NEW EVIDENCE POINTS TO THE UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT AS THE SABOTEUR OF THE NORD STREAM 2 PIPELINE

[VIK LEWA]

At least according to National Review.

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Jim Geraghty <newsletter@e.nationalreview.com>

Morning Jolt

WITH JIM GERAGHTYJune 07 2023

Saudi Arabia Purchases the Sport of Golf

On the menu today: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia effectively purchases the world of professional golf, and new evidence points to the Ukrainian government as the saboteur of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Selling Our Institutions

The leadership of big, prominent, influential, and popular American institutions is for sale to the highest bidder — and very often, sovereign-wealth funds of brutal regimes are the highest bidder.

After the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of the Saudi Arabian government, the U.S. government needed tell the Saudis: “We’ve always had differences, but this time you’ve crossed a line, and we cannot avert our eyes from this. He was a U.S. green-card holder. Even if he had [Qatar]ties to the government of Qatar, what you did to him cannot be justified by any wrongdoing he did. We are not ending our diplomatic relationship, but your actions have damaged our relationship, and it will take time to repair this damage.” That’s more or less the reaction I called for at the time ... READ MORE

Apparently, Ukraine Has Better Deep-Sea Divers Than Anyone Knew

We don’t know with absolute certainty who sabotaged and destroyed three of the four Nord Stream 2 pipelines in September 2022, but a new piece of evidence strongly points at the Ukrainians. Yesterday, the Washington Post unveiled a bombshell: “Three months before saboteurs bombed the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, the Biden administration learned from a close ally that the Ukrainian military had planned a covert attack on the undersea network, using a small team of divers who reported directly to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.” That doesn’t prove that the Ukrainians did it, but it certainly establishes motive and means.

And, rather embarrassingly, a Biden administration that talked a good game about finding the culprit when Russia looked like a probable suspect isn’t interested in talking about the topic when the evidence points toward Ukraine:

Biden administration officials now privately concede there is no evidence that conclusively points to Moscow’s involvement. But publicly they have deflected questions about who might be responsible. European officials in several countries have quietly suggested that Ukraine was behind the attack, but resisted publicly saying so over fears that blaming Kyiv could fracture the alliance against Russia. At gatherings of European and NATO policymakers, officials have settled into a rhythm; as one senior European diplomat said recently, “Don’t talk about Nord Stream.”

Perhaps NATO thinks Bruno did it.

Now, somewhat infamously, I have no problem with blowing up a pipeline that was a terrible idea that made Germany more dependent upon Russia for its energy supplies and was put in place by one chancellor who went on to make a fortune on the board of directors for Russian gas giant Gazprom and a subsequent chancellor who insisted upon giving Vladimir Putin the benefit of the doubt every time.

One of the reasons we are obligated to try to avoid war is that once a war starts, nobody knows for certain how it is going to end, and people at war make moral compromises that they never would have made in peacetime. In the absence of the Russian invasion, it is extremely difficult or perhaps impossible to justify Ukraine sabotaging a pipeline running from Russia to Germany. But in the aftermath of the Russian invasion, the sabotage can be seen in the context of the ancient Tibetan philosophy, “Don’t start none, won’t be none.” It’s tougher to cry foul over a non-fatal act of sabotage when the Ukrainian civilian-casualty counter ticks past 8,800 killed. If Russia hadn’t invaded, that pipeline would still be intact.

If Russia hadn’t invaded, the world would be different in a lot of ways.

[VIK LEWA]

We don’t know with absolute certainty who sabotaged and destroyed three of the four Nord Stream 2 pipelines in September 2022[/COLOR][/B], but a new piece of evidence strongly points at the Ukrainians. Yesterday, the Washington Post unveiled a bombshell: “Three months before saboteurs bombed the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, the Biden administration learned from a close ally that the Ukrainian military had planned a covert attack on the undersea network, using a small team of divers who reported directly to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.” That doesn’t prove that the Ukrainians did it, but it certainly establishes motive and means. And, rather embarrassingly, a Biden administration that talked a good game about finding the culprit when Russia looked like a probable suspect isn’t interested in talking about the topic when the evidence points toward Ukraine.

This finding should be viewed with caution and be viewed as a reminder that there really isn't a 'one size fits all' answer or that there rarely is a 'one size fits all' data source or interpretation method. On the contrary, it requires the use of multiple data sources and data interpretation methods. And it is to be viewed only as evidence of the thoroughness of American espionage. To the disinterested observer today, all this reeks of propaganda (another type of pedagogy) and mediocrity, really leaves little to the imagination, and leaves skeptics all the more skeptical and unsympathetic. As the saying goes, nothing is left to the imagination, or to fire the imagination, except to wonder at the thoroughness of the devastation. The numbing thoroughness is intentional, but eventually it becomes less amusing than stonkingly exasperating and fantastically obtuse and dumb. Imagination is dead, and when, as Scarborough (2015) points out, life becomes nothing but facts, it won't be worth living, yet in a few years the race will have no imagination left.

Jim Geraghty of the National Review Be Like:

New evidence points at the Ukrainians as the saboteurs of the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline.
But that doesn't prove that the Ukrainians did it.

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