(LifeSiteNews) — The consequences of the economic sanctions placed on Russia have been disastrous for Europe. This US policy was enacted to understandably remove Europe and Britain from the influence of Russia, whose supplies of cheap gas and oil translated into regional strategic power.
The Nord Stream pipelines which fed Germany and Europe with natural gas were built at the request of two German leaders: Gerhard Schroder and Angela Merkel. Nord Stream 1 supplied gas for ten years and was expected to continue to do so for another fifty years at least.
Nord Stream 2 was completed this year, and it was supposed to double supply capacity. These pipelines provided up to forty percent of the energy needs of the German economy, and the gas they brought powered the electricity and heating grid of much of the rest of Europe.
The pipelines were sabotaged two weeks ago in a devastating blow to both Russia and to Europe. Did the Europeans blow up their own pipelines? Did the Russians destroy the infrastructure which gave them so much influence and profit?
Now Germany and France complain that the LNG they are importing from the US is sold at a 400% markup. Who profits from this arrangement?
The US, determined to fulfil its own prophecy, is the most likely candidate to have destroyed the pipelines. They have form – as this report from 2014 shows. It treats the opinion of former Reagan administration National Security adviser Thomas C. Reed:
“In his book At the Abyss: An Insider’s History of the Cold War Reed says the pipeline explosion was just one example of ‘cold-eyed economic warfare’ against the Soviet Union at a time when the US was trying to block Western Europe from importing Soviet natural gas.”
A recent joint investigation into the sabotage was conducted by Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. Germany has gone silent, suggesting they have identified the culprit but will not say who it was for reasons of national security. Sweden also withdrew, leaving Denmark alone with the announcement that the results of the investigation were “sensitive.”
The Danes agree that it was sabotage, and Russia has announced it is ready to resume gas supplies through Nord Stream 2. “The ball is in Europe’s court,” says Putin, claiming the USA was behind the attack and that it sought to weaken Europe and make it dependent on American gas exports instead.
Both Germany and Sweden so far refuse to share the truth of a serious attack on the infrastructure of Europe, and by extension, Britain, as this may endanger national security. What security is there to defend? Friendly nations can appear and destroy your energy supply. Unfriendly nations pour their young men over your borders. The USA and its allies have now flooded Europe with military grade weapons, two-thirds of which have been estimated to have disappeared into the hands of criminals and terrorists despite repeated and long standing warnings.
The simplest picture of events is that the US has wrecked Germany to maintain absolute control over Europe. It is hard to see how any talk of national security can be taken seriously. Remember that what threatens this security is words. Not economic collapse, not illegal weapons, not the destruction of your energy supply – words. As we freeze in poverty, menaced by rising instability and civil disorder we can be certain to never encounter any upsetting truths.
One upsetting truth is that there is already another pipeline in operation which supplies Russian natural gas to Europe. It passes under the Black Sea and is called TurkStream. It has a strategic importance that makes it a prime candidate for sabotage because it too could make Europe a hostage to its own fortune.
A non-EU member, Turkey will control both migrant and gas flows to Europe in future. Erdogan is in talks with Putin to build a bigger gas hub around TurkStream. The plan is to combine delivery of Russian, Azerbaijani, and Qatari gas to Europe. As a transit nation for Europe’s future gas supplies it will, of course, exact a premium from this arrangement. Its power has increased considerably, giving it a strategic influence over the stability of Europe.
This pipeline was also attacked recently, in a move condemned as ‘terrorism’ by Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban. Hungary is one nation which benefits from gas flows through TurkStream, to the consternation and strong disapproval of the EU. Regional realignments continue to form around the provision of essential mineral resources.
Turkey has been one of the great winners of a realignment which has destroyed the old Germany. Once the industrial and financial heart of Europe, Germany is now reduced to excluding the story of its own humiliating ruin from its own people. The reality cannot be censored. There is, it seems, no return to the days of dignity when the news could be discovered to match and not delete the facts.
Since February the fortunes that decide the fate of Europe have given it a very rough ride. The hostages to these fortunes are, of course, the ordinary people, who must spectate and sometimes wave appropriately coloured flags as the management goes about the business of completely ignoring their wishes. This war considers many fortunes – those of the gas suppliers, that of US and Russian regional influence – but not yours.
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