Seymour Hersh reveals how the US blew up Nord Stream 2
In his Substack debut, Seymour Hersh exposes the US role in blowing up the Russia-Germany gas pipelines, and a major off-ramp to peace.
Seymour Hersh, one of the most decorated and impactful journalists of all time, is now on Substack. And he's out with a scoop: the inside story of how the US government blew up Nord Stream 2, the pipelines built to transmit cheap Russian energy to Germany and other European states.
You can read the piece here:
Hersh reports that planning for the covert operation began in late 2021. It was undertaken at the behest of National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who was said to be “delivering on the desires of the President.” Last June, Navy divers operating under the cover of a NATO exercise, BALTOPS 22, planted the deap-sea bombs. The explosives were triggered three months later, in September.
As Hersh notes, the destruction of the pipeline fulfilled a major geopolitical US aim. If brought online, Nordstream 2 would “double the amount of cheap gas that would be available to Germany and Western Europe,” and “provide enough gas for more than 50 percent of Germany’s annual consumption.” Accordingly, “Washington was afraid that countries like Germany would be reluctant to supply Ukraine with the money and weapons it needed to defeat Russia.”
It is noteworthy that this plan was formulated in late 2021 — not only when Russian troops were massing on Ukraine’s border, but also when Russia proposed extensive draft treaties to the US and NATO for resolving its security concerns in Ukraine and other surrounding European states. Now we learn that when the US rejected Russia’s core demands — refusing to even discuss the issue of NATO expansion — it was moving ahead with a plan to blow up two pipelines that, if operational, would deepen ties between Russia and the rest of Europe, thereby making a proxy war in Ukraine more difficult.
This explains why, as Hersh notes, senior Biden administration officials could not conceal their glee when the pipelines exploded last September. The bombing of Nord Stream 2, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared, was a “tremendous strategic opportunity.”
Senior State Department official Victoria Nuland recently followed suit by telling Sen. Ted Cruz that she, along with the White House, is “very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now… a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea.”
In all likelihood, Hersh’s story will be shunned or dismissed by an establishment media that has promoted the notion that Russia was somehow responsible for bombing its own pipeline (though, as Hersh notes, some have recently, albeit meekly, tried to walk that back). As I wrote in October:
An illustrative New York Times report on the Nord Stream bombing declares that “much of the speculation about responsibility has focused on Russia.” According to the Times’ established standards, the notion that Moscow would detonate its own $20 billion pipeline is perfectly consistent: one week earlier, the Times reported that the shelling of Ukraine’s Zaporizhians nuclear power plant was carried out “apparently by Russian forces.” Which means that in the Times’ apparent view, Russia shelled the nuclear plant while also occupying it.
The “Russia-did-it” narrative was echoed by former CIA Director John Brennan, who declared that “Russia certainly is the most likely suspect,” in the Nord Stream attack. Brennan has maintained his confidence in accusing Russia of consequential acts despite previously signing on to a claim, alongside dozens of fellow retired intelligence officials, that the Hunter Biden laptop was also likely the product of a Russian disinformation operation.
One of the few attempts to leak any claim of substance was given to CNN. Citing the now-routine “Western intelligence officials”, a trio of CNN reporters wrote that “European security officials observed Russian Navy ships in vicinity of Nord Stream pipeline leaks,” thus casting “further suspicion on Russia,” which is seen by “European and US officials as the only actor in the region believed to have both the capability and motivation to deliberately damage the pipelines.”
As for the motivation, that can only be the case if one ignores the multi-year US-led campaign -- endorsed by both major political parties and pursued with concerted economic warfare -- to kill the pipelines.
Now Seymour Hersh, a journalism legend, has given us the details on an international act of sabotage that US media outlets reliably obscured.
Hersh has had contacts deep within the USG for decades, so when he reports on something, you know it's been confirmed by more than circumstantial evidence and inference. Years ago, this would have been an explosive story (no pun intended) but media consolidation and party talking points will bury this under a sea of conspiracy accusations. I only wish my friends could let go of party loyalty and propaganda long enough to look at the truth.
Another outstanding expose from Hersh, and another excellent analysis from Mate. THESE are the types of minds and writers the world needs.