And the Saboteur Is … ?

The major news of today is Ian, and the devastation that this hurricane caused throughout Florida. Although Ian is rightfully the headline today, there is another story with much more far-reaching and potential long term consequences … the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline. At present there are lots of guesses as to who the culprit is. Basically, to my way of thinking, the identity of the saboteur comes down to one of five. In no particular order: the U.S., Russia, Germany or one of the European NATO members, Ukraine, and finally “other.”

Initially, I thought that Russia did it. I realize that blaming Russia seems counter-intuitive. Why would Russia damage its own pipeline? Well we know that it will be one helluva cold and miserable winter in Europe, especially in Germany, without Russian natural gas. Russia had just shut off the supply coming through Nord Stream I, and even though it is only late September, this was a wake-up call to reality for Europe, especially Germany. Prior to the sabotage, Russia was going to be blamed for all of Europe’s winter misery because of its shutting down Nord Stream I. If Nord Stream were to be shut down because of sabotage, then Russia could say, “It’s not our fault; NATO is suffering because of the saboteur, and that is not us.”

Is it coincidental that Nord Stream I had been already electively shut down when the sabotage occurred. Would the damage have been greater if Nord Stream I was up and running when the sabotage occurred? Hmmm. I do not like coincidence.

However, there is one major impediment to my thinking that Russia is responsible … from Yahoo finance:

“CIA Director John Brennan said that he believes Russia is the “most likely suspect” behind the apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream natural-gas pipelines off the coast of Denmark and Sweden.

“This is clearly an act of sabotage of some sort and Russia certainly is the most likely suspect,” Brennan said during an interview on Wednesday with CNN while speaking about the suspected explosions that caused leaks in the underwater pipelines. Brennan noted that the  pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea, lie “only” in about 200 feet of water.”

To me, if John Brennan is immediately blaming Russia, the the likelihood is that Russia did not do it!

The second potential culprit is the U.S. I realize that many months back Joe Biden publicly promised to take out the Nord-Stream pipeline.

Also, a senior member of the Biden administration publicly promised to take out the Nord-Stream pipeline. When logically thinking if Joe Biden is merely following through on his prior threat to take out Nord Stream, I say that Biden does not have the hutzpah to follow through on his prior threat. This sort of attack on Russian property that is not within Russia’s border is an act of war, and I do not believe that Biden would ever risk starting WWIII, even just before a midterm election.

What about Ukraine? Could Ukraine be the saboteur? Ukraine seems to have the most to gain here. Ukraine would certainly have the hutzpah to do something like this. Does it have the expertise? … I do not know.

Could Germany and NATO be responsible? Extremely unlikely since they seem to clearly have the most to lose.

What about going with “other” as my primary suspect. Who is “other”? Perhaps one of the previous members of the Soviet Socialist Republics who are worried that Putin will expand his con-questing armies into their territory. I fully realize that “other” is a cop out, but I include it for the sake of completeness. Furthermore, while I understand that there is a very high likelihood that we will never find out who the actual saboteur is, I am still betting on Russia.

9/30/22

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