What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
The reaction of the West to the Russian Special Operation did well to fairly expose the inner structure of their Imperialist Club. The Nord Stream blasts have managed to keep the focus on that exposure.
Back in February 2022, before Russian Special Military Operations in Ukraine, US President Joe Biden was quite candid about the fact that Nord Stream was indeed a significant target.
He had said “there would be no longer a Nord Stream 2’ if Russia invaded. He had further ‘promised’ that even though the pipeline was between Russia and Germany, and Germany exercised control from the European end, the USA would be ‘able to do that’.
And, given that the name Victoria Nuland has almost become an obligatory mandate of late wherever there is some kind of violent disruption – Ukraine Maidan killings or Indian Islamic riots – readers would be wise to recall that she had emphasised the same point back in January.
In hindsight, Biden was only parroting what was probably taught to him.
So, on September 26, both Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 reported a pressure drop. Swedish seismologists recorded two seismic peaks – the result of some underwater explosions. They later confirmed that these explosions were in the water and not on the sea bed.
Both pipelines have been blown, and a combined total of three holes – clearly the result of blasts caused by serious explosive charges – have made sure that Nuland-Biden’s very public promise was kept.
Poland’s former foreign minister and European Parliament member Radoslaw Sikorski has made sure that the USA was thanked for bringing this ‘small joy’ to the EU. This he did with a tweet that has gone viral since.
If one is tempted to consider this little thank-you note as Sikorski’s exercise in sarcasm, the joke would be on him. The man is happy because now that NS and NS2 are physically ‘out’ for a considerable period in the future, Russia would – should the Ukraine crisis come to a negotiation stage – have to depend on their old pipelines to supply gas to the EU.
There are two of them, and they run through Ukraine and, yes, Poland! That would then leave Poland with ample room to arm-twist its way through with the rest of the EU.
Do you see the faultlines yet? Within the EU? Let us try to pick up the visible ones.
Destroying these pipelines leads to a semi-permanent decoupling of Germany and Russia. One of the biggest fears of the Anglo-Imperialist cabal of the USA and UK has always been Germany – one that persists. With the destruction of NS and NS2, the Anglo-US cabal has made sure that German industries don’t recover for a substantial period.
The other significant element in this geopolitical chess game is the cyclic pattern of the friend-enemy relationship between Germany and Russia. It is the time of their friendship that the West remains incredibly uncomfortable with. Sabotaging the very basis of a Russian-German commercial relationship is a great way to keep Germany in check.
Poland, visibly elated with this sabotage, could be an indicator of where the US might focus in future. Interestingly, George Friedman – founder of Stratfor and Geopolitical Futures – had his hopes pinned on Poland as the next emerging power in Europe in his book The Next 100 Years (published in 2009).
That makes me wonder: Was this speculative genius or a subtle nudge to the US establishment to prop up their next pawn in Central Europe? Stratfor, after all, has been a think tank that wields tremendous influence in the Beltway. If my second guess is indeed the case, then that points toward the US playing NATO members against one another – and that in a manner that could cripple an already damaged Europe.
Destroying the pipelines confirms that the current stock of Western leadership is indifferent to their people. There have been massive protest rallies around West Europe ever since the sanctioning of Russia – something that the media has very carefully omitted.
From civilian rallies to farmer marches, these protests have been directed against their respective governments’ decisions and the resultant spike in costs, energy shortages, mounting bills, unemployment and shutting down of businesses – it is quite a long list and one that affects people across societal strata; except the political leadership.
Non-coverage of these mass protests points toward two things: the media in the West is nothing more than an unelected arm of the government and the elites to do their bidding and this class (government and media) is not bothered about the fate of the average European as long as they remain financially insulated.
So? It is not just Zelensky who is happy to sacrifice his population to the Russian onslaught, but also the EU leadership that is fine putting the lives of millions of Europeans at stake to forward the US goal of maintaining its global primacy.
Destroying the pipelines means opening the EU to US pet-projects of renewable ‘green’ energy, which in other words means destroying EU industries. It is clear by now that, short of physically destroying China, the USA cannot have a competitive edge in a manufacturing-based productive economy. But choking the EU can mean a fair number of industries shifting over to the US. Some suspect that the process has begun.
In a double bonanza, the transit period would serve as a great time for the US to carry on energy profiteering. Sanctioning Russian gas to the EU has resulted in an increase in US energy exports to Europe — from just 20% of LNG exports last year to 60% now — at an exorbitant price, with a single shipment fetching around $200 million.
The reaction of the West to the Russian Special Operation did well to fairly expose the inner structure of their Imperialist Club. The Nord Stream blasts have managed to keep the focus on that exposure.
It looks like certain governments, merchants and bankers have a slight or significant edge over the rest. It looks like certain people, considered vital during times of peace, would quickly be tagged as expendable. And it looks like certain geographies, considered elemental during normal times, would be relegated to the peripheries.
While that smacks of racism – the hallmark of the West – at one end, and parasitic opportunism at the other, one hopes that the people of Europe realise that before it is too late.
Arindam Mukherjee is a geopolitical enthusiast and the author of JourneyDog Tales, The Puppeteer, and A Matter of Greed.
Disclaimer: Views expressed above are the author’s own
