Attack(s) on Nord Stream Pipelines--Danish AND SWEDISH PMs Say that 'this was not an accident' (UPDATED)
Brief notes on the ongoing situation in the Baltic Sea
Little time is available right now, but here’s what the Danish PM just (less than an hour ago) told the public (my source is Aftenposten, Norway’s NYT equivalent):
It is the authorities’ clear assessment that this is an issue of ill-intented actions’, says [Danish PM Mette] Frederiksen.
‘It is our clear assessment that the incidents cannot be caused by accidents, but explosions’, says Climate, Energy and Supply Minister Dan Jørgensen.
Defence Minister Morten Bødskov calls the leaks ‘a serious matter’.
‘We are increasing our presence around Bornholm. The violations are not an accident, but a deliberate act, and our authorities are doing everything they can to clarify that’, he says.
The Prime Minister emphasised at the same time that there is no increased military threat to Denmark. Nor will it have any security consequences for the inhabitants of Bornholm, according to Frederiksen.
Climate and Energy Minister Dan Jørgensen says that the holes in the gas pipelines are so large that they cannot have been caused by an accident, but must have been caused by an explosion.
He refers to seismological records of the tremors at the pipelines.
‘Such tremors are not seen in earthquakes, but in explosions’, he says.
The reporting across Scandinavia is virtually identical.
UPDATE: yesterday evening (local time), also outgoing Swedish PM Magdalena Andersson said:
This looks like sabotage.
The Swedish seismological service called this one around 3 p.m. (local time): ‘two explosions' rocked Nord Stream.
Norwegian state broadcaster NRK reported earlier today that ‘more attention’ will be paid to the country’s own activities on the continental shelf
Consequently, German media reports that the country’s remaining nuclear power stations will remain in operation until April.
This is quite ‘dynamic’, but I suppose that there’s not much else to add but these media reports.
Do check out Celia Farber’s collection of the current state-of-affairs (around 9 p.m. European time).
We'd better think of the strategic implications - which are not being televised. Remember that real games are being, and have always been, played unnoticed by the masses.
Real games are never televised.
A number of years ago, I read some article that argued that navy is largely useless in modern warfare, since it is so easily defeated by air force. The real purpose of modern navies (according to this article) is to secure safe passage for cargo ships, which would be attacked by pirates in the absence of a strong navy presence. Well, maybe navies have suddenly found a new justification for their existence: destroy underwater civilian infrastructure. We live in interesting times...