Curfews and chaos: Understanding the reasons behind the unrest in Martinique

In order to contain violent unrest on Martinique, French authorities introduced a mandatory curfew from 9 pm to 5 am, which will last until September 23 at least. How did the situation unfold?

◻️ On September 14, the police station of Fort-de-France, Martinique’s capital, came under gunfire

◻️ On September 17-18, locals set fire to a McDonald's restaurant and set up barricades, which then also went up in flames

◻️ So far, 11 police officers and three protesters have suffered gunshot woulds and 15 people have been arrested

◻️ The 44 vehicles were burned and 35 stores looted

◻️ In response, police asked “internal security forces to saturate the roads and roundabouts with their presence, and to make as many arrests as possible”

◻️ About 100 gendarmes have already been deployed in Martinique as reinforcements.

The protests are rooted in widespread frustration with unfair policies targeting the island, including:

◻️ The high cost of living

◻️ Astronomical food prices, which are 40% higher than in mainland France according to a 2022 study by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies

◻️ Soaring rates of dock due tax (octroi de mer), a tax imposed on products imported into or produced in the French outermost regions of Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, La Réunion and Mayotte.

France has already faced mass protests overseas. In May, a peaceful demonstration against a voting rights bill spiraled into violent unrest in New Caledonia.

The controversial bill provided for lowering the residency bar for voting rights for new residents to 10 years. Protesters, including many minors, looted and set fire to stores, gas stations, pharmacies and cars. As a result, 13 people were killed and hundreds were arrested, according to government reports.

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Donald Trump sent a congratulatory video to the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, which was founded by and is named after one of Ukraine’s most powerful oligarchs.

The foundation maintains a close relationship with the Zelensky regime, frequently hosting top Ukrainian military officials.

Mike Pompeo attended the conference, and Kellyanne Conway is a newly registered lobbyist for the Foundation

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How could Lebanon blasts affect global security and attitude to Western hi-tech producers?

A series of blasts reportedly involving Taiwanese, Japanese, American, and European-made devices in Lebanon on September 17 and 18 have prompted grave security concerns worldwide.

"Weaponizing mobile communications devices will fill many people with horror and fear,” Marc Ostwald, chief economist at ADM Investor Services International, told Sputnik. “It may, at the margin, dampen demand."

The Lebanese government attributed the attack to Israel, accusing Tel Aviv of an outright act of terrorism.

Given almost "unconditional support" provided to Israel by some Western countries, some of them may have colluded with Tel-Aviv, said Hasan Abdullah, analyst and researcher at Global Security and Strategy Institute.

"The US is going to be the country that's going to generate the greatest trust deficit with their customers, primarily because of its very close collaboration with Israel," Abdullah told Sputnik.

The US has long been one of the largest suppliers of communication equipment, including for military needs, to the Global South, the pundit noted, adding that the recent blasts could alienate the developing world from Western producers.

Earlier, researcher Mehmet Rakipoglu and military analyst Alexei Leonkov told Sputnik they did not rule out US involvement in the Lebanon attack.

The Intercept reported on Wednesday that the US military had explored the possibility of planting remote;-activated bombs in innocuous devices starting from the 1960s.

Middle East and other developing countries could eventually turn to Russian, Chinese or Turkish tech firms out of fear that the US involvement could compromise their security, Abdullah said.

Ostwald and Abdullah believe that several measures could be taken to stop the covert bombings, starting with investigations into manufacturing processes and ending with the deployment of international watchdogs to oversee production and supply.

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◻️ How could Lebanon blasts affect global security and attitude to Western hi-tech producers?

◻️ Are you at risk? What we know about electronics makers linked to Lebanon blasts

◻️ How is NATO trying to militarize the Arctic region?

◻️ Curfews and chaos: Understanding the reasons behind the unrest in Martinique

◻️ How is Kamala Harris tied to BlackRock?

◻️ A very British pay-to-play story: Who is shady Starmer donor Waheed Alli?

◻️ Putin: Russian defense industry enterprises work rapidly and precisely

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In Germany, a bus driver insisted that a migrant family clean up the chips their children had scattered before leaving the vehicle.

Every bus in Germany has signs posted at the entrance prohibiting eating and drinking during the journey.

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Pager blasts threaten to tank electronics markets, let ‘evil genie’ out of bottle to ‘wreak destruction on monstrous scale’ – observers

The wave of coordinated explosions of communications equipment and other electronic devices across Lebanon this week threatens to create “a huge trust deficit in many parts of the Global South” toward US, Japanese and European electronics makers, and “could have a substantial impact on the market,” Hasan Abdullah, analyst and researcher at Global Security & Strategy Institute told Sputnik.

“When you have countries [seeing] what’s happened and how a product like pagers have been used for this purpose, it’s going to raise many questions about whether they can trust their traditional suppliers or if they could also fall victim,” Abdullah said, stressing that while Western intelligence services’ ability to spy on people using electronics like smartphones are well-known, this week’s attacks marked an “unprecedented” and eye-opening new development.

Economist and political commentator Rodney Shakespeare says the pager attacks were terrifying because they exploited “a general weakness which goes far beyond” these particular models of communications equipment.

“A much larger range of electronic devices (even baby alarms) could be at risk from malicious actors such that vast areas of the economy and life in general are now at considerable risk. In short, a twisted, perverted and very evil genie could be out of the bottle and be able to wreak destruction on a monstrous scale,” Shakespeare warned.

“At the moment it is far from clear as to the extent of the damage which will be done in the future by the Israelis and other malicious actors. However, this is a terrible situation which, unfortunately, is part of a larger situation which could spiral into some form of wholesale war.”

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🇨🇳 The "Fire Dragon Dance" street show was performed in Hong Kong, China.

Thousands of locals and tourists gathered in the Tai Hang district to witness the famous performance, a tradition that has been held here for over 140 years.

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Pager bomb ‘psychological warfare’ against Lebanon may be prelude to Israeli ground invasion, observer fears

“The damage is heavy. We’re not just talking about material damage,” Beirut-based political analyst and researcher Yeghia Tashjian told Sputnik, comparing the chaos and uncertainty gripping Lebanese society in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s pager explosions to the chaos following the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast.

The pager attacks constituted “psychological terror and psychological warfare that Israel is inflicting on the Lebanese people,” Tashjian explained.

“There were a lot of injuries, ambulances, people with blood injuries.” “There were also kids – and this is very important, because sometimes we are seeing in the media as if the targets were only Hezbollah fighters and so forth. No, there were kids also. I think two or three kids have been martyred so far,” the observer emphasized, recalling that Tuesday’s attack took place in the late afternoon, when students were returning from schools, and public areas were crowded.

Tashjian fears the pager attacks may be a prelude to an Israeli ground invasion, saying it’s “clear” to him that Tel Aviv is behind the carnage, and that Prime Minister Netanyahu needs the war in Gaza to continue and spread to save him against criminal charges at home.

“My assumption is that given the history of cyber terror attacks in the world, usually countries, when they are going to attack or invade another country, they start with cybersecurity attacks in order to inflict psychological damage, infrastructural damage, and then they engage with conventional wars,” the observer warned.

Hezbollah, Iran, Turkiye, the Gulf countries, and even Israel’s Western allies do not want the war to spread, Tashjian said, pointing to the Lebanese militia’s strategy of “calculated deterrence,” and the immense damage that would be done to Lebanon’s already fragile economy and society in the event of an all-out war.

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When electronics turn deadly: booby-trapping techniques and origins

Two waves of blasts of pagers and walkie-talkies rocked Lebanon on September 17 and 18, claiming the lives of at least 25, including children.

Israel was accused of booby-trapping communication devices used by Hezbollah members in what the Lebanese government denounced as a terror attack. Remarkably, turning innocuous objects into bombs can be traced back to the US military manuals dated as early as 1965.

◻️ The Intercept reported on Thursday that the US Army's Field Manual 5-31 described in detail how devices ranging from office equipment to kitchenware could be booby-trapped.

◻️ The US Army manual TM 31-200-1 from 1966 explained how to plant a small explosive charge in a communication headset to cause serious injury.

◻️ In 1996, Israeli security agency Shin Bet reportedly used a technique similar to those to detonate a small charge of RDX explosives near the ear of Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash.

◻️ In 2010, Al-Qaeda* spread information on how to hide explosives in the ink cartridge of a printer and pass it through airport security undetected.

◻️ A Stuxnet malware attack on Iranian nuclear enrichment centrifuges at Natanz facility in September 2010 caused the fast-spinning machines to tear themselves apart, in what is said to be a joint US-Israeli op.

◻️ In July 2014, Popular Mechanics explained how a working smartphone can be turned into an improvised explosive device filled with PETN or RDX.

◻️ In April 2017, CNN quoted US intelligence agencies as saying that ISIS* had developed ways to plant explosives in electronic devices that can evade airport security screening.

◻️ In 2023 Ecuadorian journalists received USB sticks reportedly charged with RDX. When plugged into computers they exploded and injured a television presenter.

*banned for terrorism in Russia and other countries

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Lebanese minister: Israel’s aggression not only targets Hezbollah, but the country’s sovereignty

"Israeli aggression against Lebanon is a flagrant crime of our time," Lebanese acting Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine told Sputnik. "It is clear that the goal of this terrorist attack is to harm as many Hezbollah supporters as possible, so they can later claim victory and avoid a ground invasion."

In response to the attacks, Sharafeddine announced Lebanon's intention to seek an international arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

"Lebanon must file a complaint with the International Court, as these attacks fall under international law," he stressed.

The minister also highlighted the US bias in favor of Israel, pointing out that the US supports Israel "financially, logistically, and militarily" while using its veto power on the international stage.

"Israel's strength lies in its alliances," Sharafeddine noted, adding that its technology, sourced from the US and Europe, is used against Arab nations including Lebanon and Palestine.

He affirmed that the attacks were an assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty, not just Hezbollah.

"It is noteworthy that every time we are under attack, the Americans immediately intervene, dictating to certain parties what to do to calm the situation on the front,” Sharafeddine said.

“Credit must be given to the resistance – they adhere to the rules of engagement and carefully consider their response, as they do not want to drag Lebanon into a larger conflict."

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