[HN Gopher] No Accountability 3 Years After History's Biggest No...
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       No Accountability 3 Years After History's Biggest Non-Nuclear
       Explosion
        
       Author : hammock
       Score  : 29 points
       Date   : 2023-08-05 16:54 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (new.thecradle.co)
 (TXT) w3m dump (new.thecradle.co)
        
       | LatteLazy wrote:
       | I read through the history of the material that caused the blast
       | a while back. I was struck by how people just obeying laws
       | despite the obvious, extreme danger to the city. Judges, the
       | executive, groups like the port operator and the cargo owner all
       | ignored the obvious risk. For years. Until risk became fact.
       | 
       | Notably the customs officials repeatedly warned of the danger and
       | the fact they were ignored just increases the culpability of the
       | rest.
        
         | ironmagma wrote:
         | It's a bleak reminder of the consequences of corruption.
        
           | LatteLazy wrote:
           | Cicero broke the law to execute a number of citizens without
           | trial when he discovered they were plotting a coup.
           | 
           | When challenged on this he said "Salus populi suprema lex
           | esto":
           | 
           | "The safety of the people should be the supreme law"
        
             | nradov wrote:
             | There are more important things than safety. I'm not trying
             | to excuse corruption here, but authoritarian leaders have
             | used "public safety" to justify all manner of horrible
             | acts. If protecting freedom, civil rights, and the rule of
             | law means that some people die then that is an acceptable
             | price to pay.
        
               | ironmagma wrote:
               | The key is transparency, which was missing here.
        
               | LatteLazy wrote:
               | That's a fair comment.
        
       | arp242 wrote:
       | "history's biggest non-nuclear explosion"
       | 
       | "Sixth-largest accidental artificial non-nuclear explosion in
       | human history" according to [1]; other explosions listed in [2].
       | 
       | Hardly the main point of the article of course, but seems odd
       | they got this so wrong.
       | 
       | [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Beirut_explosion#Yield
       | 
       | [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_artificial_non-
       | nuclear...
        
       | seatac76 wrote:
       | Lebanon hasn't had a functional government for years, who is
       | supposed to be accountable exactly is the better question
        
       | tssva wrote:
       | > But despite the responsibility held by the country's army and
       | judiciary, from the moment the blast happened until today,
       | western-friendly officials and news outlets have placed the blame
       | on Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, alleging that the
       | group stored the dangerous materials in the port - which is
       | controlled by the US-funded army.
       | 
       | I have never heard a western news outlet place blame on
       | Hezbollah. The same corruption and government disfunction cited
       | in this article is what I have heard from western news outlets.
        
         | Gibbon1 wrote:
         | I've never heard that either which makes me suspicious of the
         | author.
        
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       (page generated 2023-08-05 23:02 UTC)