The Political Fallout of the Nord Stream Attacks: NATO and the EU are Zombies, which may very well go down sooner rather than later
A US military veteran offers 'proof' that the Nord Stream attacks were done by the US--now let's watch Mr. Biden daddle as the Old World goes do hell
I know I’m a bit late to the entire ‘let’s comment on Nord Stream’ notions, but I think I’ve got some thinking points well worth exploring today.
If this was ‘sabotage’, I’ll eat my hat.
Let’s be clear about what this was: whether done with low-tech equipment (e.g., with high-seas fishing equipment one would be perfectly capable to lower enough explosives into the Baltics) or with the technological sophistication of a powerful state, this was an act of war.
So, if one wishes to continue to call this ‘sabotage’ rather than the opening shot in the next ‘War of the First Worlds’—the US vs. its European ‘allies and partners’—please do so, but until there is solid evidence to the contrary, let’s have it.
Whodunnit?
It’s quite easy, I suppose, and here’s some evidence that’s as close to a smoking gun as possible: a former military-industrial veteran who publishes under the pseudonym ‘monkeywerx’ claims that it was, in fact, a US Navy P8 Poseidon plane that destroyed the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.
While I am in no way able to corroborate monkeywerx’ findings, they are quite convincing to me. I do keep my reservations, but there’s the UN Security Council meeting last week, which was opposed by NATO member-states and where the Russians asked the US about these flight data. Here’s the answer:
My Russian colleague continues to use inflammatory rhetoric that is accusing the United States of being involved in this act of sabotage.
The United States categorically denies any involvement in this incident. And we reject any assertions saying the contrary.
Good, at least we’ve got that one on the record. Anything else of note? Not really, lots of blabber about sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the right to defend oneself vs. aggression. It’s not even ‘cognitive dissonance’-kind bad; it’s actually much worse.
Why?
That one is actually pretty straightforward to answer: Europe’s a ‘softer’ target than any of the US’ other targets, be they Russia (hypersonic nukes), China (‘regular’ nukes), or Iran (the US didn’t dare retaliate after the Tehran struck back at a US base in the Middle East).
It’s about the US position in the world, I’d surmise: without ‘Europe’, the US is at best a regional power, constrained to the Western hemisphere (and, at this point in time, I’d ask serious questions about how easy a pushover Latin America might be in the 21st century—compared to, say, 50 years ago…)
What’s the fallout?
For starters, it’s actually a double-whammy as both NATO and the EU are technically obsolete now.
The EU is obsolete as it’s a superstructure that won’t deliver anymore for its inhabitants; if you’d happen to have friends above a certain age who hail from anyplace in the former Soviet bloc, ask them about how this will end: peace and harmony, German ‘reunification’ style or Ceaucescu-style bullets-in-your-head. However one cuts it, the result will be the same.
As to NATO, well, Mr. Stoltenberg may extend invitations to anyone, including Ukraine, but the facts are clear:
‘We firmly stand behind the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit decision concerning Ukraine’s future membership’, the presidents of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia said.
Notice anything? No-one but the former Soviet bloc-members support Kiyv’s accession. [EDIT: neither North Macedonia nor Montenegro technically fall into this category as they were part of Yugoslavia, which wasn’t part of the Warsaw Pact/Soviet bloc alliance; the result, though, in terms of their perceived ‘Eastern-ness’ is the same.] At the same time, Germany’s ambassador to NATO affirms that the military alliance ‘won’t actively fight for a non-member state’.
After the Nord Stream attacks, why would they?
Question is: would any NATO member west of Poland and Czechia lift as much as a finger, if push came to shove?
Bottom Lines
However one looks at this quagmire, it’s awful.
The potential for escalation is clearly there, and while I doubt that Ukraine will hold out much longer (see here), the Russian forces are growing more capable and resilient by the hour. Absent nuclear war, this conflict probably ends rather sooner than later.
One way or another.
Even if one accepts the notion that European politicians cannot, for a wide variety of reasons, simply ‘kick the Yanks out’ right away, I’d call the Nord Stream attacks the writing on the wall for both the EU and NATO.
Neither organisation is functional by now, with the EU simply failing to deliver to its inhabitants—and NATO split into a Western European part that will, in all likelihood, never again lift a finger for Washington (sure, the token ‘liaison officer’ will be sent, but that’s it), it would be ludicrous to consider a way forward that’s more than anything else but of the face-saving nature.
So, we do live in interesting times, in particular as ‘change’, widely understood, is upon us, even it stares at us in the guise of the next financial-economic crash.
But the power of media brainwashing, already a wonder to behold in the ongoing Convid fraud, is next level. In the sauna today, I talked to a retired Swedish professor of theology and an American ex-pat who emigrated to Sweden 25 years ago. I said that the destruction of the Nordstream pipelines was obviously an American operation, even if they got the Poles or Brits or other lapdog to pull the actual trigger. Both denied it vehemently and said that Putin did it! I almost fell off the sauna bench.
There is a much deeper game going on. If without Europe the US would be just a regional power, how come the Empire is doing everything to destroy the standard of living of Europeans, when we know this will alienate the European people from the Empire. There is more to this than it meets the eye. We make a mistake when we assume the Empire is US Empire. It isn’t! This is a direct descendent of British Empire, and the US (nation state) has been captured just as Europe has. We know Europe’s people will suffer, but the destruction of productive capacity will also hurt European capital. How come we do not see this Capital talking? Perhaps European Capital has become Imperial Capital, just like American Capital. The interest of Capital has diverged from the interest of the people. But even this does not fully explain the destruction of productive capacity of Europe. Either Capital Owners are no longer important or they have been convinced all of this is for their benefit. Contradictions are enormous. Whatever we are experiencing, it is highly unlikely that anything that we see can explain this. I believe that real explanations remain hidden from us, and that is why the ultimate motive are difficult to ascertain. What we know is that Europe is being sacrificed and her people will suffer immensely.