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Ukraine War – The Upcoming Duel Of Speeches
Next week will see a speech duel between President Putin and President Biden.
On February 21 the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin will hold his State of the Nation Address in the Federal Assembly:
The president delivered his previous address to the country’s parliament in April 2021. Putin explained that there had been no State of the Nation Address in 2022 because the situation was unfolding very quickly and it was difficult "to fix the results at a specific point, as well as specific plans for the near future." However, crucial messages were included in other presidential speeches.
Before the speech Putin will have a talk with leaders of the opposition parties. Another meeting with the president of Belarus, Lukashenko, is also planned. Russian analysts expect that some serious announcements will be made.
The speech will come exactly one year after the speech that announced the recognition of the Luhansk and Donetsk republics as independent states.
While Putin will be speaking U.S. president Joe Biden will be in Poland where he will also hold a major speech:
President Joe Biden will visit Poland this month to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, returning to the region as the war enters a volatile new phase without a clear path to peace.
The president is planning to visit Poland from February 20-22. The White House said he would meet Polish President Andrzej Duda and other leaders from the region. He’ll deliver remarks ahead of the official anniversary on February 24.
“He wants to talk about the importance of the international community’s resolve and unity in supporting Ukraine for now going on a year,” said John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council.
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Biden’s aides have been planning for several weeks how they will mark the anniversary of the invasion, including potentially a major address. They hope to emphasize the resilience of the Ukrainian people while stressing the importance of unity in the uncertain months ahead.
There are concerns that Poland might want to intervene in the war in Ukraine by, for example, occupying its western oblast. Will Biden give his okay for that? A significant number of former Polish soldiers are already fighting in Ukraine as 'mercenaries'. At the end of last year Poland announced that would recall up to 200,000 reservists for training:
The draft regulation presented by the Ministry of Defense states that the proposed figures are a maximum limit that cannot be exceeded, and do not guarantee that the proposed plans will be carried out.
The Biden visit comes at a time when there is serious concern about the length of the war and the sustainment of 'western' support:
Despite promises to back Ukraine “as long as it takes,” Biden officials say recent aid packages from Congress and America’s allies represent Kyiv’s best chance to decisively change the course of the war. Many conservatives in the Republican-led House have vowed to pull back support, and Europe’s long-term appetite for funding the war effort remains unclear.
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Underlining the importance of the moment for the administration, Vice President Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are heading to a major security summit in Germany this week and President Biden is traveling to Poland next week for a speech and meetings on the first anniversary.
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The critical nature of the next few months has already been conveyed to Kyiv in blunt terms by top Biden officials — including deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman and undersecretary of defense Colin Kahl, all of whom visited Ukraine last month.
CIA Director William J. Burns traveled to the country one week ahead of those officials, where he briefed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on his expectations for what Russia is planning militarily in the coming months and emphasized the urgency of the moment.
At the same time, Biden and his aides are eager to avoid any sign of defection or weakening resolve by Western allies ahead of the Feb. 24 anniversary, hoping to signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that support for Ukraine is not waning.
NATO is running of out ammunition and will not be able to support the war much longer:
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that Ukrainian forces are using significantly more ammunition than the alliance’s members can produce, putting a strain on Western stockpiles.
“The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions, and depleting allied stockpiles,” Stoltenberg told reporters ahead of a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels.
“The current rate of Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production, and this puts our defense industries under strain,” he added.
This of course to Russia's advantage. It can delay the end of the war as long as it wants. At some point the 'West' will run out of ammunition and money for the war and will have to sue for peace.
February 1, the US government has been addressing alleged “espionage balloons” from China, which in previous years had left no interest in the military, politicians or the media. Why?
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Distraction from the Hersh article?
One could now argue that the Hersh article on the US blowing up of Nord Stream appeared on February 8th, so the reports of the alleged Chinese “spy balloon” as of February 1st cannot have anything to do with it. However, that is wrong.
As is the duty of a diligent journalist, before his article was completed and published, Hersh sent inquiries to the US agencies involved, such as the White House and the CIA, informing them of the results of his research and giving them the opportunity for gave an opinion. For example, Hersh’s article states:
Adrienne Watson, a White House spokeswoman, responded in an email to a question about this: “This is false and completely fabricated.” Tammy Thorp, a spokeswoman for the CIA, also wrote: “This allegation is completely and utterly false. “”
While we don’t know when exactly Hersh sent out his requests, it was certainly more than a week before publication to give authorities time to respond and include their responses in the article. This means that Hersh may have sent out his inquiries before February 1st (his article was published on February 8th). So the US government knew before Hersh’s article was published that a bombshell was going to drop, and had time to come up with a red herring.
That’s speculation, of course, but it would explain why the US government (and its loyal Western media) are suddenly making such a hype about balloons, which have always been around and nobody has ever cared about.
Suddenly even UFOs are walking
The fact that this is a diversionary maneuver can also be seen from the fact that even media such as Der Spiegel, for which UFOs and extraterrestrials are normally nonsense that only lunatics spread, suddenly do not rule out in isolated articles that this is what has now been discovered everywhere objects in the sky could be extraterrestrial UFOs.
Time even quoted US General Glen VanHerck, who heads North American Air Defense Command NORAD, in an article entitled “‘I Haven’t Ruled Out Nothing,’ US General Doesn’t Rule Out Aliens When UFOs Appear” as saying that he doesn’t use aliens as an explanation can rule out:
“I’ll leave that to the intelligence and counterintelligence agencies to figure out. I haven’t ruled anything out at this point.”
Whether you believe in UFOs or not, it is remarkable that the US military always associates UFOs (i.e. unidentified flying objects) with possible extraterrestrials when there is something that the media wants to distract from. The most famous example of this was Pentagon UFO reports in the 1980s intended to distract attention from the F-117, America’s first stealth aircraft. The aircraft, which looked very unusual for the time, entered service in 1982, but was so secret that its existence was not announced until 1988. The Pentagon was therefore happy to label sightings of the strange aircraft as possibly extraterrestrial UFOs in order to distract from the new type of aircraft.
It is therefore obvious that the hype about lost weather balloons, which has always existed, is intended to distract from something, especially since extraterrestrial UFOs are now even being brought into play by the US officials. This led Edward Snowden to write on Twitter:
“They’re not aliens
I wish they were aliens
but they are not aliens
it’s just the old engineered panic where an attractive nuisance keeps national security reporters busy investigating balloon bullshit instead of budgets or bombings (à la Nord Stream)
until next time”
it’s not aliens
i wish it were aliens
but it’s not aliens
it’s just the ol’ engineered panic, an attractive nuisance ensuring natsec reporters get assigned to investigate balloon bullshit rather than budgets or bombings (à la nordstream)
until next time
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 13, 2023
I share Edward Snwoden’s view because I believe the balloon reports are intended to distract from Hersh’s article on the Nord Stream blast.
For the sake of completeness, however, I will go into another theory that is floating around on the net.
The train disaster
On February 3, a train crash occurred near the village of East Palestine, Ohio, in which 50 wagons carrying highly toxic chemicals crashed and some caught fire. People complained of headaches and nausea.
s village has been evacuated, a state of emergency has been declared and serious environmental damage including contamination of rivers and drinking water is feared.
The accident hardly plays a role in national US media, and German media have only reported very briefly, if at all. As a result, speculation has been floating around the web that the balloons are intended to distract attention from this accident, which is said to be much worse than reported. Even comparisons with Chernobyl are drawn.
Of course, I don’t know if there was an attempt to cover up something during the accident, but I wouldn’t be surprised, after all, we experience that all the time. But I can say one thing for sure: If the balloons were to distract from the train accident, then the reports about the balloons would have been since February 3rd or 4th and not since February 1st, which is why I can’t see any connection there.
In my new book “Putin’s Plan – The World Does Not End With Europe and the USA – How the Western System Is Destroying Itself”” I address the question of what the final battle of the systems – which we are currently experiencing – is really about. We are witnessing nothing less than the clash of two systems in which Vladimir Putin offers the world an alternative to neoliberal globalism. Were the citizens of the West asked if they wanted all this, if they wanted to give up their prosperity and their freedoms in favor of neoliberal globalism?
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Copied and Translated from Anti-mirror
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https://www.anti-spiegel.ru/2023/spionageballons-als-ablenkung-von-der-nord-stream-sprengung/
Posted by: mo3 | Feb 14 2023 17:25 utc | 9
Yesterday I provided the translated transcript of the conversation between Putin and CPRF leader Zyuganov which showed they are both on the same page regarding Russia’s overall direction. Putin also met yesterday with the head of the Liberal Democratic Party Leonid Slutsky, the LDPR being that of the late Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Here’s the short transcript of their meeting provided by the Kremlin:
Leonid Slutsky: Mr Putin, thank you so much for meeting us.
Vladimir Putin: Leonid Eduardovich, we are generally in contact – we meet quite regularly at various events, but individual meetings are always in demand, taking into account, of course, the current situation in the country.
Leonid Slutsky: Thank you again.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, it’s hard to celebrate the first New Year without Vladimir Volfovich [Zhirinovsky]. At the same time, the party is strengthening and growing – we have almost 350 thousand people, including one and a half thousand people of the volunteer corps who actively worked in the new territories, even when they were not new territories.
From the very first days, we supported the special military operation in everything. Now we have taken under the wing of the movement “We sew for our people”, shveibaty. Women-ascetics, many thousands of them, who sew camouflage nets, balaclavas, jackets-save our children, their health, their lives on the front line, as they themselves save us.
And of course, today I am grateful for the opportunity to report some thoughts to the faction. They are not revolutionary, they are not groundbreaking-now people don’t need breakthroughs, they need common sense and a constructive position. If it is constructive, then it should not seize on its opposition, but be closer to people and solve the problems that really stand today.
They sound quite modest sometimes. It is necessary to introduce a single minimum package, as we believe, of support for volunteers and those mobilized in different regions of the Federation, so that these are uniform standards. We need to support the creation of nursery groups for children from two months to one and a half years old, in order to encourage women to feel confident and fulfill their tasks in the field of demography.
There are other proposals: both in the sphere of support for the participants of the SVO and those who help the special military operation in the rear, which is no less important, and in terms of national conservation and demography. Some suggestions were left over from Vladimir Volfovich.
We are now working more closely and effectively with the Government than ever before. We are heard, our constructions are brought to life, become valid laws, become mechanics that work.
And of course, since I am still Chairman of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, I am extremely grateful to you for your decision to grant me the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. This is a great responsibility, especially today, so I will report to you on the implementation of your assignments both in the African direction and in the important direction of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
Vladimir Putin: All right, Leonid Eduardovich. I know that your suggestions are always concrete and practical.
Leonid Slutsky: Absolutely.
Vladimir Putin: Let’s move on to them and discuss them.
As you read, the party is small, under a million members, but it provides support just as the Communists do. Also yesterday, a meeting of the Security Council was held with the readout saying Lavrov’s report in his African trip was the first item discussed.
Today, after Putin’s meetings with the judges I reported on the open thread, he met with the leader of the party “Fair Russia – For the Truth” Sergei Mironov, which is a Socialist Party. This transcript is also short and follows:
Vladimir Putin: Sergey Mikhailovich, in general, we are in constant contact, but no one has canceled personal meetings, they always make sense. I suggest we talk about the current situation. But I also know that you have a number of questions that you would like to discuss in more depth.
You are welcome.
S. : Thank you, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich. Thank you for the opportunity to meet. It is a very good tradition to meet with the leaders of the State Duma factions.
Indeed, there are several suggestions.
First. First of all, I would like to say a word of gratitude: at the beginning of the year, you gave instructions to work out the issue of giving the people’s militia of the LPR and DPR, which has been fighting since May 2014, the status of a combat veteran and all relevant social benefits. But there is also a category of volunteers. And I have prepared a letter addressed to you, and then I will pass it on to you – I also ask you not to forget that some of them were not part of the people’s militia of the LPR and DPR, but fought since May 2014.
Thank you for fixing and drawing attention to a very painful problem – the problem of demography-and I must say only you here. All the decisions that are being made in the country – in this area] have always been your initiative. Because saving people – you understand perfectly well what the role is here.
In this regard, our faction, our socialist party “Just Russia-Patriots-For Truth” has several proposals.
First. I would like to appeal to you with a request from a huge number of large families to think about whether the next year, 2024, should be declared the year of a large family. The fact is that it is a large family, when the norm becomes three people, this will be what we need. Because even maternity capital now encourages the birth of the first child. And in this regard, our second proposal is to make a kind of progression of maternity capital. That is, to keep the same amount that is currently given for the birth of the first child, for the second to make more – somewhere around a million, and a little more than a million for the third child. Because it is the third child in the family, as we understand, that gives an increase [to population growth].
And one more request. The fact is that in our country, it turns out, only 5,959 families have eight or more children – either native or adopted. Less than six thousand families in all of Russia. I think that if, for example, two minimum wages were given to one parent, such a one-time social assistance would be very correct and useful. It is very good that you have returned the title of “Mother Heroine”, the badge of” Maternal Valor”, but I think financial assistance would be very useful.
Another topic concerns a special military operation. People send parcels to their husbands, sons, brothers, and acquaintances. I think it would be right if the federal budget helped the Russian Post-subsidized the transfer of one parcel per month weighing up to ten kilograms to each serviceman from relatives and friends, from anyone, so that there would be compensation to the Russian Post, because the soldiers really want and are waiting for such a message from home, such a message. packages.
And one more request, also related to a special military operation. Now, when a soldier is wounded and is being treated, relatives who come to visit him in the hospital, the road to this place where [he] is being treated is paid for by the Ministry of Defense. But this is about military personnel, but the volunteers who are currently fighting, they do not have this category. I have also prepared a letter for you and ask you to consider it.
And finally. I was recently, a month ago, in our new territories, in the Zaporizhia region, in the Kherson region. As you know, the Government has decided to increase tariffs for housing and communal services by nine percent starting from December 1. As long as these federal subjects are part of Russia, this applies to them. It is very difficult for them now, they are practically on the front line. And I appeal to you to consider giving them [a benefit] for this year-to freeze the tariff for housing and communal services at the level that it was before December 1. Because it is very difficult, and it would be right and fair to give them such help.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you for your suggestions. Let’s go through each one in more detail.
Sergey Mironov: Thank you.
Putin is affiliated with the United Russia Party, which is Russia’s largest, but he isn’t its head. I don’t know what other conversations are scheduled, but the three provided so far indicate complete solidarity with Putin and the government as a whole. Unfortunately, we’re denied reading the more intimate details of those conversations, but what’s provided to the public is a picture of togetherness in Russian’s shared struggle.
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 14 2023 18:23 utc | 34
WARNING: LONG POST!
Translation of the Sy Hersh German interview linked above. “I” is for the interviewer questions, “H” is Hersh’s replies. Hersh supplies some additional information of interest which I noted in bold.
Interview with Seymour Hersh: Joe Biden blew up Nord Stream because he didn’t trust Germany
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has published a controversial investigation into the Nord Stream attack. We talked to him. An interview.
Interviewer: Fabian Scheidler
14.02.2023 | 4:58 pm
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has published an investigation showing that the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines were initiated by the US government with the support of Norway. The U.S. government and the CIA have denied his account at Hersh’s request. In many media outlets, Hersh has been accused of failing to disclose his anonymous source, so his claims cannot be verified. The criticism was also formulated that the research was not consistent. The Berlin publicist Fabian Scheidler spoke to Seymour Hersh for the Berliner Zeitung.
I: Mr. Hersh, please explain your findings in detail. According to your source, what exactly happened, who was involved in the Nord Stream attack and what were the motives?
H: It was a story that cried out to be told. At the end of September 2022, eight bombs were to be detonated near the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, six of which went off, in an area where it is quite flat. They destroyed three of Nord Stream 1 and 2’s four major pipelines. The Nord Stream 1 pipeline has supplied Germany and other parts of Europe with very cheap natural gas for many years. And then it was blown up, as was Nord Stream 2, and the question was who did it and why. On February 7, 2022, just over two weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden said at a White House press conference he held with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that the US would stop Nord Stream.
Biden said: “If Russia invades, there will be no more Nord Stream 2, we will put an end to the project.” And when a reporter asked how exactly he intended to do that, since the project was mainly under German control, Biden said only: “I promise that we will be able to do it.”
His deputy secretary of state, Victoria Nuland, who was deeply involved in the events of the Maidan revolution in 2014, had made similar comments a few weeks earlier.
I: They say that the decision to shut down the pipeline was made even earlier by President Biden. You write in your report that in December 2021, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan convened a meeting of the newly formed task force of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA, the State Department and the Treasury Department. They write: “Sullivan wanted the group to come up with a plan for the destruction of the two Nord Stream pipelines.”
H: This group was originally convened to study the problem. They met in a very secret office. Right next to the White House there is an office building, the Executive Office Building, it is connected underground by a tunnel to the White House. And at the top is an office for a secret external group of consultants called the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. I mentioned this to signal to people in the White House that I have information. So the meeting was called to examine what we would do if Russia went to war.
That was three months before the war, before Christmas 2021. It was a high-level group that probably had a different name, I just called it “Interagency Group”, I don’t know the official name, if there was one. They were the CIA and the National Security Agency, which monitors and intercepts communications, the State Department and the Treasury Department, which provides money. And probably a few other organizations that were involved. The Joint Chiefs of Staff were also represented. It was about making recommendations on how to stop Russia, either with reversible measures such as further sanctions and economic pressure, or with irreversible, “kinetic” measures, such as demolitions.
I don’t want to go into the details here and not talk about a specific meeting because I have to protect my source. I don’t know how many people participated, you understand what I mean?
I: In your article, you wrote that the CIA task force reported to Sullivan’s Interagency Group in early 2022, saying, quote, “We have a way to blow up the pipelines.”
H: They had a way. There were people there who knew what we in America call “mine warfare.” In the United States Navy there are units dealing with submarines, there is also a command for nuclear technology. And there is a mine squad. The field of underwater mines is very important, and we have trained specialists for it. A central location for their education is a small resort town called Panama City in the middle of nowhere in Florida. We train very good people there and deploy them. Underwater mining specialists are of great importance, for example to clear blocked entrances to ports and to blow up things that stand in the way. You can also blow up a particular country’s underwater oil pipelines. It’s not always good things they do, but they work absolutely in secret.
For the group in the White House, it was clear that they could blow up the pipelines. There’s an explosive called C4 that’s incredibly potent, especially at the amount they use. It can be controlled remotely with underwater sonar devices. These sonar devices emit signals at low frequencies. So it was possible, and this was communicated to the White House in early January, because two or three weeks later, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland said we could do it. I think that was on January 20. And then the President, when he held the press conference together with the German Chancellor on February 7, 2022, also said that we could do it.
The German chancellor did not say anything concrete at the time, he was very vague. One question I’d like to ask Scholz if I were chairing a parliamentary hearing is this: Did Joe Biden tell you about it? Did he tell you then why he was so confident that he could destroy the pipeline? We as Americans didn’t have a plan at the time, but we knew we had the ability to do it.
I: You write that Norway played a role. To what extent was the country involved – and why should the Norwegians do this?
H: Norway is a great seafaring nation, and they have energy sources at depth. They are also keen to increase their natural gas supplies to Western Europe and Germany. And that’s what they’ve done, they’ve increased their exports. So why shouldn’t they join forces with the US for economic reasons? In Norway, there is also a strong hostility towards Russia.
I: In your article, you write that the Norwegian secret service and navy were involved. They also say that Sweden and Denmark were informed in some way, but did not learn everything.
H: I was told: they did what they did, and they knew what they were doing, and they understood what was going on, but maybe no one ever said “yes.” I’ve worked a lot on this topic with the people I’ve talked to. In any case, in order for this mission to be carried out, the Norwegians had to find the right place. The divers, who were trained in Panama City, were able to dive up to 100 meters deep without heavy equipment. The Norwegians found us a spot off the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, which was only 260 feet (about 80 meters) deep, so that they could operate there.
The divers had to slowly return upwards, there was a decompression chamber, and we used a Norwegian submarine hunter. Only two divers were used for the four pipelines. One problem was how to deal with the people who monitor the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea is monitored very thoroughly, there is a lot of freely available data, so we took care of it, there were three or four different people for it. And what was done then is quite simple. For 21 years, our Sixth Fleet, which controls the Mediterranean and also the Baltic Sea, has been conducting an exercise for the NATO navies in the Baltic Sea every summer (BALTOPS, editor’s note). We are sending an aircraft carrier and other large ships to these exercises. And for the first time in history, the NATO operation in the Baltics had a new program. A twelve-day mine dropping and detection exercise should be conducted. A number of nations sent out mining teams, one group dropped a mine, and another group of mines went in search and blew it up.
So there was a time when things blew up, and that time allowed the deep-sea divers who attached the mines to the pipelines to operate. The two pipelines are about a mile apart, they lie a little under the silt on the seabed, but they are not difficult to reach, and the divers had practiced it. It only took a few hours to place the bombs.
I: So that was in June 2022?
H: Yes, they did towards the end of the exercise. But at the last minute, the White House got nervous. The president said he was afraid to do it. He changed his mind and gave new orders, so that it was possible to detonate the bombs remotely at any time. You do this with a normal sonar, a product of Raytheon by the way, you fly over the spot and drop a cylinder. It sends a low-frequency signal, you can describe it as a flute tone, you can set different frequencies.
The fear, however, was that the bombs would not work if they remained in the water for too long, which was indeed the case with two bombs. So there was concern within the group about finding the right remedy, and we actually had to turn to other intelligence agencies that I deliberately didn’t write about.
I: And what happened then? The explosives were placed and a way was found to control them remotely.
H: Joe Biden decided back in June not to blow them up, it was five months after the war began. But in September, he ordered it to be done. The operational staff, the people who do “kinetic” things for the United States, they do what the president says, and they initially thought this was a useful weapon to use in negotiations. But at some point, after the Russians invaded and then, when the operation was completed, the whole thing became increasingly repugnant to the people who carried it out. These are people who work in top positions in the secret services and are well trained. They turned against the project, they thought it was crazy.
Shortly after the attack, after they had done what they had been ordered, there was a lot of anger among those involved about the operation and rejection. That’s one of the reasons I learned so much. And I’m going to tell you something else. The people in America and Europe who are building pipelines know what happened. I will tell you something important. The people who own companies that build pipelines know the story. I didn’t learn the story from them, but I quickly learned that they know.
I: Let us return to this situation in June of last year. President Joe Biden decided not to do it directly and postponed it.
H: Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference a few days after the pipelines blew up that Putin had been deprived of a major power factor. He said the destruction of the pipelines was a tremendous opportunity – a chance to deprive Russia of the opportunity to use the pipelines as a weapon. The point was that Russia could no longer put pressure on Western Europe to end US support in the Ukraine war. The fear was that Western Europe would no longer participate.
I think the reason for this decision was that the war was not going well for the West and they were afraid of the approaching winter. Nord Stream 2 was put on hold by Germany itself, not by international sanctions, and the US was afraid that Germany would lift the sanctions because of a cold winter.
I: What do you think are the motives for the attack? The US government was against the pipeline for many reasons. Some say she was against it because she wanted to weaken Russia or to weaken relations between Russia and Western Europe, especially Germany. But perhaps also to weaken the German economy, which is a competitor of the US economy. High gas prices have caused companies to migrate to the US. What is your view of the motives of the US government?
H: I don’t think they thought it through thoroughly. I know that sounds strange. I don’t think Secretary Blinken and some others in the administration are deep thinkers. There are certainly people in the American economy who like the idea of us becoming more competitive. We sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) with extremely high profits, we make a lot of money from it.
I’m sure there were some people who thought, ‘Boy, this is going to give the American economy a long-term boost.’ But in the White House, I think, they were always obsessed with re-election, and they wanted to win the war, they wanted to win a victory, they wanted Ukraine to somehow magically win. There might be some people who think that maybe it’s better for our economy if the German economy is weak, but that’s crazy. I think we’ve gotten caught up in something that’s not going to work, the war isn’t going to end well for this government.
I: How do you think this war could end?
H: It doesn’t matter what I think. What I do know is that there is no way this war is going to end the way we want it to, and I don’t know what we’re going to do if we look further into the future. It scares me that the president was willing to do that. And the people who carried out this mission believed that the president was aware of what he was doing to the people of Germany, that he was punishing them for a war that was not going well. And in the long run, this will not only damage his reputation as president, but also be very damaging politically. It will be a stigma for the US.
The White House feared that it might be in a losing position, that Germany and Western Europe would no longer supply the weapons we wanted, and that the German chancellor might put the pipeline back into operation – that was a big concern in Washington. I would ask Chancellor Scholz a lot of questions. I would ask him what he learned in February when he was with the President. The operation was top secret and the president was not supposed to tell anyone about our ability, but he likes to chat, he sometimes says things he shouldn’t say.
I: Your story was reported rather cautiously and critically in the German media. Some attacked your reputation or said you had only one anonymous source and that it was not reliable.
H: How could I talk about my source? I have written many stories based on unnamed sources. If I named someone, they would be fired or, worse, jailed. The law is very strict. I’ve never exposed anyone, and when I write, of course, as I did in this article, I say it’s a source, period. Over the years, the stories I’ve written have always been accepted.
I: How did you check your facts?
H: For the current story, I worked with equally experienced fact-checkers as I used to have at the New Yorker. Of course, there are many ways to check obscure information that is shared with me. The personal attacks on me also miss the point. The point is that Biden has decided to let Germans freeze this winter. The President of the United States would rather Germany freeze than Germany possibly stop supporting Ukraine, and that to me is a devastating thing for this White House.
I: The point is also that this can be perceived as an act of war not only against Russia, but also against Western allies, especially Germany.
H: I would put it more simply. The people involved in the operation saw that the president wanted to freeze Germany for his short-term political goals, and that horrified them. I’m talking about Americans who are very loyal to the United States. With the CIA, as I put it in my article, you’re working for power, not for the Constitution.
The CIA’s political advantage is that a president who can’t get his plans through Congress can walk with the CIA director in the White House Rose Garden to plan something secret that can affect many people on the other side of the Atlantic – or anywhere else in the world. That has always been the unique selling point of the CIA – with which I have my problems. But even this community is appalled that Biden has decided to expose Europe to the cold in order to support a war he will not win. This is nefarious to me.
I: You said in your article that the planning of the attack was not reported to Congress, as is necessary in other covert operations.
H: The matter was also not reported to many places within the military. There were people in other places who should have been informed but were not informed. The operation was very secret.
I: What role does courage play for you in your profession?
H: What’s brave about telling the truth? Our job is not to be afraid. And sometimes it gets ugly. There have been times in my life when… — you know, I’m not talking about it. But threats are not directed at people like me, but at the children of people like me. There were terrible things. But you don’t worry about it, you can’t. You just have to do what you do.
Interview: Fabian Scheidler
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 14 2023 19:09 utc | 53
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