Russia Calls UN Meeting On Nordstream Sabotage

No end date for the investigations into the Nord Stream (NS) sabotage has been given. There will be no end date because the result of the investigation would have to lead to a declaration of war against the US and Norway by the EU, Germany and Russia. The only response of the US to the Hersh’s detailed report was to call it complete BS. I wonder whether previous US administrations gave the same response after he had revealed US war crimes committed in Vietnam (My Lai) and Iraq (Abu Ghraib).

The NS sabotage should be an eye opener for the EU, and Germany in particular. It demonstrates the US has no problems to destroy Europe’s and Germany’s vital energy infrastructures for the sake of US interests and to keep Europe on a short leash. The US is profiteering hugely from Europe’s cut off from Russian gas. Europe’s dependency on cheap Russian gas has been exchanged now for 5-fold more expensive LNG from the US. Europe has spent €792 Billion to shield businesses and households from soaring gas prices, with Germany alone having spent nearly €270bn since the start of the energy crisis in late 2021.

The NS sabotage should also be the final straw for the EU to realize to end their dependency on the US. Under Germany’s economic leadership and France’s Strategic Nuclear Forces, the EU needs to develop and pursue its global interests independent of the US. It will prevent the EU of being drawn into the perpetual conflicts the US has been engaged in to secure their global dominance, including the growing confrontation between the US and China.

Ukraine joining the EU should be a non-starter for the EU. Further expansion of the EU to the East will only increase the mighty headache the EU already has with some of its Eastern members, including Poland and Hungary. These countries try to have it both ways by regularly demanding generous EU hand-outs while blatantly defying and violating EU law. Moreover, the desire “to have more America in Europe”, as voiced recently by Poland’s president Duda, differs from the long-term interests of core EU nations. Ukraine would also be a massive financial burden for the EU. Last but not least, due to the historical troubled relationship Ukraine and its neighbors has experienced with Russia, EU’s future co-existence with Russia would be problematic. In spite of the atrocities of the war in Ukraine, it is prudent for the EU to avoid similar consequences to those that were promoted by NATO and EU expansion to the East. Ukraine needs to understand that productive collaboration and association among countries within Europe do not require or depend on EU membership, as Switzerland and Norway have proven.

Russia is absolutely right to call for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the sabotage of the Russian Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.

Even if the United States, France and the UK veto any Russian- submitted resolution, at least it will expose the culprit to the world. And the culprit according to Russia is the United States.

Moreover, American veteran and highly respected journalist Seymour Hersh writing in his blog, in a post titled “How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline,” said that the U.S. planted explosives on the bottom of the Baltic Sea to blow up the pipelines.

Moreover, it was both puzzling and also very suspicious that Sweden who investigated the sabotage last year refused to invite a Russian representative to the investigations and also to share the findings with Russia. It obvious that Sweden is hiding something.

The culprit must have a motive, vested interest and strategic objective. These three fit the United States like a hand in glove.

The motive is that the United States has had a history of opposing Soviet and later Russian oil and gas pipelines to supply Europe with Russian gas and oil since the 1960s.

The vested interest is that the United States stands to benefit handsomely from selling its LNG to the EU at the expense of Russian piped gas.

As for the strategic objective, it is well known that the United States has always warned the EU against its energy dependence on Russia and has never hidden its intention of severing the EU’s dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies once and for all.

Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Global Energy Expert