Sabotage of the Nord Stream, an economic blow to Europe
The Nord Stream sabotage has opened up a debate around the world, and many participants in these debates are demanding that the case be fully investigated in accordance with international law.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University in the USA recently spoke at the UN Security Council about the case of sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. He believes that the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline on September 26, 2022 is an act of international terrorism and a threat to peace.
American journalist Seymour Hersh claims that the US blew up the Nord Stream gas pipeline with the help of Norway.
The Russian Federation demands that the UN form an independent commission to investigate the sabotage.
The United States denies involvement in the case.
We could hear different claims in numerous media. New intelligence suggests that a pro-Ukrainian group may be behind last year’s attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, the New York Times wrote: „U.S. intelligence suggests that the explosives on the pipelines were likely planted by experienced divers not affiliated with the military or special services.“ Citizens of Great Britain and the United States of America did not participate in the attack, but individuals of Russian or Ukrainian nationality.“
On the other hand, the German Zeit writes: „German investigators have identified the ship from which the Nord Stream sabotage was carried out, and adds that the traces lead to a company owned by Ukrainians. The company’s headquarters is in Poland and its owners are two Ukrainians, and the secret operation in the Baltic Sea it was allegedly carried out by six people – five men and one woman. The group consisted of a captain, two divers, two diving assistants and a doctor, and they allegedly transported the explosives to the scene of the crime and planted it there. Their nationality is unknown, the German newspaper writes and states that the attackers used fake passports, which they also used to rent a boat.“
As we can see there are many different claims, and the world public is quite confused. For this reason, the European Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation organized an international conference on March 16: Sabotage of the Nord Stream, an economic blow to Europe.
The following spoke at the conference: Daniel Kovalik, professor of humanitarian law, associate of the Center for Geostrategic Studies (USA), Stephan Breu, director of the Swiss Center for Global Trends (Switzerland), Laurent Heninger, military historian (France), Yunus Soner, political scientist, author of United world international (Turkey), Stephan Ossenkopp, journalist, Schiller Institute associate (Germany), Konrad Rekas, journalist, political analyst (Poland), Dragana Trifković, director of the Center for Geostrategic Studies (Serbia).
American professor Daniel Kovalik pointed out that the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines is the biggest industrial and environmental sabotage that we know of. He underlined that the consequence of this act is the release of more than 400,000 T of methane into the atmosphere, which has a 20 times greater impact on global warming than CO2. Professor Kovalik recalled that the American president promised publicly that the Nord Stream gas pipeline would not be functional: „As a lawyer who knows criminal law, I can say that the motive can be seen, then you have someone saying what will happen and confirmation that it has come true“.
As a conclusion, Mr. Kovalik stated: „This is an act of sabotage of the German economy, but also of Western Europe as a whole, that is, of our NATO allies.“ If Hersh’s claims are proven to be true, it will lead to the collapse of NATO, and possibly the USA. It is especially suspicious because the Western media do not want to write about it. For more than 50 years, Hersh has been a respected journalist who has written for the New York Times, NewYorker, London Review of Books. Now he cannot publish the text in any leading media, but is forced to blog about it. It shows the extent of the corruption of the Western media“.
Stephan Breu, director of the Swiss Center for Global Trends, stated that „The attack was carried out at a time when Norway, Poland and Denmark inaugurated the Baltic gas pipeline, which should provide gas to Europe, instead of the one that comes via the Nord Stream. NATO issued a statement regarding the sabotage: that the damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines was the result of deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage. In the Western media, the first reaction was to blame Russia for the sabotage. However, in recent months the situation has started to change, it is becoming increasingly difficult to blame Russia for sabotage, as new information appears. Representatives of NATO and the EU demanded an investigation against sabotage and demanded that the perpetrators be punished, and now they will be tested by reality, if it is established that the attacks did not come from Russia, but from the other side.“
French military historian Mr. Laurent Henninger expressed doubts about another aspect, which is the role of the British intelligence service: „What binds the USA and the UK is that both are members of NATO, but also that both are deeply connected to the seas and fluid spaces.“ The cultures in general of these two countries are deeply rooted in the sea, or at least deeply molded from marine concepts. And what does maritime history teach? It teaches us that false flag attacks are one of the most challenging areas of maritime law in about two centuries. Even the very word false flag, leads us to pirate tactics that were used even in the 18th century“.
The military historian stated that the history of the last two centuries since America emerged as an independent country is characterized by the fact that 90% of the conflicts in which the Americans were involved took place after some very strange naval incident: „Naval or in some cases air. Air is another fluid space“. Historian Henninger cited as examples: the Boston Tea Party in 1776, the naval attack in Tripoli in 1801, the explosion in the port of Havana in 1898, or the sinking of the Lusitania in World War I, then Pearl Harbor in 1941, these are all provocations from the sea.
As a conclusion Mr. Henninger pointed out: „Look at the mood and ideology that the founders of the USA used during the time of independence. They said we are not like European monarchies and dictatorships where sovereign rulers go to war according to their own wishes, we are a peaceful nation that will not go to war unless attacked. That is why they direct conflicts in that direction every time. I think we have a framework here to understand their modus operandi over time, and that’s why I’m very pessimistic about the future.“
Yunus Soner, a political scientist from Turkey spoke about the recent downing of an American drone in the Black Sea near Crimea, where he was collecting intelligence: „The next day, the US Senate proposed the Black Sea Security Act of 2023, which is actually a repeat of the law that was proposed in 2022.“ years. Here I am following up on my previous colleague from France, where that law provides for the establishment of a permanently rotating naval presence of NATO in the Black Sea. This law has multiple goals, one of which is reducing dependence on Russia. Here we come to the main point, which is that the Nord Stream has a twin brother, which is the Turkish Stream. It has the same purpose as the Nord Stream, which is the energy integration of the Eurasian space. Turkish Stream is also targeted by the US. It is actually a parallel process that is also reflected in the rhetoric“.
Yunus Soner recalled the joint statement of the US Secretary of State and his Ukrainian counterpart from November 2018, when the Secretary of State was Mike Pompeo. Both sides agree here: the US and Ukraine underscore the importance of continuing to coordinate on stopping proposed Russian gas pipelines that would harm Ukraine, Ukraine’s economy and strategic stability, such as Nord Stream 2 and Turkey Stream.
„Both pipelines have been hit by sanctions, which shows that the US wants to disrupt these energy ties.“ The committed sabotage also indicates the malfunctioning of the function or regime of the sanctions, because regardless of the fact that they were introduced and that they did hit the North Stream, as well as the Turkish Stream economically, it was not enough. „I would say that these means of neo-imperialism no longer work and that the USA was forced to resort to sabotage,“ said Mr. Soner.
As a conclusion, the Turkish political scientist stated: „We in Turkey are very aware that the NATO presence in and around Turkey is not only a threat to countries such as Russia, Syria or Iran, but a threat to Turkish connections, especially energy connections with the Balkans.“ I think that Turkey has learned very good lessons from the case with the sabotage of the Nord Stream, that the presence of NATO in the country and in the waters around the country, in the Aegean, the Mediterranean Sea or the Black Sea, is a great danger of repeated sabotages as well as for our national security“.
Stephan Ossenkopp, a fellow at the Schiller Institute in Germany, believes that the German government is preventing any steps to confront Seymour Hersh’s revelations in the case of Nord Stream sabotage. „It is necessary to launch an international investigation and to put pressure on Germany, but also on Sweden and Denmark, to publish and share relevant data about the activities in the Baltic Sea during the last months.“ I do not think that the defendants, that is, the USA, Norway and NATO, will do that. Pressure must come not only from Russia, but also from China, India, other emerging powers and multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, but also from the rapidly developing BRICS+ group.
Mr. Ossenkopp attended sessions in the German parliament where a proposal was made to form a parliamentary commission that would investigate what the government knows about the Nord Stream case, however the proposal was quickly rejected: „On the one hand, the opponents of the proposal say that this is not the task of the parliament, but of the prosecutor’s office.“ However, the federal prosecutor’s office remained silent despite the growing public interest. On the other hand, the initiators of the proposal were quickly slandered as Putin’s agents, apologists for Russian aggression and purveyors of Russian propaganda and anti-American feelings.“
On what the essence of the problem is, the German expert said the following: „Neoconservatives, such as Victoria Nuland, are simply an extension of this original, historically deeper evil of the British Empire, which still determines current American military policy, such as AUKUS and global NATO , and financial policies, such as deregulation, sanctions, and bailouts, with the goal of keeping the US as the world’s sole leading power. However, the counter-movement to this tyranny is in full swing, as shown by the Russian action of demilitarization and de-Nazification of the representative forces of NATO on Ukrainian territory, as well as the Chinese Global Security Initiative, which brought together Saudi Arabia and Iran.“
Konrad Rekas, a political analyst from Poland stated that: „The so-called world public opinion probably sees my country, Poland, as one of the most interested warmongers, always on the front line of the aggressive imperialist policy directed from Washington and London.“ In fact, however, the Poles are also, and perhaps above all, victims of an extremely dangerous correlation“.
He pointed out that the infamous 10-point Plan to reduce the European Union’s reliance on Russian natural gas was a blatant propaganda lie. „Of all the points, the only thing that was really achieved was the introduction of a harsh austerity policy forced by a harsh price policy, reducing social coverage and forcing ordinary citizens to use less energy.“
„From the Polish perspective the American terrorist attack against Nord Stream was undoubtedly the most tragic moment of the current conflict, and it is no coincidence that even mainstream Polish politicians, such as former Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, were among the first to reveal information about American responsibility for this act of energy sabotage in the Baltic Sea. After all, one of the important goals of American aggressive politics was to increase the energy and thus economic dependence of Central Europe, including Poland, on American and Qatari LNG supplies, as well as gaining a market for American nuclear technologies“, stated Mr. Rekas.
Dragana Trifković, director of the Center for Geostrategic Studies, reminded the conference participants of a document that was published last year under the title: Weakening Germany, Strengthening the USA: „Of course, the RAND Corporation denies that they created such a document and declares it false.“ However, the document actually only contains the obvious facts.
It states that “There is an urgent need for an influx of resources into the American national economy, particularly the banking system. And only European countries, bound by obligations in the EU and NATO, can provide us with these resources without significant military and political costs for us. An increase in the flow of resources from Europe to the United States is possible if Germany begins to experience a controlled economic crisis. The cessation of energy supplies from Russia could lead to a systemic crisis that would be disastrous for the German economy, and indirectly for the entire EU.“
Dragana Trifković believes that the Anglo-American established elites profit the most from the conflict, both military, political and economic, between Russia and Europe, but not the citizens of these countries: „What is happening today on the international level is only an escalation of politics that has been implemented for decades, and it is characterized by created conflicts and a struggle for resources, which again go to private funds in strange ways. Such a policy inhibits any social development and does not allow citizens to exercise their rights that should be guaranteed to them. One gets the impression that terrorism has become someone’s legitimate means to achieve their goals and that we have reached a situation where it has turned into state terrorism.“
„I will also remind you of the case of South Stream, which was the best solution for the Balkans, how Bulgaria abandoned the construction of this gas pipeline, admitting that it did so because of the Americans.“ Therefore, one of the main problems of today’s states is the lack of sovereignty and the corruption of political elites. I really think that as a global society we are on the edge of the abyss and that we are witnessing a deep, not only political, economic, cultural, educational system crisis, but also a moral, human one. If we fail to change the situation for the better, I am afraid that the period of accelerated degradation of all values could end tragically for our future,“ concluded Trifković.
You can watch the entire conference:
References:
https://geostrategy.rs/en/geopolitics/1297-us-terrorism-against-nord-stream-polish-perspective