In surprising bit of candid investigative reporting out of mainstream media, The Times asked the question this week: who attacked the Nord Stream pipelines? In an honest and objective fashion, the premier British paper writes, "In this global whodunnit, the US, Russia and even Britain have all been suspects."
Naturally, the collective West rushed to blame Russia for sabotaging its own natural gas delivery infrastructure in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 26 blasts underneath the Baltic Sea.
The most important twist to the West's narrative that is featured in the Times report concerns Germany. Its officials say they are now "open to theories" that the sabotage attack was conducted by a Western country "with the aim of blaming it on Russia."
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| Image: Danish Defense Command/Handout |
The key passage comments on the ongoing German investigation, deemed to have made little progress for lack of evidence as to who was behind the three blasts that disabled the pipelines. Germany, writes The Times, has "yet to uncover any compelling evidence" pointing to Russia, and it remains that the German investigation is "open to theories that a Western state carried out the bombing with the aim of blaming it on Russia."
Additionally, European officials were cited in the report as lamenting that failure to provide transparency in the probes could encourage "dangerous conspiracy theories" and "wild speculations."
One Western analyst was quoted as saying the utter lack of anything definitive is itself suspicious: "This was a major infrastructure attack. It’s strange that we’ve heard very little," the person said.
Russia this week seized on recent comments of the Biden administration's Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland to formally charge Washington with being behind the pipeline sabotage. The US 'directly participated,' he alleged, though without providing new evidence. He referenced Nuland's Senate testimony from last week:
"The other day, speaking in Congress, Ms. Victoria Nuland, the under secretary of state, said openly that like many senators, and she personally, the State Department as an organization is happy that the Nord Stream pipelines have turned into metal junk on the Baltic Sea floor. It's an amusing admission," Lavrov said.
Below is a clip of the Senate testimony in question...
At a Senate hearing, top US diplomat Victoria Nuland celebrated the Nord Stream 2 pipeline bombing:
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) January 27, 2023
"Senator Cruz, like you, I am, and I think the administration is, very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea." pic.twitter.com/KS5OM4N165
The new UK Times report also makes note of a December report in the Washington Post, which also surprisingly and bluntly admitted that numerous officials in the West now say the evidence is not pointing to Russia.
The Post had issued the rare about-face of accusations (of Russia being the culprit) after interviewing a total of 23 diplomatic and intelligence officials in nine countries who have been privy to the international investigation into the sabotage incident which has threatened European energy supplies going into winter. "There is no evidence at this point that Russia was behind the sabotage," one European official is quoted as saying.
⚡️Nuland made a confession, rejoicing at the explosions at Nord Stream, her words speak of the direct participation of the United States in the terrorist attack - Lavrov pic.twitter.com/cCzWGSpXOG
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) February 2, 2023
Further, the report indicated, "Some went so far as to say they didn’t think Russia was responsible. Others who still consider Russia a prime suspect said positively attributing the attack — to any country — may be impossible."
Likely, that prior WaPo report, as well as Nuland's bizarre 'confession' of sorts, has allowed the German investigators to be more open in expressing their view that it could have been a Western power behind the sabotage, with the aim of a 'false flag' operation.
