by Charles
London subways were hit again with terrorist bombings today, this time not as lethal as 7/7. BBC:
A number of Tube stations have been evacuated and lines closed after three blasts in what Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair says is a "serious incident".
Sir Ian appealed to Londoners to stay where they were and said the transport system was effectively being shut down.
The minor explosions used detonators only, a BBC reporter said.
In addition, a Number 26 bus in Hackney Road in Bethnal Green had its windows blown out by a blast. There were no injuries.
CNN and SkyNews don’t have much yet on this developing story. Meantime, Norm Geras provides a tat for Ken Livingstone’s tit. The real issue isn’t British foreign policy in Iraq and elsewhere, it’s the cancer in the British Muslim community. Today’s attacks may very well not have been done by militant Islamic terrorists but…
And ObWings’ reporter James Casey here in London has this report to make:
“The top of my street is currently cordoned off. How tedious.”
P.S. Re. ‘Terrorist Bombings 2.0’, I’m pretty sure there was this IRA organisation once upon a time…
The real issue isn’t British foreign policy in Iraq and elsewhere, it’s the cancer in the British Muslim community
CB – there may be more than one “real issue,” and/or the various issues may be related in complex ways.
That said, no mention of deaths in the early reports, thank god, but that fragmentary early information could obviously change as the day goes on. NYT says casualties are “low.” So, fingers crossed.
CB: I just wanted to add the usual caution about waiting for the evidence to come in before assigning blame. I think that some radical idiot(s) in the British Islamic community is/are the most likely suspect(s), but we don’t know yet.
Tedious indeed. I hope we don’t have to get used to it. Instead of making lofty speeches and accusations our elected leaders (yes I mean you Tony, Ken and George G.) should do something to ensure that public transport in London, which was a bit of a disgrace even before the bombings, doesn’t become totally unusable, as this would indeed threaten our way of life.
Only good news I can think of from this is that these were apparently not suicide bombs–suggesting that the people actually bringing the bombs into the subways might be caught. (I saw a report that a number of people saw a suspect leave a bag and run off). He was reported as tall and either Asian or black. (What an odd description, “either Asian or black”. I can’t think of anyone who might fall into one of those categories that I would confuse with being in the other).
A BBC reporter clarified that in UK English, “Asian” can also mean Pakistani or East Indian.
This is such a weird incident.
Only good news I can think of from this is that these were apparently not suicide bombs–suggesting that the people actually bringing the bombs into the subways might be caught.
It’s early, but I’ve read that the design of the bombs were similar to the first ones, but the explosives were faulty. The small blasts were the detonators, which didn’t set off the main charge. Which means that the police may have some interesting questions to ask of the bombers, who weren’t expecting to be alive at this point.
What an odd description, “either Asian or black”. I can’t think of anyone who might fall into one of those categories that I would confuse with being in the other.
Asian also refers to those from India/Sri Lanka.
In fact, in the UK it seems that “Asian” usually refers to South Asians (whereas in the US it normally means East Asians), and I’ve certainly seen plenty of people from southern India, for example, who could be mistaken for black even under conditions somewhat better than a brief glimpse while running away from an explosion.
Aha, mystery of ethnic description explained! Though I have always thought of people from India as sort of their own phenotype (I wouldn’t describe them as either black or Asian) but I can see if you caught a glimpse of someone running away it could be difficult to pin it down.
Though I have always thought of people from India as sort of their own phenotype (I wouldn’t describe them as either black or Asian) but I can see if you caught a glimpse of someone running away it could be difficult to pin it down.
Want proof that race is a social construct? Have a conversation with an American and a Briton about racial classification. You *will not* get agreement. See here, for example.
My favorite line on this is ‘I have huge problems telling Asians apart, I’m always getting Jiang Zemin and Amartya Sen confused’
Similarly, Josh, I remember how confusing it was for me as an American the first time I saw Attenborough’s Gandhi and heard the British referring to Indians as “niggers.”