There isn’t any. You’ll also note I’m not here claiming it’s definitely them
“It’s a tremendous opportunity to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy and thus to take away from Vladimir Putin the weaponization of energy as a means of advancing his imperial designs. That’s very significant and that offers tremendous strategic opportunity for the years to come, but meanwhile we’re determined to do everything we possibly can to make sure the consequences of all of this are not borne by citizens in our countries or, for that matter, around the world.”
More recently, Victoria Nuland expressed satisfaction at the demise of the newest of the pipelines. Testifying at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in late January she told Senator Ted Cruz, “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.”
Incredibly lucky that Russia took actions that are so directly in line with the US neocon foreign policy objectives. Thank you Putin!
Last major story Hersh did was complete BS. We’ll see how this unfolds. Seems like a conspiracy, but the US is one possible candidate for it. And Hersh is a gullible old man who would be a good disinfo target.
https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/1623353754207518721?t=8BCUatLft42GJELbqTe9bw&s=19
https://twitter.com/NathanJRobinson/status/1623372536770592768?t=5GfexiPpD03_r4M05xZ__g&s=19
https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/1623367944850837524?t=KcmH8BcrW39RQNhDsToW4g&s=19
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The crazy thing is that none of this will matter, and this Hersh article will become some foundation of truth for a large set of people even if it gets totally debunked. At least that’s what Covid has shown us
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Btw, I heard an interview with basically a Chinese peasant a few days ago on a China podcast, where he said the US blew up the pipeline. Must be an aspect of Chinese propaganda.
Right, must be.
Either that or it was the US.
Critics have accused Hersh of being a conspiracy theorist. He has been criticised for contradicting the official account of the killing of Osama Bin Laden and for questioning the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on Syrian civilians.[38][26] In 2015, Vox’s Max Fisher wrote that "Hersh has appeared increasingly to have gone off the rails. His stories, often alleging vast and shadowy conspiracies, have made startling — and often internally inconsistent — accusations, based on little or no proof beyond a handful of anonymous “officials”.[6]
Seth Rich
In a January 2017 recorded telephone conversation about the 2016 death of former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, Hersh told former financial adviser Ed Butowsky that he had spoken to a Federal Bureau of Investigation source who confirmed the existence of information on Rich’s laptop computer showing he had been in contact with WikiLeaks prior to his death. Although cautioned by Hersh that the information may not be true, Butowsky forwarded the secretly taped discussion to the Rich family setting off a flurry of activity in the media.[83] Hersh later said that he had heard “gossip”[84] and that he was fishing for information.[83]
Skripal poisoning
In August 2018, Hersh said about the Skripal poisoning that “the story of novichok poisoning has not held up very well. He [ Sergei Skripal ] was most likely talking to British intelligence services about Russian organised crime”. He said the contamination of other victims was “suggestive … of organised crime elements rather than state-sponsored actions – though this files [ sic ] in the face of the UK government’s position”.[51]
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woooooooah you should write a substack about this.
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It is very useful to mix in as much truth as possible with any propaganda. Good propaganda technique. Although this thread very clearly demonstrates that propaganda need not be sensible to be effective and accepted.
It was literally a guy working in a gift shop at the Russian border. It was an Economist podcast about china-russian relations, and the man on the street interview subject said the war was the US’s fault and the US blew up the pipeline. I took it as an indication that Chinese propaganda is pushing this line.
China could be correct, but I’d need some solid evidence. Seems too aggressive for Biden.
OTOH, if I had credible information of a conspiracy I don’t think I’d give it to Hersh, especially if I had relevant evidence. 1000 other reporters would want that story, and almost all would have higher standards of verification.
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neither nord stream 1 or 2 were pumping gas at the time of the incident. so the valves were in fact off. NS2 never started, while NS1 had regularly scheduled (in the summer) and unscheduled maintenance (all of september) shutdowns, and contractually if Gazprom didn’t deliver, it would be penalized. this is all happening as EU was actively shutting down financial routes that were financing the war, and refusing to change the existing contracts for gas to circumvent sanctions. so a force majeure would have been in fact quite profitable to someone trading russian gas.
fwiw, the rumors (which are as reliable as someone’s substack) around sigint intercepts is that fsb/gru were also caught off guard, as it was not ‘authorized’ by them. cia and the brits were surprised as well. that was not an easy operation. a random person couldn’t have pulled it off, but it also did not require military capability. the explosives had to be large enough to get through 0.5-1 meter of concrete, but it didn’t need to be a torpedo or a super stealthy sub or anything. you could conceivably place a detonation device with a team of divers off a boat, and even deploy them a couple of km away.
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It annoys me when the fact checkers get it wrong. NSA Panama City is actually located in Panama City Beach. It’s a small difference, but at least be correct if you’re going to try and correct someone. I used to live there and knew a lot of Navy divers and instructors because we went to the same gym.
BTW, from the story itself it seems like the Norwegians blew up the pipeline.
Actually, I think this interview was at a site 12 hours south of the border, where there’s a Russian cathedral tourist attraction. At the actual border city, which the reporter also visited, there’s a museum dedicated to the history of Russians atrocities against the Chinese. Russians are not allowed to visit the museum. The interview subjects were less friendly to Russia in that city.
I feel like this is one of those things where someone was a bit too enamored with the ‘one wierd trick’ idea. Like the CIA didn’t have to notify Congress? Whew. All the CIA’s problems are solved. No way that anyone in Congress or the Presidency could ask for the information and then the CIA would be fucked. Couldn’t happen. Perfect plan. Hell you can just say we did the one wierd trick and they can’t get mad at you. It’s the law.
Except who in Congress would even be against it? Like Matt Gaetz? Everyone else, from AOC to Lindsey Graham, are indistinguishable from neocons these days.