The Nord Stream Question No One is Asking

Seymour Hersh set the internet ablaze this month when he accused the Biden administration of orchestrating the Nord Stream explosions last September, but no one seems to be asking what I consider to be the most important question of all.

The Hersh article on Substack is a damning indictment of Biden’s plot to attack the Nord Stream system, which began long before Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. But it is also unfortunate. Hersh did not reveal any lurid details that we didn’t already know, and it all hinges on an anonymous insider source – which is fine – but it of course raises necessary doubts on the veracity of this source, what his intentions are, or if this is even a leak at all and not a deliberate information strategy.

But that isn’t the question I wanted to raise. On September 29, I wrote:

As counter-intuitive as it might sound, Russia is not the biggest loser in this situation. Russia lost expensive infrastructure that took years to build, and their most potent bargaining chip with the European Union, but besides that, won’t suffer for it. The biggest loser is Germany.

Starting in October, the new Baltic Pipe system will start bringing Norwegian gas to Poland. So Germany has not only lost a crucial bridge with Russia, they lost a bargaining chip with Poland, and everyone else. Poland no longer has any need for the European Union, they have all the tools they need to become the regional power that bullies Germany, instead of the other way around.

Cortes Has Burned His Ships

In short, Biden made it absolutely clear to Germany that they are at the point of no return. Cortes destroyed his ships to abolish any thoughts his men might have had about turning back, and Biden burned Nord Stream to deliver the same message to the Germans. Apparently, this strategy succeeded. No efforts have been made to repair Nord Stream (and surely the more time passes, the more difficult and more expensive repairs will be), winter will come to an end soon, and Germany has pledged tanks to Kiev, an escalation that will make a return to normal German-Russian relations that much harder. Biden gave Germany a shovel, but they were the ones who chose to dig.

What’s perhaps even more concerning about Hersh’s story is how he spells out the list of countries “in the know” about Biden’s upcoming attack. Norway allegedly played a key role in the operation, and insisted that Sweden and Denmark be informed in the early planning stages of the operation. The one obvious country that would like to know about Nord Stream being destroyed was, of course, Germany. But they were, quite deliberately, kept in the dark.

But the German reaction still isn’t the question I wanted to ask.

This is an act of war that was planned in 2021, and consider the other escalations that have happened recently. Sending Abrams and Leopard tanks, more advanced and longer range weapons, and special forces teams to Ukraine. Ukrainian pilots receiving training in the UK suggests that they will receive F-15/16 airframes at some point in the near future, probably in time for a summer offensive. But really, the Nord Stream attack is arguably the most significant event of all. Not only did Biden blow past his own red lines, he blew past his own red lines before he even spoke of them.

People love to ask how far Russia is willing to go, and if they are willing to use nuclear weapons. Well yes, they are willing to use nuclear weapons, and they’ve been quite clear on that point. What we should be asking instead – is Biden willing to use nuclear weapons to avoid losing in Ukraine? And to be clear, he is losing in Ukraine. His earlier offensives in the Kherson and Kharkov region cost him hundreds of vehicles and tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, but failed to inflict any serious losses on the Russian armed forces. NATO has finite stockpiles of weapons and munitions and Ukraine has a finite number of men and boys who can be conscripted for the meat grinder. Sooner or later, one or both of those resources is going to be depleted to the point the conflict becomes unsustainable without directly involving at least one other NATO country.

There is the idea that the globalists will accept defeat in Ukraine like they did with Afghanistan. That’s a comforting idea, but a dangerous one, because it excuses apathy. If western voters do nothing, the war will end by itself. But what if it doesn’t?

Ian Kummer

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