Sy Hersh: Biden ordered German pipeline sabotage

[Jon Banks]

But the Russians do need to blow up the pipeline, instead of just shutting off the gas, if their intentions were to:

a. Cut the Germans off of this supply of gas

and to:

b. Tell the Germans, and the rest of the world, "Watch out. Don't push us too far. We are capable of anything."

Why not blow up the pipeline and announce what Russia did?

Why have many mysterious deaths, like people considered not loyal to Putin falling out of high windows? Clearly intended to intimidate others. But not announce what Russia did?

Because sometimes its best if people know what Russia did, without an explicit confession.

Most people have concluded at this point that it wasn't Russia. Including the investigators in Europe.

Maybe it wasn't the Biden administration either. There are no named suspects at this point.

But Russia and Germany are the victims here. They lost two pipelines that they spent years and billions of dollars to construct. So Russia and Germany are likely at the bottom of the list of possible suspects.

[Martin Weidmann]

Most people have concluded at this point that it wasn't Russia. Including the investigators in Europe.

Maybe it wasn't the Biden administration either. There are no named suspects at this point.

But Russia and Germany are the victims here. They lost two pipelines that they spent years and billions of dollars to construct. So Russia and Germany are likely at the bottom of the list of possible suspects.

Most people have concluded at this point that it wasn't Russia. Including the investigators in Europe.

The investigators in Europe have concluded nothing of the kind (yet). The investigation is still ongoing. In fact, in European media this isn't even a big story.

But Russia and Germany are the victims here. They lost two pipelines that they spent years and billions of dollars to construct. So Russia and Germany are likely at the bottom of the list of possible suspects.

That's a somewhat gullible conclusion. Germany spent years and massive amounts of money to rebuild the country after WWI only to destroy it all again in WWII. What's a bit of infrastructure anyway? It can all be rebuild, right?

Besides, Germany isn't a victim, because regardless of the pipelines (only one was in operation btw) being undamaged or not, Europe has agreed not to accept gas from Russia anyway as part of their embargo. All the EU countries are currently buying gas from other sources and the Russian economy suffers as a consequence. Russia isn't a victim either as they caused the crisis in the first place by invading Ukraine and thus should suffer the consequences.

[Jon Banks]

Most people have concluded at this point that it wasn't Russia. Including the investigators in Europe.

The investigators in Europe have concluded nothing of the kind (yet). The investigation is still ongoing. In fact, in European media this isn't even a big story.

In case you missed this:

Feb. 2023 - German top official says no evidence of Russian sabotage of Nord Stream pipeline

German top official says no evidence of Russian sabotage of Nord Stream pipeline. German investigators currently have no evidence that Russia is behind the explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, German Attorney General Peter Frank told Die Welt.'

https://kyivindependent.com/news-feed/german-top-official-says-no-evidence-of-russian-sabotage-of-nord-stream-pipeline


Washington Post last year:

…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.
“There is no evidence at this point that Russia was behind the sabotage,” said one European official, echoing the assessment of 23 diplomatic and intelligence officials in nine countries interviewed in recent weeks.

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...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/21/russia-nord-stream-explosions/


Sy Hersh makes a convincing case for why the US did it but he only provided circumstantial evidence.

[Martin Weidmann]

In case you missed this:

Feb. 2023 - German top official says no evidence of Russian sabotage of Nord Stream pipeline

German top official says no evidence of Russian sabotage of Nord Stream pipeline. German investigators currently have no evidence that Russia is behind the explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, German Attorney General Peter Frank told Die Welt.'

https://kyivindependent.com/news-feed/german-top-official-says-no-evidence-of-russian-sabotage-of-nord-stream-pipeline


Washington Post last year:

…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.
“There is no evidence at this point that Russia was behind the sabotage,” said one European official, echoing the assessment of 23 diplomatic and intelligence officials in nine countries interviewed in recent weeks.

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...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/21/russia-nord-stream-explosions/


Sy Hersh makes a convincing case for why the US did it but he only provided circumstantial evidence.

I'm not really impressed by the opinion of a "German top official". Having no evidence, to date, that Russia is behind the explosions does not justify the conclusion that Russia isn't behind it.

The same applies to what officials say privately. It's all nothing more than opinions. The bottom line is that there is no official report, to date, and there may never be.

[Jon Banks]

I'm not really impressed by the opinion of a "German top official". Having no evidence, to date, that Russia is behind the explosions does not justify the conclusion that Russia isn't behind it.

The same applies to what officials say privately. It's all nothing more than opinions. The bottom line is that there is no official report, to date, and there may never be.

To date, there’s no evidence that Russia did it nor does Russia have a ‘realistic’ motive for sabotaging their own pipelines that cost billions to construct.

Investigators have expressed both publicly and in private that there’s no evidence that Russia was involved.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Latest report is that evidence "suggests" it may have been a pro-Ukrainian group/groups: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/us/politics/nord-stream-pipeline-sabotage-ukraine.html

[Jon Banks]

Latest report is that evidence "suggests" it may have been a pro-Ukrainian group/groups: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/us/politics/nord-stream-pipeline-sabotage-ukraine.html

Kind of funny to see anonymous intelligence officials throwing Ukraine under the bus again. It’s not the first time they’ve distanced themselves from illegal or terroristic acts committed by Ukraine.

But given the lack of details in the article and anonymous sources, it smells like a diversion or limited hangout.

The Ukrainians clearly had a motive for sabotaging the German-Russian pipelines but given that they don’t have a real navy, I can’t see them committing a sabotage act on that scale without help from a state actor.