Ukraine: back from the brink?

“We must love one another or die.” – W.H. Auden

US Navy divers went to 260 feet to put high explosives on Nord Stream one and two pipelines. This was an amazing dive but doable if you have a decompression chamber on the ship above. As a diver of over 1,000 hours of experience diving at depths on research stations on the Great Barrier Reef this is possible, but difficult.

Hersh says: “… it was 260 feet deep where the landmines were. And the pipelines are steel-covered, but they’re also covered by concrete shields. So it’s a serious job to blow them up.”

On one occasion I dived to 120 feet and was forced to make an ascent without air from that depth. I nearly passed out but, because I had spent such a short period below 100 feet, I did not require decompression. However a scientist who had done the same dive previous to mine did require decompression because he spent longer at that depth. There was no decompression chamber at the research station so other divers had to take the scientist down deep until a helicopter arrived. The scientist had the bends because on ascent from that depth nitrogen comes out of solution forming small bubbles in the bloodstream. This can be very painful and cause severe problems like having a stroke and death.

US Navy divers that placed the explosives on Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipes had to go to twice depth we did but, according to Hersh’s informant, they had a level of support far greater than us. They would have needed decompression regardless of how long they stayed at depth to plant the landmines. This is what they had at the surface when they were picked up by a US submarine hunter. The CIA had flown in a compression chamber that was put on the ship that picked them up. This would have been essential for a mission like this.

On 23 February 2022 President Biden made the following statement:

“Since Russia began deploying troops to the Ukrainian border, the United States has worked closely with our Allies and partners to deliver a strong, unified response. As I said when I met with Chancellor Scholz earlier this month, Germany has been a leader in that effort, and we have closely coordinated our efforts to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia further invaded Ukraine.”

Chancelor Scholz, whose Social Democrats (SPD) are in power with the Greens, is likely that Biden told Scholz that he would order the destruction of the pipelines when Russia invaded Ukraine. The Greens in Germany are on the rise and have given unequivocal support to Ukraine President Zelensky. The Greens in Germany are warmongers. The German Greens supported the NATO bombing of Kosovo causing the deaths of many civilians. It is interesting how right-wing the Greens party has turned out to be. The Nazis rose partly on the back of the environment movement in Germany. Hans Sùren, a prominent former military officer, published Man and the Sun. Sùren promoted the Aryan master race concept of physically strong, militarized men who would be the “salvation” of the German people.

Media blockade on Hersh lifted
American liberals are lifting the media blockade on Seymour Hersh. His revelations of the United States blowing up the Nordstrom pipelines are starting to bite.

Will Russia and the United States step back from the brink of nuclear war? Has India and China’s refusal to be drawn into the Ukrainian conflict prove decisive against the US sabre rattling? Has the denial of cheap Russian gas used to warm European households and to fuel the German economy become too big a price to pay for Ukraine’s struggle to be part of NATO? A section of the German population would be aware that cheap Russian gas is now being siphoned to factories in India, the very same cheap gas that helped produce the economic miracle in Germany and that is used to keep people warm in winter.

Seymour Hersh has exposed how the US blew up the Russian/German pipeline. Biden’s order to assist Ukraine to win the war against Russia has come at a price. Ad hominem attacks on Hersh by the US administration are proving unsuccessful. In this interview with Democracy Now! Hersh explains the rationale behind the US bombing the major gas supplier to Europe. People in Europe are increasingly becoming less trustful of the United States and its efforts to assist Ukraine to repel the invasion by the Russian federation.

Retaliation
If the Russians look like losing the war in Ukraine what is to stop them from using nuclear weapons against Ukraine. In that event how would the US respond. Should Putin be backed into a corner by Ukrainian successes on the battlefield he may chose to make a nuclear strike against Kiev. If this were the case what would the American do? This scenario could have been scripted by Dr Strangelove:

Neither Biden nor Zelensky seem to understand this. Putin may simply use nuclear weapons to win in Ukraine and thus make it impossible for it to join NATO because it is would then be a failed state. We can only hope that Biden stupidity will cause Europe China and India insist the US pull back from all out war with the Russians.

One thing is sure, Europe is turning to the right. In Italy, Germany, and Sweden, right wing governments are being elected and the prospect in France is always there for them to return to the right wing as they did during World War II.

One source said that there is concern is that Ukraine will invade a neighbouring country such as Moldova (which is partly Russian) and attempt to steal Russian armaments, shells etc. Thus bringing other countries into the conflict. for example the Cobasna ammunition depot is a large ammunition depot located in the village of Cobasna. Legally and internationally recognized as part of Moldova as a whole, the unrecognized breakaway state of Transnistria controls the village and the ammunition depot and has denied access to international observers, an exception being the Russian military forces located in the region ever since the end of the Transnistria War in 1992.

Ian Curr
26 Feb 2023.

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Reference

Democracy Now! Seymour Hersh response to United States worst kept secret

“When the Nord Stream pipelines carrying natural gas from Russia to Germany were damaged last September, U.S. officials were quick to suggest Russia had bombed its own pipelines. But according to a new report by the legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, it was the U.S. Navy that carried out the sabotage, with help from Norway. Citing a source “with direct knowledge of the operational planning,” Hersh writes on his Substack blog that planning for the mission began in December of 2021. The White House and the Norwegian government have since denied the claims. Hersh joins us for an in-depth interview to discuss his report and says the U.S. decision to bomb the pipelines was meant to lock allies into support for Ukraine at a time when some were wavering. “The fear was Europe would walk away from the war,” he says. Hersh won a Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for his reporting on the My Lai massacre. His reporting on CIA spying on antiwar activists during the Vietnam War era helped lead to the formation of the Church Committee, which led to major reforms of the intelligence community, and in 2004, he exposed the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq.” – Amy Goodman.