Nord Stream: WaPo Report Further Demolishes Official Narrative

"German investigators are now expressing severe doubts about the official Nord Stream

sabotage narrative that was pushed hard in the aftermath the bombshell Seymour Hersh report which pointed the finger at a joint CIA-US Navy covert operation, with help from Norway.

A source within the US intelligence community told the famed Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, "It was a total fabrication by American intelligence that was passed along to the Germans, and aimed at discrediting your story."

The favored narrative became one that said pro-Ukraine partisans did it in a rogue op. Hersh has maintained this was by design concocted in order to shield the US and Biden administration for ordering the operation. 

But now a fresh, lengthy investigative Washington Post story published Monday is actually confirming many of Hersh's conclusions. Indeed the 'cover story' is already fast unraveling. What's more is that the WaPo article bluntly states Western officials are not at all eager to talk about the Nord Stream sabotage, suggesting a continued cover-up in progress.......Experts noted that while it was theoretically possible to place the explosives on the pipeline by hand, even skilled divers would be challenged submerging more than 200 feet to the seabed and slowly rising to the surface to allow time for their bodies to decompress." ZH

"Coordinated Media Hoax Campaign" - Russia Blasts NYTimes Report On Nord Stream

"As a reminder, last month, Pulitzer prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh concluded that the United States blew up the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream natural gas pipelines last September as part of a covert operation under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise.....four weeks after Hersh's bombshell report, anonymous US intelligence officials told the NY Times that the saboteurs are likely "pro-Ukraine, possibly government-trained Ukrainian or Russian nationals, or some combination of the two," but that "no American or British nationals were involved."....Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of President Zelensky's office said:

"Ukraine has nothing to do with the incident in the Baltic Sea and has no information about "pro-Ukrainian subversive groups."

That should not be a surprise as the report goes on (multiple times) to claim that there's "no evidence so far of the Ukrainian government's complicity in the attack on the pipelines. Russia reacted to the New York Times report by dismissing it as a propaganda ploy designed to obfuscate the truth.

“I wonder who allows such leaks, filling the media scene with them?” asked Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

“The answer is: those who do not want to conduct an investigation in the legal field and are going to divert the attention of the audience from the facts in every possible way.”

Andrey Ledenev, Minister Counselor of the Russian Embassy in the United States, said the report served to protect the true culprits behind the attack.

“We have no faith in the “impartiality” of the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence. We perceive anonymous “leaks” as nothing more than an attempt to confuse those who are sincerely trying to get to the bottom of things in this egregious crime. Shift the blame from the statesmen who ordered and coordinated the attacks in the Baltic Sea to some abstract individuals,” Ledenev said.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said the New York Times story had “instantly got a ‘green light’ in the local information field” and was intended to distract from the facts presented in Hersh’s piece.

“Obviously, those who have masterminded the [Nord Stream] attack want to divert attention. Obviously, this is a coordinated media hoax campaign,” he asserted." ZH

Intelligence Suggests Pro-Ukrainian Group Sabotaged Pipelines

"New intelligence reviewed by

U.S. officials suggests that a pro-Ukrainian group carried out
the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines last year, a step toward determining responsibility for an act of sabotage that has confounded investigators on both sides of the Atlantic for months.

U.S. officials said that they had no evidence President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine or his top lieutenants were involved in the operation, or that the perpetrators were acting at the direction of any Ukrainian government officials." NYT

Hungary Demands UN Investigation Into "Scandalous" Attack On Nord Stream Pipelines

"Hungary has called for a UN investigation into the “scandalous” attack on the Nord Stream
pipelines, which journalist Seymour Hersh asserted were destroyed by the United States.

The attack left Germany and other European countries dependent on US energy, prompting them to support escalation of the war in Ukraine.

One source told Hersh that the plotters knew the covert operation was an “act of war,” with some in the CIA and State Department warning, “Don’t do this. It’s stupid and will be a political nightmare if it comes out.” ZH

Russia Accuses Sweden Of "Hiding Something" About The Nord Stream Sabotage

"Sweden’s refusal to share information about the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines is
“puzzling,” and withholding the results of the investigation means that “Swedish authorities are hiding something,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said." ZeroHedge

The Washington Post broke story that even though Western leaders were quick to accuse Moscow of blowing up the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines, after months of investigation no evidence has been found to back the allegation

"The recent disclosure by The Washington Post that there is no evidence Russia is behind the
Nord Stream pipeline blasts is yet another example of the flimsy information war the West is desperately and recklessly waging against Russia, but at the same time losing," Scott Bennett, former US Army psychological warfare officer and US State Department counterterrorism analyst said." Sputnik

Bloomberg Hosts Scramble As Top UN Adviser Shreds Ukraine Narrative In Live Interview

"A Monday Bloomberg TV segment on the Ukraine war with an expert who has in the recent past advised three UN Secretaries-General didn't go the way the Bloomberg hosts thought it would. Jeffrey Sachs, who is the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, posited the United Stats was likely behind the sabotage attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines when asked about it. 

The top UN adviser said during the live interview, "The main fact is that the European economy is getting hammered by this, by the sudden cut-off of energy. And now to make it definitive - the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline, which I would bet was a US action, perhaps US and Poland." Sachs added: "That is speculation" - before being cut-off mid sentence by show host Tom Keene, who looked a bit flabbergasted and frustrated over the perhaps unexpected turn in the interview...

"Uh, Jeff, we've got to stop there," Keene strongly interjected, leaving Sachs perplexed over why he couldn't continue the thought. The show host then questioned, "Why do you feel that was a US action? What evidence do you have of that?"

Sachs responded “Well, first, there is direct radar evidence that US military helicopters that are normally based in Gdansk were circling over this area," noting additionally that "We also had the threat from the US earlier this year that 'one way or another we are going to end Nord Stream'."

The Columbia professor then recalled from just days ago, "We also had a remarkable statement from Secretary Blinken last Friday in a press conference where he said 'this is also a tremendous opportunity'," which Sachs pointed out is "a strange way to talk if you're worried about piracy on international infrastructure of vital significance." ZH

European Gas Prices Spike 13 Per Cent After Nord Stream 2 Cancellation

"Energy prices are set to soar across Europe and the UK again following Germany blocking
the approval of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline amid the ongoing strife in Ukraine.

Europe’s natural gas price benchmark — which is determined by the price per unit of energy traded in the futures market in the Netherlands — saw a spike of 13 per cent." Breitbart