Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has accused the US of deliberately destroying the vital European energy route, Nord Stream, in a recent article published in February.
The Allegations
Hersh asserts that US President Joe Biden orchestrated the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines due to dissatisfaction with the support provided by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. Hersh claimed, “The [US] president was afraid of Chancellor Scholz not wanting to put more guns and more arms [forward for Kiev]. That’s all. I don’t know whether that it was anger or punishment, but the net effect is that it cut off a major power source through Western Europe.”
The Fallout
Summit News reports that despite US attempts to deny involvement in the Nord Stream attack, Europe now faces a crisis. Hersh anticipates Biden will receive “a lot of criticism for what he did” in the coming months. The journalist alleges that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan contacted “the people that were initially asked to do the job” of destroying the pipelines towards the end of 2021.
The Strategy
Hersh contends that the original plan for mining Nord Stream 1 and 2, designed to deliver Russian gas to Europe via Germany, was “to give the [US] president an option to say to [Russian] President Putin, ‘If you go to war [in Ukraine], we’re going to destroy the pipelines.’” Biden publicly confirmed this stance, which, according to Hersh, “unfortunately, those people in the Western press seemed to have forgotten.”
The Consequences
Less than three weeks before Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, Biden warned during a February 7 press conference that “if Russia invades… there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” Hersh alleges that the US leader decided to order the detonation of mines at the Baltic Sea’s bottom last September because the conflict “wasn’t going great in Ukraine” from a US perspective. There was “at best a stalemate” during that period, which Hersh described as “the American war that President Biden was so eager to support.”
The potential consequences of these allegations, if true, are far-reaching. Trust between the US and its European allies could be severely damaged, with diplomatic relations strained. Additionally, Europe’s energy security may be jeopardized, leading to further economic and political instability. The long-term implications of such actions could include an increased likelihood of conflicts and a general decline in international cooperation, both of which would have profound effects on global peace and prosperity.