Energy Wars Reach EU - Who Sabotaged the Nord Stream Pipeline?

Oil has been the primary reason for the United States and Western wars of interventions in the Middle East and North Africa. Now these wars have come into the heart of Europe.

The sabotage that severely damaged the Nord Stream pipeline on September 26, is part of the ongoing war between Russia and the NATO backed Ukraine. The Nord stream pipelines constructed by Russia in collaboration with Germany, go under the Baltic Sea and have been the major energy source for Germany.

Of course there will be an investigation as to who were the saboteurs. The first question in investigating a crime is who gains? So far we only have inferences. Social media is rife with the process of elimination. The arguments and deductive logic makes some critical pointers.

Can't be Russia since the Nord stream was their baby and an economic lifeline and in any case they can turn off the pipeline from the source itself. Not the heavily oil dependent Germany who had sanction exemptions to import Russian gas till they found alternate sources.

Not even Ukraine who has no access to the Baltics. The Baltic countries of Sweden, Norway and others would not like to destroy the marine life around their shores and the US Naval Command controls the Baltics. This act requires state backing. So who else?

First, it is no secret that the US has wanted to change the structure of European energy dependence on Russia and the Eurasian regions extending Russia to Central Asia. Hydrocarbons from this oil abundant region are transported through pipelines that cross Russia and Ukraine into Europe.

Industry and central heating in winters of all Europe have increasingly become dependent on this source. More so because the geopolitics of oil control that had prompted the decades of Western interventionist wars usually in the name of democracy, human rights, or 'protection' in Libya, Iraq, Gulf War- Kuwait, and others in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) destroyed a lot of the capacity of these nations to produce their oil resource. The US has a major interest in controlling the price of oil.

Second, the US is itself a gas rich region, but has remained behind gas exports because they themselves, like the Europeans, preferred the cheaper and better quality of gas from West Asia and Eurasia. The US procures a large part of its gas from fracking procedures that are highly polluting, so they rather preserve their own resources.

The US has outpriced itself from the hydrocarbons market since Middle East and Eurasian gas is cheaper and supply quicker and the oil basket is secured by a network of pipelines and container shipping arrangements. Since the US hitched oil prices and transacted through the dollar (termed the petrodollar) since the 1990s, they were secondary gainers also.

Third, the Russian aggression provided the US with great opportunity. This war in Europe has consolidated and expanded NATO support behind the US. No American body bags from this war, since it is only the brave Ukrainians resisting, to the last one standing. (It is reported that over 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded. As billions of USDs flow in). So the war goes on, destroys Ukraine and gradually bleeds Russia.

Fourth, the American president himself stated on February 8, 2022, that if Russia attacks Ukraine the US "will take out" the Nord Stream pipelines (ABC News, 8 February 2022). This has been echoed by various of his closest advisors on the Ukraine issue. The foreign minister of Poland tweeted thanks to the US after the Nord Stream sabotage and Baltic States intelligence said there has been movement of US ships and submarines in the region.

The Russian energy major Gazprom that owns this pipeline has asked to be part of this investigation. It is unlikely that their request will be acceded to. After All there is also an information war where truth is a casualty.

And who can beat the mainstream media? But the alternate media (See: The Duran on You tube, Defend Democracy Press, and even clips from Fox News amongst others) are connecting the dots culling out facts from the public domain. Investigations controlled by the US who will absolve their own role. They will blame Russia. Just like they blamed the leaders like Saddam Hussain and Gaddafi earlier. Other European leaders will go along.

Meanwhile, this is a major setback for those who want to save the climate and sensitive ecologies and marine life. Life on the planet depends on this. Movements that are fighting to save the planet need to connect this horrific geopolitics with climate change and survival. The powerful states care no less for people or the planet.

Whodunit? Facts related to the sabotage attacks on Nord Stream Pipeline, Defend Democracy, at http://www.defenddemocracy.press/whodunnit-facts-related-to-the-sabotage-attack-on-the-nord-stream-pipelines/

Anuradha Chenoy is Professor (retired) and former Dean of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She was chairperson and director of the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies.She is currently associated with Jindal University.