Coordinated arson attacks cause massive disruption to France railways on opening day of Olympics

Come on.. for it to be terrorism it has to be politically motivated and actually designed to terrify. If you burn someone's house down then sure, that can be terrorism.

Sabotaging the railway network is not terrorism. What next, is my 'eat the rich' graffiti terrorism?

Okay, let's stop the argument. No reason to fight about it. I disagree but I also see your point. My original intention was simply to say that because they did not target humans, it points more towards the eco folks.

Are you in Cambridge, by chance? I see "Eat the Rich" graffiti all over the place when I run on the Charles when in town for work.

I said that Hamas has never carried out terrorist attacks on foreign soil. They have only attacked Israel. The Black September wing of the PLO carried out the Munich Olympic attacks, not Hamas.

The railway attacks in France seem to be connected to very similar attacks in Germany. The main connection is the apparent insider knowledge of rail infrastructure. The attackers knew exactly where to start fires to inflict substantial damage to critical rail infrastructure. In the German attacks, there was a claim of responsibility on a fringe leftist website, but authorities were never able to verify whether anyone behind the website actually was responsible or whether the claim of responsibility was just opportunistic.

I would file this one under who the hell knows who did this other than it seems pretty clear that the prior German attacks must be related. There are all kinds of odd political radicals in Europe and far left and far right groups often end up horseshoed onto the fringes of each other. And as far as foreign actors go, the Russians are certainly on the short list as much as it could be any group tied to Palestine, Iran or broader Islamic radical movements like ISIS. Russia was behind a sabotage operation at a German manufacturing plant that had ties to the arms industry and also got caught in a plot to assassinate the CEO of an arms manufacturer. Macron has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine and has pushed EU members to stand firm against Putin's invasion. Russia is banned from the Olympics. Putin would certainly be happy to see chaos at the Olympic Games and has already been show to have intelligence service assets in Europe. The lack of a claim of responsibility is also more in line with a Russian attack as political radicals and terrorist groups from the Middle East are usually very deliberate about making it known that they were behind attacks. Still, we really know nothing about who did this at this point and anything is possible.

euronews.com

Fires damage German railway line, police suspect political motive

A series of fires hit railway infrastructure in the city of Hamburg overnight, causing widespread disruption to trains between Hamburg and Berlin.

Link:www.euronews.com/2023/09/08/fires-dama...

npr.org

An act of sabotage shut down parts of Germany's rail system for hours this weekend

Officials say a key train communications system was compromised, stranding passenger and cargo trains across the northwest of the country on Saturday.

Link:www.npr.org/2022/10/09/1127739900/germ...

cnn.com

Exclusive: US and Germany foiled Russian plot to assassinate CEO of arms manufacturer sending weapons to Ukraine | CNN Politics

Katie Bo Lillis, Natasha Bertrand, Frederik Pleitgen

Earlier this year, US intelligence discovered that the Russian government planned to assassinate the chief executive of a powerful German arms manufacturer which has been producing artillery shells and military vehicles for U...

Link:www.cnn.com/2024/07/11/politics/us-ger...

In all honesty, I think it's those pesky METRA workers from Chicago. They've been known to pull this a time or two before!

nbcchicago.com

Here's why Metra workers light fires on tracks during cold weather

James Neveau

It is a familiar sight by this point for Chicago-area residents, but it’s still a fascinating spectacle as railroad workers light fires along rails during periods of cold weather. Metra workers did just that on Monday, lighti...

Link:www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/heres-wh...

She would just fall on the track

Yeah, but they are combusting fuels, which causes global warming, which seems counter to their cause.

bbc.com

Russian arrested over alleged plot to 'destabilise' Paris Olympics

It comes just days before the games get under way with an opening ceremony in central Paris on Friday.

Link:www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1j7kg2nk0o

Already arrested Russians there this week, but as normal, you guys know best

Early reports coming in that it was Russian saboteurs.

this was a great reply. i truly with there was more of this type of vibe here.

I have been worried about terrorist attacks in Paris and just hope the they can get through the next two weeks without some crazy ruining things.