By Stephan Ossenkopp
The bad news is that the German government is preventing any steps to deal with Seymour Hersh’s revelations in the Nord Stream bombing case. Neither the governing coalition parties – Social Democrats, Liberals and Greens – nor the largest opposition party, the Christian Democrats, are demanding immediate action for independent investigation and transparency in this serious case of terrorism. Proving whether Sy Hersh is right and his source report is true can only be achieved through an international investigation that puts enough pressure on Germany, but also on Sweden and Denmark, to release and share relevant data on activities in the Baltic Sea during the last nine months. I don’t think that the accused, i.e. the USA, Norway and NATO, will do this. The pressure has to come not only from Russia, but also from China, India, other powerful emerging countries and multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, but also from the rapidly growing BRICS+ group.
Why should every country have an interest in this? Because it is implicitly a globally relevant and urgent issue.
As Ambassador Zhang Jun said at the UN Security Council briefing on Nord Stream on 21 February this year:
“We live in an era of globalization, when cooperation among countries in energy, transportation, and communication is increasingly close, and transboundary construction spans across continents and oceans. Any deliberate sabotage of transboundary infrastructure is a malicious act. Failure to find out why it happened and who is behind the destruction will send a wrong signal to those with ill intentions and make them believe that they can get away with whatever they do. An objective, impartial, and professional investigation into this matter, releasing the findings and pursuing accountability as soon as possible are not only related to the incident itself, but also bear on the security of global transboundary infrastructure. Moreover, they are also closely related to the interests and concerns of every country.”
Why do I think the truth will not come out of the German government?
First, I have attended two hearings in the German parliament. The most recent took place yesterday evening. A motion to set up a parliamentary commission to investigate what the government knows about the Nord Stream case was quickly rejected.
On the one hand, the opponents of the motion say that this is not the task of the parliament, but of the prosecutor general’s office. However, the office of the federal prosecutor has remained silent despite a mounting public interest.
On the other hand, the initiators of the motion were quickly slandered as Putin’s agents, apologists for Russian aggression and purveyors of Russian propaganda and anti-American sentiment. The political attacks are so harsh and emotionally charged, in parliament and in the media, against anyone who questions the orthodox narrative of the main powers, that not many have the stamina or the guts to present a fundamentally differing outlook.
The parliamentarians also frequently disparage the famous author Sy Hersh as an unreliable, elderly conspiracy theorist. Any reference to Hersh is declared to be a distraction to discredit the so-called serious and orderly investigation by the federal prosecutor, whose final report we simply have to wait for.
Second, the German mainstream media simply call the whole case simply it a „mystery“ and a „thriller story“. The newly circulated theory by the First State Channel and the newspaper Die Zeit that a small private group rented a yacht, has, however, not been swallowed by all. A German investigative news team on the 2nd public broadcaster ZDF quoted experts who said it was extremely unlikely, if not impossible, to independently buy hundreds of kilos of explosives without being detected by the secret services; the size of the boat was too small to carry all the equipment for a crew of six. They also revealed that at the time of the crime, a German naval reconnaissance ship was in the area. However, this was a allegedly a secret mission and the data is not shared.
Whether or not any of these news reports find the pro-Ukrainian group renting a yacht theory credible, they never discuss any aspects of the Hersh report. But the pink elephant in the room IS the Hersh report.
The alternative media are very active on the Nord Stream case, to increase the pressure on governments, and to create a growing public mobilization. People realize that this is an Achilles heel of the NATO-dominated West, which has overplayed its cards. The mobilization for the truth of the Nord Stream terror act also has to go beyond exchanging opinions about the likelihood of one or the other version.
It has to be put it in a geopolitical context.
The United States has completely abandoned its original mission to become the model republic envisioned by Benjamin Franklin. It has been undermined by networks that favour imperialism and world domination. This has its modern roots in the neo-conservative project after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Treaty Organisation, but its deeper roots lie in the Anglo-American special relationship for a world system created by Winston Churchill and Harry Truman after the Second World War. Churchill wanted a weaponised United Nations under Anglo-American leadership, out of which NATO grew.
Lord Russell advocated pre-emptive nuclear war against the Soviet Union to force it to submit to Anglo-American domination. The neocons, such as Victoria Newland, are simply an extension of this original, historically deeper evil of the British Empire, which still determines current US military policy, such as AUKUS and Global NATO, and financial policy, such as deregulation, sanctions and bailouts, with the aim of remaining the sole leader of global affairs.
However, the counter-movement to this tyranny is in full swing, as shown by Russia’s action to demilitarise and denazify NATO’s proxy forces on Ukrainian territory, but also by China’s Global Security Initiative, which has brought together Saudi Arabia and Iran.
It can also be seen in the successful neutralisation of sanctions by Russia, the resistance of the Global South countries, and in the continued rise of the Chinese real economy, technology, and investments into the World Silk Road. All of the more than 20 countries currently applying for membership of BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation form the nucleus of a veritable global rebellion against the colossus on clay feet.
Dedollarisation is in full swing as the Chinese currency has already overtaken the dollar in the Russian currency market. Because of its toxicity, the dollar is increasingly being replaced in many major global trade deals. The US, with its divisive diplomacy, has now also been sidelined in the negotiations.
Nevertheless, the Nord Stream bombing and its cover-up is only a symptom of the system, which is trying to cling to its status as the sole superpower by any means necessary, even by setting fire to its own so-called allies.
We have to make sure that sane and rational forces in the West prevail to eventually bring the US, Germany and others into a mode of cooperation, because there is no alternative if we don’t want to sink into a dark age.