24 AM

Quote :

"Brace Yourselves. Republican Rhetoric is Coming"

Let's take em all and put em in internment camps.
Suspend all immigration for Muslims.
Let's start profiling all Muslims.
Amurica fuck yea


Is that enough for ya?

3/22/2016 8:55:15 AM

Quote :

"Let's start profiling all Muslims."

don't they do that already? It seems like every Muslim friend I have has gone through a shitshow getting back into the country after visiting family back home.

3/22/2016 9:07:45 AM

That was all sarcasm, and those points were for the EU, not here.

3/22/2016 9:15:48 AM

Looks like all of the bombs didn't detonate so could have been worse

3/22/2016 9:31:16 AM

To be fair, the EU has far greater concerns than us. But they will tread a very thin line given the complete lack of assimilation and opportunities provided to their Muslim communities.

Part of the reason I'm so vocally Anti-Trump is that he legitimately threatens the (comparatively) good job we have done in not marginalizing these groups of people as a country. Our problems, invariably, stem from these lone wolf attacks that are not altogether dissimilar from a school shooting.

3/22/2016 9:46:22 AM

Homeland spoiler








Isn't this where the Sarin attack almost happened last season in Homeland?

[Edited on March 22, 2016 at 10:03 AM. Reason : Never mind. It was Berlin. But still]

3/22/2016 9:57:04 AM

Quote :

"I think we will see a scary rise of authoritarianism in Europe (and to a lesser degree here)."

Europe will have their own versions of Trump. To some degree, they already have.

Eventually, rational fear will outweigh messages of cultural acceptance and tolerance.

Quote :

"To be fair, the EU has far greater concerns than us. But they will tread a very thin line given the complete lack of assimilation and opportunities provided to their Muslim communities. Part of the reason I'm so vocally Anti-Trump is that he legitimately threatens the (comparatively) good job we have done in not marginalizing these groups of people as a country. Our problems, invariably, stem from these lone wolf attacks that are not altogether dissimilar from a school shooting."

Read between the lines here, folks. It's Europe's fault for not being accepting enough of immigrants. They haven't been given the same opportunities (welfare).

[Edited on March 22, 2016 at 10:11 AM. Reason : ]

3/22/2016 10:09:45 AM

Do you dispute that America in general has done a far better job fostering the assimilation of immigrants into society? This isn't even a question. There has been study after study confirming this.

And lol at Trump and rational fear.

[Edited on March 22, 2016 at 10:18 AM. Reason : D]

3/22/2016 10:17:31 AM

Quote :

"Part of the reason I'm so vocally Anti-Trump is that he legitimately threatens the (comparatively) good job we have done in not marginalizing these groups of people as a country. Our problems, invariably, stem from these lone wolf attacks that are not altogether dissimilar from a school shooting."

Who here isn't anti-Trump.

The problem though is that for a small group, assimilation will never be the answer for them. There will always be lone wolves. As a nation as large as ours, how do you protect against every lone wolf attack? If you do the silly things that Trump talks about, like stopping all Muslim immigration, you risk pushing a few more over the edge.

3/22/2016 10:17:32 AM

Quote :

"Do you dispute that America in general has done a far better job fostering the assimilation of immigrants into society? This isn't even a question. There has been study after study confirming this."

The U.S. isn't very homogenous to begin with, so immigration doesn't rock the boat nearly as much.

The U.S. also doesn't have nearly as robust programs for welfare/health care of immigrants, so that really discourages immigration by folks that don't think they can make a living here.

And, of course, the U.S. is a lot harder to get into.

So, overall, the U.S. has done alright at assimilating the slow drip of immigrants, but if you threw the doors open, I imagine we'd do about as well as Europe.

Quote :

"And lol at Trump and rational fear."

I'm not saying the fear is right, but it is rational - there's a difference.

3/22/2016 10:29:01 AM

Yep if anyone for one second thinks we can actually stop these types of attacks they are kidding themselves. Sure extra security has probably stopped many attempts or made them have to resort to a different plan, but living in any type of free society you just cant keep this from happening. By resorting to banning all Muslims from the country or any type of action like this you are just feeding into the brainwashing that these people are undergoing in order to be capable of becoming a suicide bomber. Unfortunately, I think this is just going to continue to be part of the world we live in now.

3/22/2016 10:33:04 AM

Quote :

"Who here isn't anti-Trump"

eleusis

3/22/2016 10:40:58 AM

Quote :

"Unfortunately suicide bombings have been all to common there for decades. "

This is fucking bullshit that americans say all the time to avoid taking responsibility. The truth is, Iraq HAD ZERO suicide bombs in its history until our invasion. There is no evidence that anyone from Iran has ever carried out a suicide bombing attack anywhere.

Quote :

"This just goes to show that if they want to do something its gonna happen doesn't matter what the "security level" is. They knew this was coming and still couldn't stop it. Maybe this can be used for the argument that having such high security at airports that delays everything by a ton isn't really helping anyone. In reality they will turn this into we need to start screening people before they even get into the airport to prevent this."

They simply carried out the airport attack before security. That actually shows that security deterred them. They would much rather take out planes because more people die and more damage is done but they can't so they are hitting soft targets.

3/22/2016 10:51:18 AM

I can agree with that I should have phrased that different. This type of attack isn't going to stop no matter the security even if they know its imminent.

3/22/2016 10:59:20 AM

5 seconds on the Google

Quote :

"In 1981, a member of an Iraqi Shi‘a group drove an explosive’s laden car into the Iraqi embassy in Lebanon in revenge for harsh measures by Iraqi Sunnis against his co-religionists."

http://modernnotion.com/historical-origins-suicide-bombings/

3/22/2016 10:59:44 AM

They have evacuated a nuclear power plant in Belgium now I'm sure as a precaution but that would be pretty bad.

3/22/2016 11:06:05 AM

I seriously doubt there's much that anyone could do by suicide bombing a nuclear power plant.

Quote :

" This is fucking bullshit that americans say all the time to avoid taking responsibility. The truth is, Iraq HAD ZERO suicide bombs in its history until our invasion. There is no evidence that anyone from Iran has ever carried out a suicide bombing attack anywhere. "

You also need to take technology into account. I would assume that technology today makes it much easier to carry out suicide bombings today than it did 30 years ago. Maybe not, but it just seems like it would be easier.

But even if you didn't have as many random suicide bombings, you had dictators gassing entire populations of people. I don't know about you, but I prefer suicide bombs any day over genocide.

3/22/2016 11:22:11 AM

Suicide bombings were taking place in other parts of the world so its not about technology. Its about stability. Iraq was stable believe it or not.

Quote :

"But even if you didn't have as many random suicide bombings, you had dictators gassing entire populations of people. I don't know about you, but I prefer suicide bombs any day over genocide."

you mean during the American-sponsored war?

3/22/2016 11:30:22 AM

the whole thing about Iraq not having any suicide bombs prior to the invasion isn't entirely correct.

The invasion started on 20 March 2003. The first suicide bomb was in Feb 2003 in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. There was a second in Feb 2003 in the same region. I know its pedantic, but still prior to the invasion

1st

Quote :

"Associated Press, Februrary 26, 2003 An Islamic militant detonated a bomb at a military checkpoint in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing himself, the driver and two guards, Kurdish officials said. Officials of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which rules the eastern half of the Kurdish autonomous in northern Iraq, blamed the bombing in the northeastern city of Halabja on the militant Islamic group Ansar al Islam, which has links to al-Qaida. The Patriotic Union and Ansar have been fighting for two years for control of villages and hilltop positions near Halabja, scene of the 1988 nerve gas attack by Saddam Hussein's forces that killed thousands of Kurds. Earlier this month, Ansar fighters assassinated a top Patriotic Union official in the region and five other people after luring them into what the victims thought was a meeting to discuss the surrender of a member of the Islamic group. "

2nd

Quote :

"Deutsche Presse-Agentur Suicide bomber kills five in attack on northern Iraqi Kurds February 26, 2003, Wednesday 17:54 Central European Time DATELINE: Suleimanyah, Iraq A suicide bomber killed himself and five other poeple when he blew himself up at a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) checkpoint in northern Iraq Wednesday, the PUK said. A PUK spokesman said the bomber had been of the Islamist group Ansar al-Islam. He killed himself, two passengers in his jeep and three PUK guards at the Suleimanyah-Halabja road checkpoint. Ansar al-Islam members believed to number between 700 and 900 continue to fight PUK troops in northern Iraq's mountain areas close to the Iranian border. The PUK says documents seized from Ansar fighters have proved the group is linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, and received military training in Afghanistan during the Taliban era."

Also, the first attack to use a human trigger for a suicide-type bomb attack was back in 1881 when the Tsar Alexander II of Russia was killed.

Going back to the 1930s, some Chinese were using explosive vests to attack Japanese/etc.

Not to mention that warfare has a history of suicide-style attacks.

Humans have a history of being cunts, lets just all agree on that.

3/22/2016 11:43:33 AM

Lebanon is in Iraq?

News to me!



Seriously tho, this is is awful.

3/22/2016 11:43:51 AM

thats cute you think the war began when it "began". I bet you thought it ended when it "ended" too.

3/22/2016 11:49:31 AM

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CeKRtkuWEAQMiHe.jpg

That's Ted Cruz's dumb comments if anyone cares.

3/22/2016 12:10:20 PM

I've been through that airport several times going to/from Africa, and had a friend who was supposed to land there around twenty minutes after the bomb went off. She was rerouted to another airport nearby. And I have two more friends (plus their dog) that were supposed to fly through their tonight in the reverse direction, back to America.

3/22/2016 12:10:56 PM

Uh Kurtis...it kind of already happened in Hungary and Poland. We're not talking Ceacescau, but they're governing more authoritarian.

It's one of the flaws of modern western civilization that major disasters happen and the reaction is one of domestic partisan left vs. right bullshit as demonstrated in this thread and others I've been on.

3/22/2016 12:26:36 PM

^ i feel like it didn't always used to be that way until 9/11.

3/22/2016 12:29:52 PM

^^^ Scary. I have a friend who was there this weekend and left yesterday. He said he had been staying across from that terminal. Glad he got out earlier.

3/22/2016 12:48:44 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/world/europe/brussels-airport-explosions.html

ISIS claims credit.

Seems fortunate that there weren't even more deaths though. I wonder how they did it.

3/22/2016 1:08:45 PM

Last year I went to Iraq. Before Team America showed up, it was a happy place. They had flowery meadows and rainbow skies, and rivers made of chocolate, where the children danced and laughed and played with gumdrop smiles.

3/22/2016 1:14:52 PM

^ is turning an oppressive shitty place into even shittier lawless hell hole an admirable thing to do?

3/22/2016 1:18:27 PM

^ i think he's mocking Trump.

3/22/2016 1:20:20 PM

hmmmmmm

3/22/2016 1:23:00 PM