The Divided State of Europe

AD1184

Celestial
Its interesting and disturbing that Sachs would mention possible Polish involvement with the US in destroying the pipelines...I've heard about the US helicopters but that video was the first time I've heard mention of Poland’s possible involvement...What would the EU do with Poland if its proven?...

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The former Polish defence minister tweeted (in a now-deleted Tweet) "Thanks, America" in response to the news. However, the helicopters being based in Gdansk doesn't mean that there was Polish cooperation. This Deutsche Welle "fact check" (also obviously biased, leading) article refutes the notion that the helicopter evidence is valid, as it didn't quite fly over the correct spots:


There was no need either to use a helicopter to sabotage the pipelines, and it makes it a bit obvious if they were used. The DW quotes the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, which is an interesting coincidence, because a special adviser to Josep Borrell is none other than Jeffrey Sachs.

I think the idea that the US sabotaged the Nord Steam pipelines is rather like the idea that the Wuhan Covid outbreak originated with a Chinese lab leak. Plausible, but much too inconvenient if it were ever proven to be true, as it would up-end the whole global order, and add chaos on top of more chaos. Another interesting coincidence is that the chair of the Lancet's Covid comission which recently reported that a lab leak is a plausible origin of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak is also Jeffrey Sachs.
 

Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
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Catalonia's cry for independence is the inevitable response to 'European identity'

Well, well, tell me one thing ... would US be so successful if there were 50 countries instead of 50 states in US?

For Europe to become truly powerful entity, on a par with China or USA, all EU nations need to be blended in one single nation, exactly as US is. Then one will not have to print manual instructions for every toaster in 14 languages.
 

Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
The former Polish defence minister tweeted (in a now-deleted Tweet) "Thanks, America" in response to the news. However, the helicopters being based in Gdansk doesn't mean that there was Polish cooperation. This Deutsche Welle "fact check" (also obviously biased, leading) article refutes the notion that the helicopter evidence is valid, as it didn't quite fly over the correct spots:


There was no need either to use a helicopter to sabotage the pipelines, and it makes it a bit obvious if they were used. The DW quotes the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, which is an interesting coincidence, because a special adviser to Josep Borrell is none other than Jeffrey Sachs.

I think the idea that the US sabotaged the Nord Steam pipelines is rather like the idea that the Wuhan Covid outbreak originated with a Chinese lab leak. Plausible, but much too inconvenient if it were ever proven to be true, as it would up-end the whole global order, and add chaos on top of more chaos. Another interesting coincidence is that the chair of the Lancet's Covid comission which recently reported that a lab leak is a plausible origin of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak is also Jeffrey Sachs.

Pipeline blowups are submarine jobs, not a helicopter jobs. Sea must be at least 1km deep there, there is no weapon that helicopter can deliver with any precision. But several countries in the region, including Russia, have special submarines for exactly these kind of special operations.
 

AD1184

Celestial
Pipeline blowups are submarine jobs, not a helicopter jobs. Sea must be at least 1km deep there, there is no weapon that helicopter can deliver with any precision. But several countries in the region, including Russia, have special submarines for exactly these kind of special operations.
The explosions occurred in the Bornholm Basin, a part of the Baltic with a mean depth of only 80m, and a maximum depth of 92m, making it within the range of scuba, even. The piple-lines could hypothetically have been destroyed via the means of helicopter-dropped depth charges.
 

nivek

As Above So Below

France's Emmanuel Macron criticizes Biden's 'Armageddon' warning: We must 'speak with prudence'

French President Emmanuel Macron criticized President Biden's comments warning of "Armageddon" as Russia invokes the potential for using nuclear weapons. Biden made the comments during a speech to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Thursday night, stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn't joking when it comes to using weapons of mass destruction.

"[Putin was] not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons," Biden said. "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis."

Responding to Biden's comments while at the European Union summit in Prague on Friday, Macron said that "We must speak with prudence when commenting on such matters." Macron said resolving the war in Ukraine needed to include "deescalation" and a "solution that is acceptable to the leaders of and the people of Ukraine," according to France 24.

During a speech in September amid the country's war against Ukraine, Putin warned NATO countries about the capabilities Russia has. "I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction, and for separate components and more modern than those of NATO countries, " Putin said. "And when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal."

When asked about Biden's "Armageddon" remarks, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended his comment. "The kind of irresponsible rhetoric we have seen is no way for the leader of a nuclear-armed state to speak, and that’s what the president was making very clear," Jean-Pierre said.

She also said that the White House hasn't seen any indications that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons. "We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have indications that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons," Jean-Pierre said.


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nivek

As Above So Below
If Biden was involved in the pipeline explosion, he would not be the only President to approve of such actions...

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Just to let you know… Reagan approved plan to sabotage Soviets gas pipeline in 1982

In January 1982, President Ronald Reagan approved a CIA plan to sabotage the economy of the Soviet Union through covert transfers of technology that contained hidden malfunctions, including software that later triggered a huge explosion in a Siberian natural gas pipeline, according to a new memoir by a Reagan White House official.

Thomas C. Reed, a former Air Force secretary who was serving in the National Security Council at the time, describes the episode in “At the Abyss: An Insider’s History of the Cold War.” Reed writes that the pipeline explosion was just one example of “cold-eyed economic warfare” against the Soviet Union that the CIA carried out under Director William J. Casey during the final years of the Cold War.

At the time, the United States was attempting to block Western Europe from importing Soviet natural gas. There were also signs that the Soviets were trying to steal a wide variety of Western technology. Then, a KGB insider revealed the specific shopping list and the CIA slipped the flawed software to the Soviets in a way they would not detect it.

“In order to disrupt the Soviet gas supply, its hard currency earnings from the West, and the internal Russian economy, the pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines, and valves was programmed to go haywire, after a decent interval, to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to pipeline joints and welds,” Reed writes. “The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space,” he recalls, adding that U.S. satellites picked up the explosion. Reed said in an interview that the blast occurred in the summer of 1982.

“While there were no physical casualties from the pipeline explosion, there was significant damage to the Soviet economy,” he writes. “Its ultimate bankruptcy, not a bloody battle or nuclear exchange, is what brought the Cold War to an end. In time the Soviets came to understand that they had been stealing bogus technology, but now what were they to do? By implication, every cell of the Soviet leviathan might be infected. They had no way of knowing which equipment was sound, which was bogus. All was suspect, which was the intended endgame for the entire operation.”


(More on the link)

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nivek

As Above So Below

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Giant methane leak from Nord Stream pipeline is detected from SPACE: Satellite images show potent greenhouse gas leaking at a rate of 174,000 pounds per hour

A stream of methane gas leaking from a 'sabotaged' pipeline in Northern Europe has been captured by satellites.

Imagery from satellite company GHGSat shows the stream of methane - which is a potent greenhouse gas - over the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden.

The methane in the image leaked from a single rupture point on Nord Stream 2 - one of two pipelines linking Russia to Germany that were thought to be deliberately damaged late last month.

Gas has been leaking at a rate of 174,000 pounds (79,000 kg) per hour from this rupture point at Nord Stream 2, equivalent to more than 2 million pounds of coal being burned in an hour.

This single leak is the 'largest emission from a single source' ever detected by GHGSat.


(More on the link)
 

nivek

As Above So Below

Gazprom: NATO mine destroyer was found at Nord Stream 1 in 2015

A spokesperson for Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Monday that a mine destroyer discovered at the Nord Stream 1 offshore gas pipeline in 2015 belonged to NATO.

Nord Stream reported on that date in 2015 that a "munitions object" had been cleared by the Swedish armed forces, without giving more detail on the object.

Gazprom spokesperson Sergei Kupriyanov told Russian state television on Monday that a NATO device, called a SeaFox, was retrieved from a depth of around 40 metres (125 feet) and made safe.

"Gas transportation, halted because of the incident, was restored," he said, according to a published extract from his TV appearance.

Gazprom owns 51% in Swiss-based Nord Stream AG, operator of Nord Stream 1.

An international investigation is underway into a rupture, discovered late last month, in the Russian-built Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines on the bed of the Baltic Sea.

The pipelines, which have become a flashpoint in the Ukraine crisis, have been leaking gas into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark and Sweden.

Europe suspects an act of sabotage that Moscow quickly sought to pin on the West, suggesting the United States stood to gain.


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AD1184

Celestial
New British PM Liz Truss has an incredible 9% approval rating:

It seems her days are numbered now:


She has only been in the job a little over a month.
 

Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
It seems her days are numbered now:


She has only been in the job a little over a month.

I remember when, in his first month as PM, Tony Blair confronted tobacco manufacturers and had to cow in. There is no school for PMs. She just needs a bit more time.

Although I wholeheartedly agree that "Bankers ( the wankers ) need to be rewarded for their hard work and risk taking" was long way out of tune with majority's sentiment.
 

Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow

Gazprom: NATO mine destroyer was found at Nord Stream 1 in 2015

A spokesperson for Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Monday that a mine destroyer discovered at the Nord Stream 1 offshore gas pipeline in 2015 belonged to NATO.

Nord Stream reported on that date in 2015 that a "munitions object" had been cleared by the Swedish armed forces, without giving more detail on the object.

Gazprom spokesperson Sergei Kupriyanov told Russian state television on Monday that a NATO device, called a SeaFox, was retrieved from a depth of around 40 metres (125 feet) and made safe.

"Gas transportation, halted because of the incident, was restored," he said, according to a published extract from his TV appearance.

Gazprom owns 51% in Swiss-based Nord Stream AG, operator of Nord Stream 1.

An international investigation is underway into a rupture, discovered late last month, in the Russian-built Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines on the bed of the Baltic Sea.

The pipelines, which have become a flashpoint in the Ukraine crisis, have been leaking gas into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark and Sweden.

Europe suspects an act of sabotage that Moscow quickly sought to pin on the West, suggesting the United States stood to gain.


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@nivek, you save me so much time having to dig up these most interesting stories ;-) .
 

AD1184

Celestial
There is no school for PMs. She just needs a bit more time.

Although I wholeheartedly agree that "Bankers ( the wankers ) need to be rewarded for their hard work and risk taking" was long way out of tune with majority's sentiment.
This idiot was behaving like she had won a landslide election, rather than being selected by roughly 80,000 people. She had no mandate to make sweeping changes but believed that she did. That should not require experience in the post to realize, but should be apparent to anyone with common sense. She is a free market fundamentalist, in a country that is not especially keen on free market fundamentalism. Certainly the Tories' last election victory was not on the basis of free market fundamentalism. She saw her selection as her chance to immediately begin enacting her long-desired changes to the country, and she got a rude awakening as to the consequences of such an approach. I say good riddance to her. She is the least qualified person to be elevated to the position probably in history, and certainly within living memory, in a succession of spectacularly bad prime ministers in the last thirty years.
 
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Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
This idiot was behaving like she had won a landslide election, rather than being selected by roughly 80,000 people. She had no mandate to make sweeping changes but believed that she did. That should not require experience in the post to realize, but should be apparent to anyone with common sense. She is a free market fundamentalist, in a country that is not especially keen on free market fundamentalism. Certainly the Tory's last election victory was not on the basis of free market fundamentalism. She saw her selection as her chance to immediately begin enacting her long-desired changes to the country, and she got a rude awakening as to the consequences of such an approach. I say good riddance to her. She is the least qualified person to be elevated to the position probably in history, and certainly within living memory, in a succession of spectacularly bad prime ministers in the last thirty years.

Well, I much preferred that Obama like Indian guy, Rushi "Something". He was master of soft touch, like a career politician should be. Even if she's radical, she's as naive and out of touch as schoolgirl. Problem is, she's going to try to sneak up her pet agenda in a near future, which might put Conservative election win in jeopardy. She certainly wasn't elected for her competence and experience, but for skin complexion. And all of that at a time when dazed & confused Labour party is not a real alternative to Conservatives.
 
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nivek

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