Monday, November 21, 2022

The Nord Stream sabotage: curiouser and curiouser...

 

Sweden has announced some initial forensic findings after the bombing/sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline last month.  Peter Zeihan summarizes them, and their implications, in this short video.




That's a real puzzler.  If those initial rumors/speculations are correct, and Russia is shown to have been responsible for the sabotage, it would provoke a massive dilemma for not only Europe, but for the rest of the world as well.

This is why we're balanced on a geopolitical knife-edge at present, and look set fair to remain on one for months, if not years.  There are all sorts of dominoes balanced on their ends, but not in a regular pattern like we've seen in video clips for so long.  These are scattered haphazardly across the global playing board.  If one falls, nobody can be sure which direction it will fall or what other domino(es) it may strike on the way down, precipitating even more falls and collisions.  The consequences are too unpredictable for any certainty - and that makes the situation fraught with danger.  We can't prepare for any and every contingency, only for the most threatening and/or most likely ones.  We can be blindsided by one we hadn't considered, or for which we hadn't (couldn't?) adequately prepare.  How we respond may, in turn, cause other dominoes to become unstable and/or fall, and then other nations will have to decide how they're going to respond to them.

We live in interesting times.  Keep your powder dry, friends.

Peter


15 comments:

Old NFO said...

It will be interesting to see where this actually goes...

Mind your own business said...

I would doubt any story about who did this, unless they have live video of it happening from beginning to end. Any other evidence they cite is too easy to fabricate or lie about.

boron said...

someone else has aleady asked: why would Russia damage its own pipelines (very costly to repair/replace) when all they had to do was turn off the valve?

James Higham said...

Almost right. Twas the UK.

Xoph said...

3 possible scenarios:
1) Russia really did it-not sure why but perhaps it is to provoke NATO into cutting off trade with Russia.
2) Russia didn't do it. This gives the US the excuse to push NATO into declaring Russia a Terrorist state.
3) Russia didn't do it, legit accident that is being framed as if Russia did it.

This is unconventional warfare on the political, economic and informational levels. We are at war, it is only kinetic via Russia and a NATO proxy. It seems this war was pushed by NATO, i.e. the US because of the invitation to Ukraine to join NATO. Russia has said repeatedly for decades this would cause them to go to war. Despite all the hype, Russia has been restrained. Sanctions are economic war. Remember Japan launched a war against the US as a result of our economic sanctions. The US had biolabs in Ukraine (causes belli if I were Russian) and we have uncovered a lot of money laundering. Russia can shut off the gas, they don't need to destroy the pipeline. Until I hear a valid and logical motive, I'm going to give Russia the benefit of the doubt. US/NATO has been severely lacking in the moral high ground.

Bob C. said...

A couple of weeks ago there was evidence, including photos, that the pipe blew out from the inside, due to a blockage. Now there's supposedly "evidence" (only seen by one group) that it was explosives. *None* of it can be believed as long as some group's agenda is involved.

The gaslighting is getting blinding, Grasshopper...

Aesop said...

Waitwaitwait...

Russia did it?!?

I seem to recall something, maybe two months or so ago...

https://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2022/09/occams-razor-1-usual-suspects-0.html

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Pull back the curtain for the Big Reveal, Sweden.
Just in time for Christmas.

Chuck Pergiel said...

We did it. Maybe not our actual guys, but we pushed on someone, likely the Brits, to get the job done. The Big Lizards are pushing and shoving and anyone caught between them is going to get crushed. Europe and Ukraine are just pawns.

McChuck said...

Sweden has joined NATO, they are no longer independent third parties. You can't trust them any more.

Rob said...

The domino analogy is a good one..

>>Biden vows to stop Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Europe if Russia invades Ukraine<<- Feburary 2022

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/07/ukraine-russia-scholz-biden-macron/

heresolong said...

It's their pipeline. Seems to me they can destroy it if they want. Terrorism? That's not the definition.

Chuck, any evidence that you'd care to cite?

Bob, was it evidence or speculation based on analysis of what was known?

Boron, turning off the valve makes you responsible. Having it blow up leaves the issue murky.

Not saying they did or didn't, not saying bomb or natural causes. I still have no idea. Can't imagine the current former vice president is helping our cause in any way shape or form. Other than that, hoping I don't need to dig into my stockpiles.

Aesop said...

Technically, it's only 51% their pipeline, so blowing it up is the definition of terrorism. (In case invading another country and bombing them into submission wasn't a big enough clue for some people.)

But it's absolutely 100% their gas.

Which they can't eat, either.

I wouldn't put a lot of stock in their clever plan to replace a billion rich Western customers with two billion poor Chinamen and dot-Indian customers, but there's no IQ test for megalomaniacs.

John in Indy said...

For me, part of the smoke is that there are too many nations whose interests are promoted by the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.
For Russia, peace and commerce will eventually return, and with it, money penalties for breach of the contracts to supply / carry gas to Germany / Europe. Destroyed pipelines are force majure, and an escape clause from the contracts.
For the US, it prevents Germany from making a peace with Russia because tgey are freezing in the dark and their industrial base is being destroyed or bankrupted.
Ukraines' government, such as it is, doesn't want Western money and military support to end. Ukraines' people (the Ukrainians, not sure about the other tribes / groups there) absolutely hate "the Russians" for the Holodomor, and the many years of Soviet / Communist rule.
The Brits, and maybe the Poles, seem more like sock puppets for the US / Globalist State, for nothing about this seems to be in the interests of the people of the US.
John in Indy

Chuck Pergiel said...

heresolong, no I have no evidence. It's just my gut feeling. And I wouldn't trust any of the 'evidence' anyone discovers, at least not till long after the war is over, if it ever is.

Bob C. said...

heresolong: "Bob, was it evidence or speculation based on analysis of what was known?"

IIRC there were photos of the pipe blown out from inside (this was while there was a lot of speculation about bombs planted *outside* the pipe, and refuted that). The same article brought up the known propensity for the formation of clathrates (I think that was the term) in natural gas pipes, which, in circumstances of poor maintenance, can cause blockages and pressure spikes, possibly severe enough to rupture the pipe.

So part direct evidence, part informed speculation. And until more actual evidence is presented, *with a solid chain of "custody"*, I accept none of it, as I noted. *If* Sweden has such, let them present the raw data.