Tag: nordstream

The Purge: Wikipedia Slanders Pulitzer Prize Winner Seymour Hersh, Giving Kremlin a Field Day

Mainstream media desperately tried to memory-hole the biggest bombshell report of the year, Seymour Hersh’s Nord Stream revelations, attacking the Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist instead. It was a field day for the Kremlin, which delighted in pointing out what ridiculous propaganda tools the mainstream media have become.

Instead of trying to verify or question Hersh’s minutely researched report based on an inside source familiar with the alleged CIA attack on the Nord Stream pipeline Sept. 26, 2022, the floundering Fake News instead took to attacking the 85-year-old prize-winning former hero of the left, who exposed the My Lai massacre, Watergate and Abu Ghraib.

Leading the way for the character assassination campaign, Reuters labeled Hersh “no stranger to controversy”, as if that were a bad thing for an investigative journalist. “The White House dismissed Hersh’s report, which relied on a single source to support its claim about the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, as ‘utterly false and complete fiction.’ Reuters was unable to corroborate Hersh’s self-published article”, the WEF and Pfizer-tied “Reuters” wrote.

It was not clear what Reuters had done to try and “corroborate” the story.

No one at Reuters seems to have spoken to the Russian, German, Swedish or Danish investigators about the charges, for example.

TASS did, and were informed the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office “is unable to tell you anything about that because of confidentiality.” The Copenhagen Police also had “no further comment” on the bombshell report, which is not exactly a denial.

Speaking in the German Parliament on Wednesday, Green “Climate and Economics Minister” Robert Habeck said any information on the Nord Stream blast is “classified” and “part of a classified investigation. Therefore this is not a topic for parliamentary Question Time.” It was also far from a denial of Hersh’s claims.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Hersh’s report contains “nothing unexpected”: “We assumed the involvement of the US and at least some of Washington’s NATO allies in this outrageous crime, which was an armed attack on a key element of critical infrastructure.”

In classic Stalinist style, Hersh’s Wikipedia entry was retconned to label Hersh a “conspiracy theorist”.

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Nord Stream Sabotage Was CIA, US Navy Covert Op: Seymour Hersh Bombshell Prompts White House Response

Famed journalist and Pulitzer prize winner Seymour Hersh, who for decades was a star reporter writing for The New York Times and New Yorker, on Wednesday published a new bombshell as his first Substack post, prompting a quick White House response

After conducting his own investigation into who sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines via a series of underwater blasts on Sept. 26, Hersh has concluded the United States blew up the Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline as part of a covert operation under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise.

Hersh, relying on unnamed national security sources, describes months of discussions and back-and-forth involving the Biden White House, CIA, and Pentagon. The report says planning was in the works all the way back to December 2021, with a special task force formed under the aegis of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

“The Navy proposed using a newly commissioned submarine to assault the pipeline directly. The Air Force discussed dropping bombs with delayed fuses that could be set off remotely. The CIA argued that whatever was done, it would have to be covert. Everyone involved understood the stakes,” the report, entitled How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline reads.

“The Biden Administration was doing everything possible to avoid leaks as the planning took place late in 2021 and into the first months of 2022,” it continues.

As momentum gained to proceed with a covert sabotage attack, “Over the next few weeks, members of the CIA’s working group began to craft a plan for a covert operation that would use deep-sea divers to trigger an explosion along the pipeline,” Hersh writes.

But there was significant push back within the intelligence community, but any reservations were overcome in the lead-up and aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. According to the investigative report: 

Throughout “all of this scheming,” the source said, “some working guys in the CIA and the State Department were saying, ‘Don’t do this. It’s stupid and will be a political nightmare if it comes out.’”

Nevertheless, in early 2022, the CIA working group reported back to Sullivan’s interagency group: “We have a way to blow up the pipelines.”

What came next was stunning. On February 7, less than three weeks before the seemingly inevitable Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden met in his White House office with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who, after some wobbling, was now firmly on the American team. At the press briefing that followed, Biden defiantly said, “If Russia invades . . . there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”

Twenty days earlier, Undersecretary Nuland had delivered essentially the same message at a State Department briefing, with little press coverage. “I want to be very clear to you today,” she said in response to a question. “If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.”

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Top US Official Hails Nord Stream 2 Sabotage In Senate Testimony

Does this constitute a fresh official US confession of sorts?

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland during a Thursday Senate hearing positively celebrated the destruction of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines, due to a sabotage attack on September 26 of last year. Below she’s seen in live Senate testimony video  praising the act which turned NS2 into a “hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea” – in her words…

In the hearing, Nuland was questioned by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) over the issue of past sanctions against Nord Stream 2 and how effective she thinks they would have been. Nuland and Cruz were having an exchange based on hypotheticals in hindsight. 

That’s when she made the surprise comments, offering the following perspective… “Like you, I am, and I think the administration is, very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea,” Nuland said with a partial grin on her face.

“Gratified” is not a word we’ve heard too often coming out of Western officials to describe their perspective on the sabotage event – certainly not in Europe at least.

Nuland went on to claim, however, that she had previously been pressing hard to “prevent this war” in negotiations with Russia.

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2 ‘dark ships’ were spotted near the Nord Stream pipeline leaks days before the explosions were detected, satellite data analysis firm says

Two ships with their trackers turned off sailed near the leak sites of the Nord Stream 2 pipelines just days before the pipelines were ripped open by subsea explosions, a satellite data analysis firm says.

The vessels were both between 311 feet and 426 feet long, and had their automatic identification systems, or AIS trackers, switched off, said Jerry Javornicky, the cofounder of SpaceKnow, Wired’s Matt Burgess reported.

“They had their beacons off, meaning that there was no information about their movement, and they were trying to keep their location information and general information hidden from the world,” Javornicky told the outlet.

Javornicky said SpaceKnow found 25 ships passing through an area with a several-mile radius around the leak sites, Wired reported. Two of those vessels did not have their AIS data turned on, Javornicky said, per Wired.

The International Maritime Organization mandates that ships with cargo of 330 tons or more, as well as passenger ships of any size, have to turn on their AIS trackers on international voyages.

A ship switching off a transponder is often seen as a red flag, and such a practice is common for vessels engaged in illicit activities such as illegal fishing, human trafficking, and dodging sanctions. US authorities call it a deceptive shipping practice, and advise ports to be wary of ships that manipulate their trackers.

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“It’s done”: realities of the hyper-transparent spy world

On Monday, 26 September 2022 someone blew up the Nord Stream pipeline system, built at Germany’s request, to deliver Natural Gas from Russia to Germany. For a number of reasons, some of which I articulated in the article, “Britain’s Secret Diplomacy and the European Wars,” I thought that Great Britain was probably the mastermind and one of the perpetrators behind the attacks. Again, not any legitimate British government organization, but some deep state networks within the British military and structures. I expressed this view in the podcast with Tom Luongo, published five days after the attacks.

This week, Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Defence revealed that Britain’s (then) PM Liz Truss sent a message to the US State Secretary Antony Blinken, saying “It’s done.”

The message was sent only one minute after the pipelines were destroyed. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova demanded an explanation from the British government. Not surprisingly, the allegations were rejected on both sides of the Atlantic, with the UK Ministry of Defence claiming that the Russians were “peddling false claims on an epic scale.” Of course they are: we all know that we in the west are the good guys and that the Russians are evil, so that should settle the issue. Or maybe not. If you’re not so sure about the western narrative anymore, please continue reading.

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Sweden Refuses To Share Results Of Nord Stream Pipeline Explosion Investigation With Russia

Sweden is refusing to share the preliminary results of its official investigation into the Nord Stream pipeline explosions with Russia, asserting that the information is “confidential.”

Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said that the outcome of the inquiry into what severely damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in late September would not be revealed to Moscow.

“In Sweden, our preliminary investigations are confidential, and that, of course, also applies in this case,” Andersson told reporters.

The investigation found that the blasts were an act of sabotage, although the culprit has not been named.

The Swedish leader said that Russia was free to conduct its own investigation into the incident, adding that Sweden had removed cordons from the area.

“The Swedish economic zone is not a territory that Sweden disposes of,” said Andersson.

President Vladimir Putin, who has accused the US and Britain of carrying out an “act of international terrorism” in targeting the pipelines, reacted to Sweden’s denial of access to the investigation by insisting, “We all know well who the ultimate beneficiary of this crime is.”

As we previously highlighted, a former Pentagon advisor said the most likely culprits behind the Nord Stream pipeline blasts are the United States and Britain, and that the attack was carried out to prevent Germany from bailing on the war in Ukraine.

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US Media’s Intellectual No-Fly-Zone on US Culpability in Nord Stream Attack

Multiple explosions last week off the coast of Poland damaged both the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, shutting down one and preventing the other from going online. The pipelines, intended to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany, are critical infrastructure for Europe’s energy markets.

The explosions triggered a lopsided “whodunnit” in US media, with commentators almost universally fingering Russia as the culprit, despite the lack of a plausible motive. Official US opposition to the pipeline has been well-established over the years, giving Washington ample motive to destroy the pipelines, but most newsrooms uniformly suppressed this history, and attacked those who raised it.

After the explosions, much of the press dutifully parroted the Western official line. The Washington Post (9/27/22) quickly produced an account: “European Leaders Blame Russian ‘Sabotage’ After Nord Stream Explosions,” citing nothing but EU officials who claimed that while they had no evidence of Russian involvement, “only Russia had the motivation, the submersible equipment and the capability.”

Much of the media cast their suspicions towards Russia, including Bloomberg (9/27/22), Vox (9/29/22), Associated Press (9/30/22) and much of cable news. With few exceptions, speculation on US involvement has seemingly been deemed an intellectual no-fly-zone.

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News & Conspiracies

The Western political/media class has been dismissing as “conspiracy theories” all claims that the U.S. is likely responsible for last month’s sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, even while leveling the exact same accusations against Russia without ever using that term. Which probably says a lot about the way that label has been used over the years, if you think about it.

At a U.N. Security Council meeting on Friday, U.S. envoy Richard Mills repeatedly accused Russia of promoting “conspiracy theories” in its Nord Stream accusations against the United States, saying that “our Russian colleagues have decided to instrumentalize the Security Council meeting to spread conspiracy theories and disinformation.”

“It’s important that we use this meeting not to foster conspiracy theories, but to focus our attention on Russia’s blatant violation of the Charter and its crimes in Ukraine,” Mills argues, after saying that “the United States categorically denies any involvement in this incident” and that there is no justification for “the Russian delegation raising conspiracy theories and mass disinformation in this Council.”

Mills then spends the remainder of his remarks insinuating that it is actually Russia who perpetrated the attacks, mentioning the word “infrastructure” no less than nine times in his arguments to establish that in Ukraine, Russia has a history of attacking critical civilian infrastructure similar to the pipelines.

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It’s Only A ‘Conspiracy Theory’ When It Accuses The US Government

The western political/media class has been dismissing as “conspiracy theories” all claims that the US is likely responsible for last month’s sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, even while leveling the exact same accusations against Russia without ever using that term. Which probably says a lot about the way that label has been used over the years, if you think about it.

At a UN Security Council meeting on Friday, US envoy Richard Mills repeatedly accused Russia of promoting “conspiracy theories” in its Nord Stream accusations against the United States, saying that “our Russian colleagues have decided to instrumentalize the Security Council meeting to spread conspiracy theories and disinformation.”

“It’s important that we use this meeting not to foster conspiracy theories, but to focus our attention on Russia’s blatant violation of the Charter and its crimes in Ukraine,” Mills argues, after saying that “the United States categorically denies any involvement in this incident” and that there is no justification for “the Russian delegation raising conspiracy theories and mass disinformation in this Council.”

Mills then hilariously spends the remainder of his remarks insinuating that it is actually Russia who perpetrated the attacks, mentioning the word “infrastructure” no less than nine times in his arguments to establish that in Ukraine, Russia has a history of attacking critical civilian infrastructure similar to the pipelines.

“Sabotage of critical infrastructure should be of concern to us all,” Mills says. “In the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, we have seen numerous Russian attacks damaging civilian infrastructure. We witnessed Russia recklessly seize control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, risking a nuclear disaster in Europe. We saw countless attacks destroying civilian electricity infrastructure.”

“Despite efforts that we heard today to distract us from the truth, to distribute more disinformation and slightly wacky theories, the facts on the ground in Ukraine speak for themselves,” Mills concludes.

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Former Pentagon Advisor Says US Likely Attacked Nord Stream Pipelines to Isolate Germany

A former Pentagon advisor says the most likely culprits behind the Nord Stream pipeline blasts are the United States and Britain, and that the attack was carried out to prevent Germany from bailing on the war in Ukraine.

Retired US Army colonel Douglas Macgregor made the comments during an appearance on the Judging Freedom podcast.

Macgregor said a process of elimination rules out Germany, because they are dependent on Nord Stream for their energy security, while it also served no benefit for Russia to have sabotaged its own infrastructure.

“Would the Russians destroy their own pipeline? 40 percent of Russian gross national product or gross domestic product consists of foreign currency that comes into the country to purchase natural gas, oil, coal and so forth. So the Russians did not do this. The notion that they did I think is absurd,” Macgregor said.

Referring to Polish MEP Radoslaw Sikorski’s infamous deleted tweet in which he wrote, “Thank you, USA,” Macgregor noted, “Who else might be involved? Well the Poles apparently seem to be very enthusiastic about it.”

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