Who Blew Up the Pipeline?
The New York Times comments Intelligence Suggests Pro-Ukrainian Group Sabotaged Pipelines, U.S. Officials Say
New intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials suggests that a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines last year, a step toward determining responsibility for an act of sabotage that has confounded investigators on both sides of the Atlantic for months.
U.S. officials said there was much they did not know about the perpetrators and their affiliations. The review of newly collected intelligence suggests they were opponents of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, but does not specify the members of the group, or who directed or paid for the operation.
Officials who have reviewed the intelligence said they believed the saboteurs were most likely Ukrainian or Russian nationals, or some combination of the two. U.S. officials said no American or British nationals were involved.
European officials have publicly said they believe the operation that targeted Nord Stream was probably state sponsored, possibly because of the sophistication with which the perpetrators planted and detonated the explosives on the floor of the Baltic Sea without being detected.
Early last year, President Biden, after meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany at the White House, said Mr. Putin’s decision about whether to attack Ukraine would determine the fate of Nord Stream 2. “If Russia invades, that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine again, then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,” Mr. Biden said. “We will bring an end to it.”
When asked exactly how that would be accomplished, Mr. Biden cryptically said, “I promise you we’ll be able to do it.”
Mats Ljungqvist, a senior prosecutor leading Sweden’s investigation, told The New York Times late last month that his country’s hunt for the perpetrators was continuing.
“It’s my job to find those who blew up Nord Stream. To help me, I have our country’s Security Service,” Mr. Ljungqvist said. “Do I think it was Russia that blew up Nord Stream? I never thought so. It’s not logical. But as in the case of a murder, you have to be open to all possibilities.”
500 Pounds of C4 Explosives
Eurointelligence comments on 500 pounds of C4 Explosives
Boris Pistorius [Germany’s Defense Minister] said yesterday that we don’t yet know whether this was a Ukrainian commando that acted with the knowledge of the Ukrainian government, a pro-Ukrainian group that acted without their knowledge, or whether it might have been a false flag operation. Until we know, we can’t speculate on the consequences.
What we find interesting in this comment is that he includes the notion of official Ukrainian involvement in the list of possibilities. From the information that has now been uncovered by the German public prosecutor, leaked to German media, is that this is was without a doubt a professional job. When people use professionally forged passports, and use 500 pounds of C4 explosives, you can pretty much rule out climate change protesters, who normally rely on super-glue as their weapon of choice, or hobby terrorists who watched too many James Bond or Die Hard films. What still baffles us about the information is that prosecutors were able to trace the rented yacht to Ukrainian owners. There are no shortages of yachts to rent in the German and Polish waters of the Baltic Sea. Why leave such an obvious clue?
There is still a lot we don’t know. In addition to the possibilities mentioned by Pistorius, there is also the possibility of a no-fingerprints operation: government agents that act on outside the direct line of command. But politically that would not make much difference. In other words, if this attack was not carried out by Russia, then it is very bad news for the western alliance.
With our knowledge of the German political systems, we doubt that it is possible to influence the investigation of the public prosecutor, in the way that this is possible in the US or the UK. It also makes us wonder why this information was leaked to the press. This is not something German prosecutors usually do.
If it became known that a Ukrainian commando, or a US unit, were responsible for this, the political implication would be massive. Public pressure would grow to stop supplying arms to Ukraine. If the US was responsible, it would endanger the recent renaissance of transatlantic relations.
Surprised?
None of this is surprising to me. I didn’t think Russia was responsible in the first place. It never made sense that Russia would do this.
Then again, no one knows how twisted minds think. Perhaps it is a Russia false flag operation.
Nothing would surprise me given US meddling everywhere including tapping Angela Merkel’s phone, CIA plots to kill Julian Assange, and of course the Gulf of Tonkin incident that got the US involved in the Vietnam War.
What is C-4?
C-4 or Composition C-4 is a common variety of the plastic explosive family known as Composition C. The Naked Scientist reports, “You can’t find Composition 4 at your local hardware store, but it’s easy to make your own.”
I read the instructions. You are likely to get yourself killed if you try to make it at home.
After someone acquired or made 500 pounds of this stuff, they then had to get it to the bottom of the sea, set a detonator and then get away.
Speculation
Assume for a minute it was Ukraine. Did they have outside help?
Somehow Eurointelligence knows professionally forged passports were in play. That’s nothing that appeared in any US reports that I could find.
All we know for sure is this was not done by amateurs.
Other than that, we only know what they want us to know, assuming of course the details they tells us are even accurate.
This post originated at MishTalk.Com.
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Mish
None have even questioned the Putin-did-it mantra, but suddenly the mantra evaporates.
One of the explosions measured 2.3 on the Richter scale, which Danish experts described as in line with a powerful bomb from the second world war. It is not therefore an entirely trivial incident, whose consequences were tellingly being talked up by senior Russian figures on Tuesday.”
For people like you it is an IQ test.