by Michael
For the sake of humanity, this must stop. Both the United States and Russia continue to up the ante, and if we keep repeating this cycle it will end in a nuclear war that could lead to billions of deaths. Unfortunately, the leaders of both sides do not seem interested in peace at this time. The votes that Russia had just held in four disputed territories were inevitably going to raise tensions even further. Of course, the Western powers have greatly escalated matters. Over the past two months, NATO has become much more involved in the conflict in Ukraine, and now the war is beginning to spread beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Everyone agrees that the damage caused to the Nord Stream pipeline system was an act of sabotage. As I mentioned yesterday, an explosion that registered 1.9 on the Richter scale was followed by a second explosion that registered 2.3 on the Richter scale. These explosions were absolutely huge, and this suggests that this was a military operation.
Many in the western world blame Russia for sabotage, but why would they want to blow up pipelines that they spent so much time and energy building and that have allowed them to make huge mountains of money selling natural gas to Europe?
The Russians have already been punishing the Europeans by restricting the flow of gas through these pipelines. They certainly didn’t need to be blown up.
If it is finally proven that the Russians did this, it would be one of the dumbest geopolitical moves I’ve ever seen.
Of course, there is someone else who could have done it.
The following statement was released on the official White House website on Friday, September 23rd…
The United States will never recognize Ukrainian territory as anything other than part of Ukraine. Russia’s referendums are a farce, a false pretext to try to annex parts of Ukraine by force in flagrant violation of international law, including the UN Charter. We will work with our allies and partners to impose swift and severe additional economic costs on Russia. The United States stands with our partners around the world, and with all nations that respect the core principles of the United Nations Charter, in rejecting any fabricated outcome that Russia will announce. We will continue to support the Ukrainian people and provide security assistance to help them defend themselves as they bravely resist Russia’s invasion.
So Joe Biden promised to impose “severe and swift economic costs on Russia” on Friday, and then on Monday the two Nord Stream gas pipelines were blown up.
And by now you’ve probably heard that Joe Biden threatened to attack the Nord Stream gas pipeline system before the war in Ukraine started…
Pres. Biden: “If Russia invades … then there will be no more Nord Stream 2. We will end it.”
Reporter: “But how are you going to do that, exactly, since…the project is under German control?”
Biden: “I promise you we can do it.”
Obviously, Biden had been discussing this option with his advisers, and one of those advisers named Victoria Nuland also made a similar threat before the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict…
“If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not go forward.”
Some enterprising journalist needs to ask the Biden administration if they were responsible for the sabotage.
Of course, they will probably deny it even if they ordered the attack.
But it is interesting to note that the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group entered the Baltic Sea in early September…
The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) with the embarked 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) concluded two successful training events with the Swedish Armed Forces and NATO’s Standing Maritime Group (SNMG) 1 while operating in the Baltic Sea , on September 4, 2022.
Unfortunately, the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group did not leave the Baltic Sea area immediately.
In fact, it is being reported that this task force did not leave the Baltic Sea until a few days ago…
The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) have left the Baltic Sea and are in the English Channel. The ARG includes USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), USS Arlington (LPD-24) and USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44). Kearsarge and Gunston Hall completed port calls at Gdynia and Gdansk respectively last week.
This would have given them plenty of time to plant explosives in the Nord Stream pipeline system if they were willing to do so.
We’ve also learned that the US Navy was testing “the latest advances in unmanned underwater vehicle minehunting technology” in the Baltic Sea during the month of June…
A major focus of BALTOPS each year is the demonstration of NATO’s mine hunting capabilities, and this year the US Navy continues to use the exercise as an opportunity to test emerging technology, said June 14 the United States Naval Forces Europe-Africa.
In support of BALTOPS, the US Navy’s 6th Fleet partnered with US Naval Research and Warfare Centers to bring the latest advances in unmanned underwater vehicle minehunting technology to the Baltic Sea to demonstrate the effectiveness of the vehicle in operational scenarios.
The experiment was conducted off the coast of Bornholm, Denmark, with participants from the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport and Mine Warfare Readiness and Effectiveness Measuring, all under the direction of the 6th Fleet Task Force 68 of the USA
Our Navy seems to have been spending a lot of time in the Baltic lately, huh?
Needless to say, the Russians are very angry about what has happened and have called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council…
“Russia has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council in connection with the sabotage against two Nord Stream lines. We hope it will be held tomorrow,” wrote Dmitry Polyanskiy, one of Russia’s top representatives at the UN, on its Telegram channel, according to a translation.
Shortly after issuing the statement early Wednesday, the French UN delegation confirmed to him that a meeting would indeed take place on Friday, a tacit acknowledgment of the panic the explosions and subsequent leaks have caused.
It will be very interesting to see what happens in this meeting.
Hopefully the truth about all of this will eventually come out.
But even more, we hope that cooler heads will begin to prevail and that leaders on both sides will begin to push for peace.
Because if both sides keep bashing each other, at some point someone will cross a line that can never be uncrossed.
We are walking towards nuclear war, and once the missiles start flying, our world will never be the same.
So I am not ashamed to say that I am for peace.
Nuclear war is a fate too horrible for words, but with each passing day our leaders are dragging us further and further into such a conflict.
