Monday 26 February 2024

Denmark Abandons Nordstream Investigation Fiasco

Denmark has now, formally, abandoned the farce of its investigation into the blowing up of the Nordstream pipeline. Sweden abandoned the same fiasco a couple of months ago. The reality is, of course, that these countries, now members of NATO, but always closely aligned with it, and subservient to US imperialism, knew all along who was responsible for the sabotage. It was the US. If it was not the US, then, even the slightest evidence to be able to pin it on Russia, would have led them, long ago, to have brought it forward. But, anyone with a brain, and not acting as an apologist of US imperialism, knew that it was the US, or agents acting on its behalf, simply by applying the principle of “follow the money”, or who benefits.

The pipeline belongs to Russia. It had no reason to destroy its own valuable asset, and source of future revenue. To say it wanted to deny gas supplies to Europe is ludicrous, because it could easily have done that by simply turning off the taps! Besides, it was Europe, under intense pressure from the US, that voluntarily imposed boycotts of Russian oil and gas! The US with large surplus production of both oil and natural gas, not only benefited strategically, by breaking the link between the EU and Russian energy supplies, but also economically, as the result was a rise in US oil exports to Europe, now at much higher prices, as well as much higher global gas prices, which benefited not only US gas producers, but also US energy companies producing and selling natural gas across the globe, and now at these higher prices to Europe.

It has the added benefit of raising costs of production for EU capital compared to the US, which strengthens the competitiveness of US capital against EU capital, strengthening the subordination of the latter to the former. Its one reason that the US economy has continued to boom in the following period, whilst the European economy has languished. Indeed, anyone but the inveterate US apologists only had to listen to the comments of US representatives, at the time, who were jubilant that their promise to turn the Nordstream pipeline into a heap of metal at the bottom of the sea had been accomplished!

Yet, at the time, the apologists for US and NATO imperialism, like Simon Pirani, and others in the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign were virulent in their proclamations that veteran journalists, like Seymour Hersch, were wrong, in claiming that the US was responsible, and that they were as good as dupes for, if not apologists for Putin. Its, now, 18 months since NATO blew up the pipelines, following which European energy prices soared, with gas prices rising by up to 1,000%. Its no wonder that EU countries, subordinated to US imperialism, wanted to do all they could to blame Russia for it, rather than admit that it was their supposed ally, the US, which had effectively committed an act of war against it. Its no wonder that the apologists for US/NATO imperialism, as well as the outright social-imperialists of the AWL, ACR etc., bent over backwards to claim that not only was there no proof that it was the US, but that it was likely to be Russia.

The fact that, across the globe, fingers pointed, sensibly, to the US being the culprit, with numerous statements by US journalists and others admitting that they had been told that it was the US that did it, though only a few of them being prepared to say so publicly, NATO, and particularly its EU subordinates were desperate to deflect the public gaze, by instituting the farce of their supposed investigations. Other attempts in that direction was to use Ukraine as a useful scapegoat, as though it could do so without the knowledge and support of the US, and of NATO members such as Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. But, hey, if you are prepared to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian lives, and the fabric of Ukrainian society on the altar of NATO expansionism, what is using it as such a scapegoat in that great game?

Now, those countries think a safe time has passed, and the genocide in Gaza has distracted global public attention, so it is safe to quietly announce that they have ditched their farcical investigation, without conclusion, meaning they could not realistically provide anything that would throw reasonable doubt on the fact that the US was responsible, let alone be able to cast any reasonable suspicion on Russia. No doubt the apologists for US/NATO imperialism will also be similarly quiet, and hope we all forget their abasement at the feet of US imperialism, and its effect on the workers of Europe over the last 18 months.

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