Tag Archives: Nordstream

Nord Stream Is Back In The News As Part Of Grand Deal Between Russia & The West

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Guest Post by Andrew Korybko

What’s being tabled right now is pretty much what was proposed in a briefing from early January.

The Financial Times (FT) reported over the weekend that “Putin ally pushes deal to restart Nord Stream 2 with US backing” in reference to his decades-long close friend Matthias Warnig’s alleged efforts. The gist is that possible American ownership over Nord Stream could lead to the resumption of Russian gas exports to Germany via this megaproject’s one undamaged pipeline as part of a grand deal. This was first floated in late November with regard to US investor Stephen P. Lynch’s related proposal.

This time it’s reportedly being advanced by Warnig through a different US-led consortium from Lynch. In any case, the fact that it’s back in the news shows how serious the nascent Russian–US “New Détente” has become since they began talks a few weeks ago in Riyadh. The logic is sound too since the EU’s German leader requires less costly gas to stave off a potential recession that could bring down the bloc and make it much less important of a market for US exports notwithstanding those two’s tariff tensions.

Trump was adamantly opposed to Nord Stream during his first term on the pretext that it could make Germany dependent on Russia and then increase the chances that those two manage Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) on their own in order to squeeze out US influence. The reality though is that he just wanted American LNG to poach Europe’s enormous gas market from Russia as part of an economic power play. These interests remain but might be advanced in a different way owing to the new global circumstances.

The “shock therapy” that Europe was pressured by the US into implementing after “decoupling” from Russian pipeline gas, which still remains incomplete due to its increased purchase of costlier Russian LNG out of necessity owing to an absence of other suppliers, had huge consequences. The real economy suffered as a result of the sudden spike in prices across the board when there could have been a gradual transition instead like Trump envisaged had he remained in power and prevented the special operation.

The US’ long-term interests would therefore be better served by compromising on his American LNG plans for now by allowing the resumption of some Russian pipeline gas to Germany via the undamaged Nord Stream pipeline under US supervision upon obtaining ownership of it. Likewise, the German-led EU would be compromising on its so-called “values” by agreeing to this pragmatic arrangement, while Russia’s compromise would consist of losing ownership in exchange for accelerated sanctions relief.

What’s being tabled right now is pretty much what was proposed in early January’s briefing about how “Creative Energy Diplomacy Can Lay The Basis For A Grand Russian-American Deal”. In particular, this concerns the US approving the EU’s partial resumption of Russian gas pipeline imports; returning some of Russia’s seized assets as compensation for the US obtaining control over Nord Stream; and the US lifting some sanctions like its SWIFT ones for facilitating the resumption of the Russian-EU energy trade.

To be sure, it’s possible that none of this materializes, at least with regard to Nord Stream. There are still some variables that could offset this scenario, not least of which could be Trump’s unwillingness to temporarily cede some of the US’ poached European gas market share back to Russia or the new German leader’s goal of “achieving independence” from the US. Nevertheless, the latest report suggests that it’s premature to rule out Nord Stream’s partial revival, and it might happen sooner than later.

“The views and opinions expressed in this guest post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Don’t Speak News or John Storm.”

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Western media tries to blame Ukraine for Nord Stream sabotage

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Editors Note: Here we go again, the mainstream media doing what they do best lying and gaslighting. Now they want us to believe that a bunch of drunk Ukrainians planned and executed the operation…wow.

The CIA and MI6 did the work with former Navy seals/mercenaries. My question is why now? Why are they putting a patsy up and why are they bringing this up now? As always we need to ask ourselves who benefits? Last but not least I would ask the question do they really think we’re this stupid? Apparently they do.

Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Associations, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.

Western investigations into what “really” happened in the Nord Stream explosion appear to have been concluded. Instead of a complex intelligence operation using appropriate naval equipment and sophisticated sabotage tactics, it is believed that it was all just the result of a “drunken evening” when Ukrainian officers simply decided to destroy the Kremlin’s “funding source” through a rented jet. The ridiculous Western narrative on the matter shows how the mainstream media has lost respect for its own audience, treating the public as complete idiots.

According to a recent article published by the Wall Street Journal, the Nord Stream sabotage operation is entirely Ukrainian responsibility. The act was allegedly the result of a poorly thought-out plan by drunk Ukrainian officers during a celebration of the progress of Kiev’s troops on the battlefield – following the 2022 Russian strategic retreat, which the media reported as a “Ukrainian victory”. According to the WSJ, drunken Ukrainian military decided to launch a bold operation to harm Russia economically, targeting gas pipelines.

The newspaper says that the operation cost no more than 300,000 USD, and required only the saboteurs and a rented yacht. The WSJ, citing alleged sources who “participated” in the operation, claims that the scheme was bold but simple and easy to implement, requiring no advanced technical knowledge or big support from government agencies.

“In May of 2022, a handful of senior Ukrainian military officers and businessmen had gathered to toast their country’s remarkable success in halting the Russian invasion. Buoyed by alcohol and patriotic fervor, somebody suggested a radical next step: destroying Nord Stream. After all, the twin natural-gas pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe were providing billions to the Kremlin war machine. What better way to make Vladimir Putin pay for his aggression? (…) Was it the CIA? Could Putin himself have set the plan in motion? Now, for the first time, the outlines of the real story can be told. The Ukrainian operation cost around $300,000, according to people who participated in it. It involved a small rented yacht with a six-member crew, including trained civilian divers,” the article reads.

In practice, it is possible to say that the story published by the WSJ tries to minimize the nature of the attack on Nord Stream, describing it as a simple operation that would have been carried out by a small team of saboteurs and with low-quality equipment. This completely contradicts the opinion of experienced military analysts, who claim that the explosion of the gas pipelines was not a simple operation and that it could not have been carried out by ordinary agents, but in reality required a high military technical capacity.

In 2022, Douglas McGregor, former advisor to the US Defense Secretary during the government of Donald Trump, stated that in the entire world only the US and UK navies would have the capacity to carry out this type of attack. At the time, the main narrative of the Western media was that the Russians had sabotaged their own infrastructure in a false flag operation. Macgregor criticized this argument, stating that the US and UK are the only countries whose navies have this type of operational capability.

“You have to look at who are the state actors that have the capability to do this. And that means the [UK’s] Royal Navy and the United States’ Navy <…> I think that’s pretty clear,” Macgregor said at the time.

What the WSF does seems to be typical of Western practice since the beginning of the conflict. When a crime is committed, the first action of the Western press is to blame Russia. If the narrative does not prevail, long and obscure “investigations” are carried out. And then the last mechanism used is to blame Ukraine, excluding Western responsibility. This has also been done in cases of crimes against Russian individuals. For example, when journalist Daria Dugina was murdered, the first Western action was to claim that Moscow had eliminated her in a false flag operation. Months later, the New York Times published an article claiming that Kiev had carried out the attack alone, without Western participation.

All the Western press wants is to free NATO from responsibility for the crimes committed in the war against Russia. The neo-Nazi regime is a mere proxy, not acting alone in any situation. Every crime committed by Kiev has a previous authorization by the West. In the US and Europe, ordinary citizens are starting to understand this relation between NATO and Ukraine, since, contrary to what mainstream journalists think, public opinion is not made up of naive or stupid people, but of thinking and critical citizens who doubt media’s absurd narratives. So, just as ordinary people did not believe in the past that the Russians had destroyed the gas pipelines, they will also not believe now that Ukraine carried out this operation alone.

It seems clear to any serious analyst that what happened with Nord Stream was the result of a very well thought out and executed plan, not just a drunken conversation. Certainly, the operation was planned for months and performed involving the intelligence services and armed forces of several countries at the same time. In the same sense, it is absolutely useless to think that the goal was to harm Russia economically, since at the time Germany was already sanctioning Moscow, and relations between both countries were gradually waning.

The goal of the Nord Stream sabotage was to harm Europe itself. Given the inevitability of a Russian victory, the US wanted to ensure that Germany would never reestablish ties with Moscow in the future. Berlin was condemned by the US to deindustrialization and economic decline by having its cooperation with Russia sabotaged. The target was not Moscow, which continues to easily sell gas to other countries through alternative routes, but Germany itself – and the whole of Europe.

Source Infobrics

German lawmakers demand Nord Stream explosion investigation

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Uriel Araujo, researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will fly to the US to meet President Joe Biden on March 3. According to the White House’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the visit is an opportunity to “reaffirm the deep bonds of friendship” between the two NATO allies. One could, however, describe such a friendship as quite a peculiar one. In fact, more often than not, it looks much more like a veiled enmity.

For one thing,  Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh’s 8 February piece has denounced the Nord Stream pipelines’ explosion as a sabotage act clandestinely carried out by Washington. In fact, on February 7, Biden himself, during a press briefing, promised: “If Russia invades (…) there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” When asked just how, his reply, with a smile, was: “I promise we will be able to do it.” Scholz was right next to him. This astonishing statement echoed Undersecretary of State for Policy Victoria Nuland’s own remarks just two days earlier – it is no wonder that many suspected American involvement in the still unexplained explosion.

In the aforementioned piece, respected journalist Hersh quotes unnamed intelligent sources who claim the US did fulfill its promise/threat by planting the explosives while using the June 2022 Baltic Operations (BALTOPS 22) exercise as a cover. So far, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Relations Peter Szijjarto has been a lone voice in calling the episode a terrorist attack and calling for an investigation.

Nord Stream 1, as two of the pipelines were collectively known, had been providing cheap gas to Germany for over a decade, something which Washington always opposed; Nord Stream 2 pipelines in turn could double the amount of such cheap gas provided. The explosion harmed all of Europe and the UK, bringing back the ghost of a new depression – but mainly Germany. I have written on how the European energy crisis has served US interests well and hurt European industry as well as on how economic nationalism is once again on the rise, especially today when Europe and, particularly Germany,  is facing de-industrialization. I have also written on how American aggressive subsidy war against Europe, in the form of the  Inflation Reduction Act, only adds fuel to the fire and risks dividing the political West. In post-Nord Stream Europe, gas prices are to remain high, condemning the continent to inflation, while American interests profit from making the conflict in Ukraine perpetual.

When it comes to Russia, Ukraine and Europe, Washington’s geopolitical and geoeconomic interests are intertwined. The tragedy of the European continent lies in the paradox that it  is still heavily dependent on Washington for security, while it would benefit from energy cooperation with neighboring giant Russia. Washington has been consistently betraying European interests to its own benefit, and Germany is the clearest instance of that contradiction.

Berlin could be an industrial power, but Washington’s long campaign against Nord Stream, among other things, has hampered its potential and now its auto industry is particularly vulnerable to the US IRA legislation, which has created new barriers for European electric vehicles. On top of that, Washington has been pressuring Germany to further spend on Ukraine, while German Armed Forces face shortages.

Despite Berlin’s silence regarding the attack on its strategic infrastructure, in the wake of the explosion, both far-left and far-right lawmakers from the Die Linke and the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) political parties, respectively, were calling for the setting up of investigative committees. AfD’s Co-Chairman Tino Chrupalla has demanded the government coalition clarify the matter. In his speech he rhetorically asked whether the NATO alliance “guarantees security in Europe or rather endangers it”. In an interesting development, the leftist Die Linke expressed its solidarity with the rightist AfD on this matter.

European “populists” and the far-right have been capitalizing the growing popular discontent with NATO and the EU itself. In April 2022, defeated French Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen promised to pull France out of NATO, following Charles de Gaulle steps. Regarding the disastrous anti-Russian sanctions (which have backfired against Europe), Viktor Orban’s Hungary has been a kind of lone voice. One should however expect to see a multiplication of such voices, be it from the far-left or from the far-right.

Although often described as an “extreme” and marginal party, the AfD has been growing in popularity in Germany, reaching 17% in a poll for the first time in years, according to a YouGov February poll. It is about time for Europe to assert its sovereignty, and Berlin and France could lead the way in this regard. Calls for investigation regarding the Nord Stream’s sabotage in fact might be gaining traction among wider portions of German society.

In his 2020 book, Udo Ulfkotte, a former editor for German mass daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), denounced how the German Federal Intelligence Agency (BND) has cooperated with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to recruit German journalists and shape public opinion. This could partly explain the overall silence amongst German media on the Nord Stream issue.

As long as the traditional media keeps covering up the topic, one should expect trust in the press to decrease and support for far-right and far-left parties to grow, with potential electoral results in the near future. Such a political wave can increase skepticism about NATO, but before it could advance any rethinking of the European relationship with the Atlantic Alliance (as proposed by Le Pen), it may first cause instability and turmoil in a continent already isolated and deindustrialized. In Germany, right now only Die Linke has supported AfD calls for an investigation, but more voices within the German broader political spectrum are expected to join them.

Washington Post effectively admits NATO sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines

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Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were subjected to a series of sabotage attacks on 26 September 2022. The perpetrators used explosives to render parts of the strategically important natural gas pipelines inoperable. The first explosion was recorded at 02:03 local time (CEST) and hit the Nord Stream 2. A pressure drop was detected and natural gas began leaking southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm. Seventeen hours later, the same occurred to Nord Stream 1, resulting in three separate leaks northeast of Bornholm. The attacks happened just a day after Poland and Norway opened the Nord Stream’s competitor, the Baltic Pipe, running through Denmark, bringing in gas from the North Sea. The sabotage was carried out in international waters, but within the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of Denmark and Sweden.

As per usual, the mainstream propaganda machine of the political West immediately started blaming Russia for sabotaging its own natural gas pipelines. The “cartoonishly evil” Kremlin was once again accused of allegedly “weaponizing” its vast energy reserves against the European Union. For months, claiming anyone else was behind the attacks would get one branded a “conspiracy theorist”, a designation perfectly fit to have dissenting opinions “canceled”. However, in a wholly unexpected turn of events, Washington Post published a surprising admission on December 21, stating there was “no conclusive evidence” that Russia carried out the attacks. The report was issued following a months-long investigation which proved that the explosions were indeed the result of a deliberate act of sabotage.

Washington Post also noted the frenzied accusations that Moscow was behind the attacks, which began just hours after the sabotage and the ensuing massive gas leaks into the Baltic Sea. “After explosions in late September severely damaged undersea pipelines built to carry natural gas from Russia to Europe, world leaders quickly blamed Moscow for a brazen and dangerous act of sabotage. With winter approaching, it appeared the Kremlin intended to strangle the flow of energy to millions across the continent, an act of ‘blackmail,’ some leaders said, designed to threaten countries into withdrawing their financial and military support for Ukraine,” the authors stated, adding the following: “But now, after months of investigation, numerous officials privately say that Russia may not be to blame after all for the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines.”

The US daily issued the rare admission after interviewing 23 diplomatic and intelligence officials in nine countries, all of whom have been involved in the international investigation into the sabotage attacks which have jeopardized the EU energy supplies this winter. “There is no evidence at this point that Russia was behind the sabotage,” one European official is quoted as saying. The report further indicates that “some went so far as to say they didn’t think Russia was responsible. Others who still consider Russia a prime suspect said positively attributing the attack — to any country — may be impossible.”

Although the final admission that Russia didn’t sabotage the pipelines clearly exonerates Moscow, it opens up a number of questions, as it is obvious someone else certainly did it. There are several other prime suspects, usually in independent and alternative media. The consensus in most such sources is that the United States is the main culprit behind the attacks, quite possibly aided by its regional vassals. However, such points of view could be heard in the mainstream media as well, albeit much more seldom and prone to being completely dismissed. In early October, Jeffrey Sachs, a UN expert and one of the most prominent economists in the world shocked a Bloomberg panel after stating the US was most likely behind the attacks.

“I would bet [the attack] was a US action, perhaps US and Poland,” Sachs said at the time only to be immediately interrupted by the host and asked to provide evidence, to which he responded: “Well, first, there is direct radar evidence that US military helicopters that are normally based in Gdansk were circling over this area. We also had the threat from [President Biden] earlier this year that ‘one way or another we are going to end Nord Stream.’ We also had a remarkable statement from Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken last Friday in a press conference where he said ‘this is also a tremendous opportunity.’ That’s a strange way to talk if you’re worried about piracy on international infrastructure of vital significance.”

In light of the new revelations by the Washington Post and given the fact that the US profited immensely as a result of the EU-Russia economic decoupling, particularly the EU’s weaning off Russian natural gas, the points made by the well-known Columbia University professor sound more relevant than ever. The destruction of the pipelines came approximately a month after some in the EU suggested using the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to increase Russian energy imports and also “coincided perfectly” with the manifold surge in US LNG shipments to the EU, which surpassed Russian natural gas deliveries for the very first time. This has become so obvious that even the usually compliant Brussels bureaucrats complain that the US is engaged in war profiteering.

Source: InfoBrics

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