There has been an enormous amount of “passionate intensity” in the attributions of guilt in the attacks on the NS1 and NS2 pipelines. Some are absolutely convinced that Russia was responsible; others are equally convinced it was the United States. The case of those defending the U. S. isn’t helped by President Biden’s imprudent assertion earlier this year that he would take steps to prevent NS2 from going into production. I think it’s too early to tell. Indeed, we may never know.
One interesting thing I read was that there have been multiple attempts in the past to mine the pipelines using underwater drones. If they discovered who was behind those attempts, their findings have not been made public. All sorts of countries and individuals have underwater drones capable of the job.
Eco-terrorists? They are popular in movies.
Steve
With the Russian boot slipping from the neck of its former territories old animosity’s and distrust resurface.
With so many players and such complex intrigue projects like this pipeline may not turn out to be feasible in the long term.
Whomever is responsible Western governments need to keep their eye on the ball and that’s energy independence.
“With the Russian boot slipping from the neck of its former territories old animosity’s and distrust resurface.”
What can that possibly mean? Are you serious? The Soviet (largely Russian) boot slipped off the people of Eastern Europe and Central Asia some 30 years ago. What’s happening now, a generation later, is that a revived Russia is once again rebuilding an empire. By the end of this month, tomorrow, Russia will have gained 5 million new Russians and 100,000 km^2 of new territory.
“With so many players and such complex intrigue projects like this pipeline may not turn out to be feasible in the long term.”
Again what can this possibly mean? Russia is cooperating with countries all over Asia and the Middle East to build new pipelines that cross many countries. One will go from the Urals to the Caspian Sea, across that Sea to Iran, across Iran to the Indian Ocean and end up in Mumbai.
A transnational pipeline is planned from Saudi Arabia through Jordan and Syria to the Mediterranean. (The current Syrian war was started by the US over the route.) A gas pipeline is in the planning from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe.
Since WW I and the discovery of Middle Eastern oil, the game has been energy interdependence. The US and Russia are just about the only countries in the world that are even possibly energy independent, and Russia is the only one that is. We still import oil and diesel from Russia.
Means the Chechen’s no longer need to be Putin’s captive pitbulls.
Belarus can be more comfortable refusing territorial access for Russia to flank Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, all safer from Russian aggression.
It’s a new day for democracy in Eastern Europe and its not a safe bet to power that future with the dead umbilical of Soviet Fossil fuel.
Shifts of power are always accompanied by opportunistic score-settling, are they not?
That does make it difficult to tell the strategic moves from the noise. Fog of war is not only self-generated, it is self-sustaining.
The game has changed now since repressive authoritarian regimes control oil production, if not reserves.
One need not be a Nazi to be evil or genocidal.
The Russian regime which has sprouted from roots of the KGB has proven itself the equal of the
Einsatzgruppen in moral character and now will resort to even more depravity in its death throes.