Nord Stream Attack – ‘Officials’ Throw More Chaff To Hide The Real Perpetrators

March 8, 2023

Right at the same moment the New York Times publishes a shoddy 'officials say' story about alleged intelligence about the Nord Stream terror attack the Germany weekly Die Zeit, which has strong U.S. secret services ties, comes up with an equally unbelievable tale of a 'Ukrainian owned' sailing boat playing the major role in the attack:

Nord-Stream-Ermittlungen: Spuren führen in die Ukraine
Ermittler haben das Boot identifiziert, von dem aus die Anschläge auf Nord Stream ausgeführt wurden. Offenbar wurde es von einer Firma gemietet, die Ukrainern gehört.

My translations:

Nord Stream investigation: Traces lead to Ukraine
Investigators have identified the boat from which the attacks on Nord Stream were carried out. Apparently, it was rented by a company owned by Ukrainians.

No, it is not the USS Kearsarge, the U.S. amphibious assault ship which 'trained' 'mine removals' near Bornholm island next to the pipelines just days before they blew up, which the 'investigators' identified.

AZ @AZmilitary1 – 13:52 UTC · Sep 27, 2022

An expeditionary detachment of US Navy ships led by the universal amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge days ago was in the Baltic Sea
It was 30 km from the site of the alleged sabotage on the Nord Stream-1 gas pipeline and 50 km from the threads of Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline

bigger

The new claim is that some rather small yacht, which would not even be able to carry the necessary equipment to perform such a deed, was the main instrument in this:

Following joint research by [German main public TV news unit] (ARD's capital city studio), the ARD political magazine Kontraste, [German public TV] SWR and DIE ZEIT, it was possible to reconstruct to a large extent in the course of the investigation how and when the explosive attack was prepared. According to this, traces lead in the direction of Ukraine. However, investigators have so far found no evidence of who ordered the destruction.
…
Specifically, according to information from [these news sources], investigators have managed to identify the boat that was presumably used for the secret operation. It is said to be a yacht rented from a company based in Poland, apparently owned by two Ukrainians. The clandestine operation at sea is said to have been carried out by a team of six people, according to the investigation. It is said to have involved five men and one woman. According to the report, the group consisted of a captain, two divers, two diving assistants and a female doctor, who are said to have transported the explosives to the crime scenes and placed them there. The nationality of the perpetrators is apparently unclear. The assassins used professionally forged passports, which are said to have been used, among other things, to rent the boat.

According to the investigation, the commando set off from Rostock on September 6, 2022. The equipment for the clandestine operation was previously transported to the port in a van, it is said. In the further course, the investigators succeeded in locating the boat the following day again in Wieck (Darß) and later at the Danish island Christiansø, northeast of Bornholm, according to the research. The yacht was subsequently returned to the owner in uncleaned condition. On the table in the cabin, the investigators were able to detect traces of explosives, according to the research. According to information from [the mentioned news sources], a Western intelligence service is said to have sent a tip to European partner services as early as in the fall, i.e. shortly after the destruction, according to which a Ukrainian commando was responsible for the destruction. Thereafter, there have allegedly been further intelligence indications suggesting that a pro-Ukrainian group could be responsible.

No. You do not dive down to 80+ meter for an industrial size job, involving the placement of hundreds of pounds of explosives in eight individual charges on very sturdy pipelines, from a sparsely manned boat. Such deep dives require special gases, special breathing equipment, special training, a decompression chamber for emergencies and lots of well trained people to maintain all that stuff.

This is just more chaff thrown up to divert the attention from Seymour Hersh's revelations that the U.S. military, under order from the White House, carried out the sabotage act.

Gonzalo Lira @GonzaloLira1968 – 18:54 UTC · Mar 7, 2023

Just now, the German news site Zeitung is ALSO blaming the Ukraine for the Nord Stream pipeline bombing!
Coupled with The NY Times piece earlier today, this is clearly a coordinated misinformation campaign.
Was this why Olaf Schultz and Biden met?
Nord-Stream-Ermittlungen: Spuren führen in die Ukraine

—

Gonzalo Lira @GonzaloLira1968 – 5:21 UTC · Mar 8, 2023

Zelensky’s regime can deny its involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline terrorist attack all it wants—but it won’t matter.

Clearly, a very strong faction of the Deep State wants to blame UA so the West can pull out of the Ukraine disaster.

ft.com – Ukraine denies any involvement in Nordstream pipeline explosions

What we are seeing here is a disinformation campaign comparable to the Skripal 'poisoning' affair in Britain. Following that tens of 'officials say' news items were released that were each more illogical and unbelievable than the previous ones. The campaign was designed to flood the information space with so much nonsense that no one would be drawn back to the roots of the story (i.e. a UK turncoat asset getting violently silenced after he attempted to go back to Russia).

I am pretty sure that soon more will be released about the real perpetrators of the Nord Stream attack. This sudden throwing of 'officials say' chaff, a month after the Hersh story, is just an attempt to preemptively divert from it.

Posted by b on March 8, 2023 at 06:20 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Nothing Wagner can be proud of. These people are complete scum.
My personal bet was that after asylum in the US, these ‘special experts specialists’ would build something like the clown car version of Los Zetas.
Posted by: Nobody | Mar 8 2023 14:35 utc | 83
.
What do you mean “scum” in the private armies working on behalf of the Pentacon

Posted by: mo3 | Mar 8 2023 21:07 utc | 201

There are lots of Russian pipelines on Ukrainian soil they could have easily blown up.
Posted by: Adam Troy | Mar 8 2023 21:02 utc | 199
nope. Them that pipes generate transit fee revenue for Ukraine.

Posted by: sln2002 | Mar 8 2023 21:09 utc | 202

Thanks Paco! I seen some people saying it was psyop, but I appreciate your interpretation as well. I gotta get up to speed on my Russian language study.

Posted by: LGB! | Mar 8 2023 21:09 utc | 203

Oh and I seen all the Ukie press-gang videos. Just hadnt seen something like this from the Russian side.

Posted by: LGB! | Mar 8 2023 21:10 utc | 204

@ Dalit | Mar 8 2023 9:04 utc | 34
It doesn’t double. Pressure increases by one atmosphere for each 10m under water.

Posted by: Figleaf23 | Mar 8 2023 21:15 utc | 205

Zelensky’s latest claim to Wolf Blitzer that ‘Artymovsk is of great strategic value’ and the recent talk by amerikan officials about how Crimea is Russian fits in with the nonsense Die Zeit online & the NYT & FT (a silly story about pro-ukie Russian nationalists and their terrorism complete with photos and bio’s) have been peddling ie distraction.
Whatever plans that amerika has for their proxy war ‘push’ this summer, they know Russia is going to have twice as many men on the ground, so it matters where Russia puts them. So the idea is maybe to have Russia believe the ‘push’ is gonna be a Artymovsk counter attack, when it’s going to be an push at Crimea, or vice versa. The point is to try to get Russia so concerned about defence that they (Russia) doesn’t attack anywhere.
We shall see.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Mar 8 2023 21:16 utc | 206

The pro-Ukranian group at work:
https://twitter.com/DecampDave/status/1633213876744470530?s=20

Posted by: JB | Mar 8 2023 21:16 utc | 207

Posted by: LGB! | Mar 8 2023 21:09 utc | 203
It has been widely discussed like for instance by Vladlen Tatarsky, the mobilization problems, of course there have been lots of them, like artillery guys sent to dig trenches or tankists without tanks, or people that thought they would have showers and hot meals in a trench, yes there has been chaos at the beginning but it seems they’re getting their act together, and they have a big reserve ready to go. This tragedy could’ve been avoided, easily, but there is a country that’s hooked on war like a junkie, we all know who that is.
Here, practice your Russian
https://t.me/vladlentatarsky/17105

Posted by: Paco | Mar 8 2023 21:21 utc | 208

Paco, thanks for the link. I will check it out. I know that both sides gotta do what they gotta do in terms of getting their message out there. I try to balance the stuff I can see and read in English, with Russian and Ukrainian language stuff too, but naturally that takes longer for my with my translation website.

Posted by: LGB! | Mar 8 2023 21:26 utc | 209

146
Ukraine is Nuland Blinken crowd gone berserk with their ethnic paybacks to Russia.
The real objective was China.
As such it is not WW2 but WW3.
There’s no way NATO can handle China + Russia together.

Posted by: nothing but the trut | Mar 8 2023 21:26 utc | 210

Operation SAILBOAT, a Cover Operation for a Cover Story
The Ukrainian sailboat story is true, but it alone is not responsible for the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline. It is a cover operation executed to to create a cover story that could be used when the real story would eventually come out.
Various Western mainstream media outlets are now reporting partly overlapping parts of the cover story. It almost reads like investigative journalism, except it is not. This is a well coordinated disinformation campaign. Each story has been prepackaged by Western intelligence agencies and fed to their respective news and propaganda outlets.
The London Times comes out with one of the stories today.

West kept quiet about Nord Stream attack to protect Ukraine ← archive link
A week after the Nord Stream pipeline exploded, staff at a Scandinavian delegation in Brussels walked out of their embassy intelligence briefing, impressed by the level of detail they had received so soon after the attack.
It hadn’t been carried out by the Americans, the Russians or the Poles, their intelligence service apparently told them, but by a private venture originating in Ukraine. They were told this would not be made public and to deflect any questions about why the official investigation into the destruction of the Russo-German pipeline was moving so slowly.
The name of the suspected private sponsor, a Ukrainian not affiliated with President Zelensky’s government, has been circulating in intelligence circles for months but not revealed.

All the details of the cover story are factual. I believe a Scandinavian delegation was briefed in Brussels in October. A sailboat did sail out on September 6th. The fact that so many details were known so early tells me that this was a cover operation intended to be exposed. Would professionals leave traces of explosives in the boat? If a real investigation had taken place, I assume Germany, Denmark and Sweden would have cooperated. They did not, except in agreeing to keep their findings secret.
I also believe Ukrainian leadership in Kiev did not know about the sailboat operation. Why would the CIA inform them, if the purpose of the operation was to shift the blame on Kiev?
The Times continues…

That is presumably not the intent of the influential figure suspected to have bankrolled such a sophisticated operation from his own pocket — involving a yacht, elite divers, forged passports and the procurement of shaped explosive charges only available to the gas and oil industry with a specific licence and at great cost.
His name will surely appear eventually, particularly given that he appears to have left a peculiar calling card. Ukraine’s relationship with its allies will fare better if the individual comes clean.

Who is this Ukrainian individual. Some oligarch perhaps? Sounds like Igor Kolomoisky, the CIA’s go-to bad guy for neferrious activities in Ukraine.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Mar 8 2023 21:28 utc | 211

This is a comment by Dutch political economist,(retired) Lecturer at University of Amsterdam and Professor at University of Sussex, author, peace and democracy activist Kees van der Pijl:
Three days after a closed door meeting between Biden and Scholz the New York Times and Zeit Online came with stories that not the US (as per Hersh) but 6 individuals rented a yacht to go to NordSTream and blow it up. Fantastic.

Posted by: JB | Mar 8 2023 21:30 utc | 212

Denis Nikitin the bloke claiming to be a pro Ukrainian Russian nationalist terrorist (weird contradiction to say the least) in the FT, bears a remarkable resemblence to Shvets Nikolai Vladimirovich, the chap arrested over the airport terrorism outside Minsk. (N.B. That link will only open for members of lord of war chat but his ugly mug is all over telegram).
Do others see this resemblence?

Posted by: Debsisdead | Mar 8 2023 21:33 utc | 213

The amusing thing about the silly cover story is how much it attempts to replicate the 1980’s bombing of the Rainbow Warrior conducted by france’s not very secret service. Except the frogs had a considerably larger team, they scuttled their leased yacht and the job of placing a couple of shaped charges just below the waterline of the Rainbow Warrior was considerably less complex a dive. They still got caught, so as if anyone who was serious would try & repeat that cock-up 40 years later.
Blind Freddie saw that was a cover op from the start of when the phoney NYT trumpets played.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Mar 8 2023 21:39 utc | 214

I have thought about few generic questions that the “yacht revelation” raises:
1. In what countries information of public importance is released through anonymous sources, sometime “a room in the ministry X that does not exist but journalists are invited” to do stenography? I do not recall “Indian/Chinese/Russian intelligence official disclosed under condition of unanimity that”, is it a specific custom of Level1/2 Western democracies?
2. What is the reason or benefit of handling information in this way? In the case of Seymour Hersh, the reason is clear, as this is information the government does not want to disclose.
3. What explosives were used and how easy it is to obtain, say, half a ton or more of them in Germany/Schengen Zone? I thought that even obtaining pure nitrogen fertilizer should be hard. Is it the case that transferring large amounts of explosives to terrorist organizations like “moderate Syrian opposition” made authorities loose control? Subway riders or motorists crossing bridges would be keen to know.
4. For that matter, what is known about the explosive devices that were used? How were they attached to pipes? If the perpetrators just dumped loose heaps of packets with explosives over the pipes, a group without sophisticated technical means could be a plausible culprit, but if they had to be attached in a durable manner and shaped with some specificity, much less so.
5. Billionaires have “yachts” that are like small cruise ships, but a boat rental in Rostock presumably has more modest stuff. Why the yacht pictures (or spect) are secret?

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 8 2023 21:41 utc | 215

Aaron Mate has a new (free to read) Substack up on the New York Times propaganda piece.
In Nord Stream attack, US officials use proxy media to blame proxy Ukraine
One month after Seymour Hersh reported that the US blew up the Nord Stream pipelines, US officials find a scapegoat in Ukraine and stenographers in the New York Times.
https://mate.substack.com/p/in-nord-stream-attack-us-officials

Tellingly, the Times distorts the basis for Hersh’s reporting. “In making his case,” the Times claims, Hersh merely “cited” President Biden’s “preinvasion threat to ‘bring an end’ to Nord Stream 2, and similar statements by other senior U.S. officials.” In falsely suggesting that he relied solely on public statements, the Times completely omits that Hersh in fact cited a well-placed source.
By contrast, the Times has no information about its newfound perpetrators or about any other aspect of its “significant” lead.
“U.S. officials declined to disclose the nature of the intelligence, how it was obtained or any details of the strength of the evidence it contains,” The Times states. Accordingly, US officials admit that “that there are no firm conclusions” to be drawn, and that there are “enormous gaps in what U.S. spy agencies and their European partners knew about what transpired.” For that apparent reason, “U.S. officials who have been briefed on the intelligence are divided about how much weight to put on the new information.” The Times, by contrast, apparently feels no such evidentiary burden.
In sum, US officials have “much they did not know about the perpetrators” – i.e. everything; “enormous gaps” in their awareness of how the (unknown) “pro-Ukraine group” purportedly carried out a deep-sea bombing; uncertainty over “how much weight to put on” their “intelligence”; and even “no firm conclusions” to offer. Moreover, all of this supposed US “intelligence” happens to have been “newly collected” — after one of the most accomplished journalists in history published a detailed report on how US intelligence plotted and conducted the bombing.
Given the absence of evidence and curious timing, a reasonable conclusion is not that a Ukrainian “proxy force” was the culprit, but that the US is now using its Ukrainian proxy as a scapegoat.

Then there’s this sarcastic point made:

The saboteurs somehow possessed the capability to carry out a deep-sea bombing, but not the awareness to properly clean up their floating crime scene. According to Die Zeit, the boat was “returned to the owner in an uncleaned condition,” which allowed “investigators” to discover “traces of explosives on the table in the cabin.” Should this lean “pro-Ukraine” crack team of naval commandos conduct another act of deep-sea sabotage, they will only need to hire a cleaning professional to get away with it.

Another good point made about Bellingcat and other OSINT types:

Unfortunately for self-styled digital sherlocks, major international crimes – particularly those involving intelligence agencies – cannot be solved from their laptops.

He also includes the link to his Youtube video of his interview with Hersh last week on The Grayzone:
Hersh: US bombed Nord Stream to prolong the Ukraine proxy war
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8QRWPxWP0o
My only comment on the New York Times and German fake news is: Who cares? No one is going to be held accountable as usual. If you want this story to be revealed to the public correctly, this is how you do it:
1) Find the US divers involved down in their houses or apartments in Florida.
2) Stick a gun up their noses, and kidnap them, along with verifiable proof that they are who they are.
3) Go on the Internet and force them to admit their culpability.
4) Make sure the interrogation is spread far and wide on the Internet, including sending it to China and Russia and the Global South before releasing it to the US Internet audience.
You might just have a slight chance that at least some people will see it and understand that the US is lying.
But still no one in the US will be held accountable by any agency or court in the US. That’s not how this country works. The government always gets off. And it’s unlikely that any legal case could be brought by Russia or Germany or the owners of the pipeline in an international court because those courts are all controlled by the US or governments beholden to the US.
So this whole thing is a “tempest in a tea pot” – perhaps “methane in the ocean.”

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 8 2023 21:42 utc | 216

There are 1,500 comments on Die Zeit article B. Linked above – I scrolled quickly through them and concluded 10:1 thought the story was laughable and quite a few comments mentioned the Hersh article.
Appears that regimist media everywhere has lost all credibility

Posted by: Exile | Mar 8 2023 21:50 utc | 217

Petri Krohn – 211
I was, too, wondering if they were hinting at Kolomoisky – specially since he’s fallen out of favour, at least apparently, with Zelensky.
I also was remembered of the Rainbow Warrior, and was thinking that these idiots coming up with such a silly cover story are really aiming for the lowest-hanging fruitcases, to believe something that stupid. Not only is Southern Baltic a NATO lake, NATO just had its manoeuvres that ended a few days before these “pro-Ukrainian” dudes sabotaged the pipelines; would be a gutsy move if it’s supposed to be hidden and secretive and made without any authorization from NATO.

Posted by: Clueless Joe | Mar 8 2023 21:53 utc | 218

A bit off-topic, but Seymour Hersh has a new public Substack post up about his relationship with Daniel Ellsberg, presumably related to the recent news that Ellsberg has terminal cancer. He relates his history with Ellsberg, in particular about a secret mission to terrorize Cuba and assassinate Fidel Castro that Ellsberg knew about.
MY FIFTY YEARS WITH DAN ELLSBERG
The man who changed America
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/my-fifty-years-with-dan-ellsberg

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 8 2023 21:55 utc | 219

Something is rotten near Denmark.

Posted by: RiNS | Mar 8 2023 21:57 utc | 220

I instinctively react to Joe Lauria’s optimistic reading of NYT’s NordStream story with skepticism, as Lauria interprets from it an intention, on the part of powers that be, to de-escalate in Ukraine. An end to the madness, and reasonably soon! Light at the end of the WW3 tunnel we’ve entered. Wouldn’t it be nice?

A consensus is forming among Western leaders that the war against Russia in Ukraine is lost. Thus Washington would have to save face to pull off such a reversal of policy. Insinuating that Ukraine blew up the pipelines of its ally Germany could help the U.S. climb down from its strident position in support of Ukraine.

https://consortiumnews.com/2023/03/08/as-bakhmut-falls-us-may-turn-from-ukraine-starting-with-pipeline-story/

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 8 2023 21:59 utc | 221

@WT Baker
Here here!
The other big tell that the media and PTB are lying is they immedialty jump to a conclusion right after information is presented:
2001: Terrorists took down three buildings and hit the pentagon and now we’ll implement a law that lets us spy on you…… who had nothing to do with it!
2002-03: Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and we must invade! Bin Laden is in Afghanistan so we must invade! (both turned out to be untrue)
2008: If we don’t bailout the banks then we’ll have martial law and tanks in the street so give us a blank check (more lies). QE is a short term emergency measure and we’ll undue it as soon as we can (still haven’t undone it to this day and continue to use QE every time the stock market can’t uphold its fraudulent values)
2014: Putin shot down MH-17! (also sometime around then, Assad is using gas on his own people…… counter move by putin, remove all of Assads chemical weapons via the UN) Isn’t it also funny that price of oil collapsed in 2014 after MH-17?
2008 to 2019: We must keep interest rates low because the economy can’t withstand higher rates (this is actually true but they speak about it like its protecting you from? your own freedom and escape from the corporate cartel?) Whats the rate on your credit card? Whats the rate on your savings acct (if you actually save, isn’t it funny how they laud debt and spite savings?)
2020: If you don’t let us print even more money then we did in the entirety of 2008 to 2019 then you’re all going to die to a virus you haven’t encountered in real life and only seems real on the TV and internet.
2021: J6 was worse then the civil war and proves that white supremacists are everywhere.
The list goes on and on: Remember those high school kids on a field trip to DC and the native american guy who’s face they got into but we learned a few weeks later the media made all that up also? It never ends, once your eyes are open you can’t unsee it.
And one final question: Who has lost their job or gone to prison because any of this? Instead they point at you and claim you’re the problem because gosh darnit you just don’t believe in them enough.

Posted by: Mr. House | Mar 8 2023 22:05 utc | 222

fyi
from Gonzalo Lira over at twitlandia
being G. Lira, he gets Scholx’s name wrong! :):)
https://twitter.com/GonzaloLira1968/status/1633512395770404868
– Within 12 hours, both @nytimes & @washingtonpost published long articles claiming that a Ukrainian group blew up the Nord Stream pipeline. German media picked it up. Now the German defense minister is threatening to withdraw support for Kiev. We now know what’s the plan.
– The Germans are going to use the terrorist attack against their infrastructure as the excuse to pull out of the Ukraine project. Olaf Scholtz went to the US to tell Biden: Either YOU blame Ukraine so we can pull our support for Ukraine—or WE blame YOU and pull out of NATO.
– Scholtz’s trip was last week—and now coordinated stories come out. Hmm! It is inconceivable that the Times, the Post, FT and Zeit would have simultaneously published essentially the same long article giving such a laughably fantastical story.
– The project to destabilize Russia via a proxy war in Ukraine is very obviously a bust. Russia is winning, and there’s no way to stop them from taking the whole country. The Biden administration needs a good excuse to get out.

Posted by: michaelj72 | Mar 8 2023 22:05 utc | 223

https://mate.substack.com/p/in-nord-stream-attack-us-officials
@ Richard Steven Hack | Mar 8 2023 21:42 utc | 216
Thx for the link. I love the smart-ass headline:
In Nord Stream attack, US officials use proxy media to blame proxy Ukraine
Tokens become aimless bumpercars, it seems, because artificial intelligence delegated to decide what to do as Bakhmut falls has abruptly, counter-optically encountered a hard obstacle of astonishing stupidity…

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 8 2023 22:15 utc | 224

Posted by: michaelj72 | Mar 8 2023 22:05 utc | 223
From the Twatter thread:

Fantastical or not, they give the Germans the political cover to get out of Ukraine without breaking their relationship with the US.
It does something else: It makes Zelensky’s regime look like a bunch of crazy people—a perfect excuse for the US to pull out of Ukraine.

Lira misses an important distinction in (at least) the NYT piece. They went out of their way to specifically say that neither Zelensky nor any of his inner circle or government had any knowledge of the plot carried out by “pro-Ukrainian” hobby divers.
The more I read about this, the more methinks he and Joe Lauria are engaging in wishful thinking. Unfortunately.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 8 2023 22:18 utc | 225

thanks b… it ain’t working….
i look forward to the next dispatch from seymour hersh… yes – a recreation of the skripal bullshit, but very different circumstances here make it impossible to fool as many…

Posted by: james | Mar 8 2023 22:22 utc | 226

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Mar 8 2023 21:28 utc | 211
Yo Petri, you mean the “tight-knit private group owned by two Ukrainians” is literally Privat Group owned by Kolomoiski and that holyboy character? That would be convenient as K. was apparently already thrown under the bus recently by both the Z and the B regime. Could be useful to be “revealed” in this, I agree, insultingly stoopit cover story.

Posted by: CE | Mar 8 2023 22:25 utc | 227

@ michaelj72 | Mar 8 2023 22:05 utc | 223
I can imagine those combinatorics in Lira’s head, but I seriously doubt that herr Scholtz did say anything as such or dared threatening to Biden.
It already is very humiliating for Germany, the very fact that they didn’t react from the day one. Now it’s too late.
This fairy tale of Ukrainian Apnea Battalion planting bombs on 100 m depth with a rented yacht is ridiculous as it gets, and nobody believes that.
And it is not about throwing Ukraine away, but whitewashing its own skin, as there is no doubt once RF starts going after them, they hope that they might slip away from the responsibility, but all that is in vain.
I trust Sy Hersh, as probably 99% of the people, and RF probably too.
Bigger news to me is that Borrell and rogue EU and very dubious bureaucrats are giving EU citizens pension funds as in form of a very urgent military help to Ukraine.
That is ripe for a decent prison sentence for all of them.

Posted by: whirlX | Mar 8 2023 22:31 utc | 228

michaelj72 | Mar 8 2023 22:05 utc | 223
Its a nice story but if it were true Scholtz’s plane would have gone down in the Atlantic. Much more likely it had to do with instability of his coalition, changes he’s going to have to make (probably jetisoning the Greens) and how that will affect Germany’s “commitment” to Ukraine. In person because he doesn’t want the British involved.

Posted by: Marxx | Mar 8 2023 22:37 utc | 229

@ 187
>>This video of supposed Kalingrad troops (Russian part near Poo-land) damn near mutinying their officer and refusing to go to fight in the Ukraine is going around Ukie Twitter right now.
A truth about governments is that if the situation is dire enough they will all waste the lives of their own troops for any small gain. The great discovery of the French Revolution was not the merits of democracy, but that young men could be drafted into an army, not properly rewarded for their service, and no general social revolt would develop. To quote the Bible from somewhere in the book of Ecclesiastes: “The good die young. Be yea not too good.”
As for committing suicide, if reasonably driven to that by the circumstance, I recommend getting some revenge. Take out as many of the offenders as you can before they take you down. Done by enough people, it would produce some reform.

Posted by: Jmaas | Mar 8 2023 22:39 utc | 230

People who deceive for a living can find some ingeious ways to blame their victims on Unity FM some pratvwas talking about ” Mother Theresa Syndrome” , by which he meant people like us on MoA who rescue others from their gullibility. What this prat was complaining about was that the fashion for Islamist cancelling of other Muslims belonging to other groups was being exposed and undermined by people of knowledge and faith.
Helping others is a fundamental in Islam.
If everybody read MoA, the Zionists and their proxy Nazis and Daesh would be finished. Indeed if more read MoA, MoA would be toast.

Posted by: Giyane | Mar 8 2023 22:45 utc | 231

The dog that ate my homework also blew up Nord Streams I and II. His tail always wagged a lot too.

Posted by: George | Mar 8 2023 22:45 utc | 232

Partizans here, partizans there, partizans everywhere!
What utter nonsense from the west. This is an attempt to legitimise attacks on Russian assets. “Partisans” as we know are also “heroes”. The west wants to encourage uprisings in Russia by legitimising such terrorists.
The US/UK blew up the pipeline! The Ukes attacked the airbase in Belerus (and claimed it was Belarus partisans). The Ukes attacked bases in Russia (and claimed it was partisans).
Its as clear as day what they are up to.

Posted by: HERMIUS | Mar 8 2023 22:47 utc | 233

Tannenhouser @155–
Thanks for your concern! I’ve been lurking and haven’t had anything to contribute to what’s clearly an ongoing circus made to keep the comedian stupid. I see Killer Dolphins have finally entered the Big Tent. What puzzles me is Scholtz’s visiting Biden as it makes me want to assume Scholtz knew there was never any hope for Russian gas to flow through those pipes again. Big Picture events have my attention, but there’s no real thread for their discussion so I post them at my VK. China’s been telling the Outlaw US Empire where to go, this gem from new FM Qin Gang at his presser yesterday:
“The US cannot let other countries take medicine for its own disease.”
One of those diseases is pathological prevarications, the latest example of which is being discussed but is not believed by RoW.
Oh, and today is International Women’s Day where Putin presented Russia’s annual awards to its outstanding women. IMO, Putin enjoys this event the most out of all the various ceremonies he presides over as something outstanding always presents itself. Putin caught that and closed his remarks thusly:
“But one of the speakers – a young girl, a war correspondent from Kherson – said very important words, in my opinion. She said, having been wounded and being in the hospital, she thought about how to escape quickly to get back to work. And to work, I draw attention to the threat to life.
“It seems to me that a significant part of Russian women is in this: not just to wait for something, improve in something, but the desire to work for the sake of the final result – wherever you work. Such asceticism of a Russian woman, who, as you know, is also a horse he will stop at the gallop, and he will enter the burning hut, this is where it is, this is the state of mind.”
As usual, the translation gums it up, but barflies will get the idea. That woman, from Kherson, is in several of the 35 photos. A pause for a moment of thought followed by a toast is most deserving!
And yes, all those women are leaders of the best type.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 8 2023 22:48 utc | 234

Tanya @ 171:
Dolphins are not too common in the Baltic sea. But do occasionally show up there to do pipeline inspections and entertain children.
IMO They must have used Back Sea Dolphins to plant the mines. They are more intelligent than your run of the mill Bottle Nose Dolphin. With their high degree of technical knowledge. Black Sea Dolphins are certainly capable of delivering and planting mines on multiple pipelines. Lured by a few cases of frozen fish. They would have happily followed a pleasure boat from Ukraine to the Baltic sea. Where they performed their work.
So Long and thanks for all the Fish!

Posted by: Golddiggr | Mar 8 2023 22:48 utc | 235

Posted by: Mr. House | Mar 8 2023 20:45 utc | 193
user error = persecution.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Mar 8 2023 22:52 utc | 236

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 8 2023 21:59 utc | 221
I agree. Lauria is probably wrong. The US isn’t trying to de-escalate in Ukraine, it’s merely blaming someone else for its own actions. This is reflexive with the US.
When the Russian victory is definitive in another six months or so, the US will continue to escalate. The neocons have no “off button”, as Mercouris likes to say. They always double down on failure.
A lot of people like Lauria continue to harbor emotionally-based notions that somehow this war will end without a Russian complete victory, a Russian takeover of all of Ukraine, further deterioration of the country in which they live, and some kind of “improvement” of the international situation.
They forget the old saw: “Cheer up, things could be worse. So I cheered up – and sure enough, things got worse.”
As I’ve said before, the US isn’t going to stop destroying the world until: 1) the world is destroyed, or 2) the US is destroyed, at either the economic or military level. Those are your choices. Deal with it.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 8 2023 23:01 utc | 237

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 8 2023 23:01 utc | 237
there is no other plan except to externalize the conflicts and crises of the west. take the internal discontent and direct it against manufactured enemies. this includes migrants, who also are part of the “foreign threat.”

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Mar 8 2023 23:05 utc | 238

Golddiggr | Mar 8 2023 22:48 utc | 235
There’s two of them. I’ll leave it to the bar to identify the rest.
Dolphins in the Baltic?!

Posted by: Tanya | Mar 8 2023 23:07 utc | 239

Just listened to the NYT propaganda podcast “The Daily” where they lay out the narrative they are pushing for grade schoolers. “We thought it could be Russia cause they are bad, but why would they destroy their own pipe? (They are bad, but not stupid). Some people thought the US might have done it (Biden’s threat), but they denied it so that’s out. Maybe Ukraine?… But no, ‘non-state (pro-Ukrainian) actors’ did it. Did Z know? He says no, but he has done some bad things to Russia before, so maybe. But if he did know that could be bad press in Europe and he’s not stupid so…”
All insinuation with no evidence delivered over dramatically from the gods of NYT investigative journalism. No mention of Sy Hersh. Total propaganda piece.

Posted by: the pessimist | Mar 8 2023 23:09 utc | 240

Posted by: Jo | Mar 8 2023 23:15 utc | 241

rjb1.5 | Mar 8 2023 23:05 utc | 238
Oceania is at war with Eurasia. Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.

Posted by: tbq | Mar 8 2023 23:16 utc | 242

Responding to 237
Unfortunately,I have come to the same conclusion. The only other way is to get the Ncons out of power and kill their poisonous ideology.

Posted by: David Aceret | Mar 8 2023 23:18 utc | 243

There is also a growing consensus that Trained SEALS were used. These pesky critters can be very troublesome.
There were many pods of SEALS acting suspicious. Spotted in the pipeline area before the the Nord Stream destruction

Posted by: Golddiggr | Mar 8 2023 23:27 utc | 244

Re: Tanya. Dolphins, all the way down

Posted by: Medo | Mar 8 2023 23:32 utc | 245

sooooo…if two charges did not explode…the yacht did not return to remove them….Norway did but refuses to release info as the mainactor if known would threaten national security thing… then they are complicit.
If Norway has the two charges in possession they could of course produce them and their investigation info to prove it was the private operation by Ukies and thus clear their own name and USA.
Posted by: Jo | Mar 8 2023 23:15 utc | 241
Unless you have access to information that is unavailable to the rest of us, the publicly announced cleanup of the site was done by the Swedes. After they finished other countries, not including Norway as they had no legal reason to be there, were able to visit. Norway had no involvement in it.

Posted by: JohninMK | Mar 8 2023 23:35 utc | 246

sooooo…if two charges did not explode…
Posted by: Jo | Mar 8 2023 23:15 utc | 241
—
The missing charges are like the 18½ minute gap that brought down the Nixon White House.

Posted by: too scents | Mar 9 2023 0:09 utc | 247

“by: First Time Poster | Mar 8 2023 18:30 utc | 144”
“You’re pooh poohing data because you’re not considering how it gets applied.”
No, I’m poo-poo-ing the poo-poo statement that the pressure “doubles every ten meters” (as several others also did) because I took a math class and a physics class in high school and understood it. The pressure increases linearly with depth, not exponentially, because the water density does not change (significantly) with depth.

Posted by: Dalit | Mar 9 2023 0:10 utc | 248

I actually find this rather encouraging. If they had been successful in simply ignoring Seymour Hersh’s report then that’s what they would have kept doing: ignoring the pipeline story and hoping it will go away.
Obviously it isn’t going away.
So now they have moved to Plan B: throw out nonsense after nonsense in the hope that everyone gets so confused that nobody knows what to think.
I doubt it will work, and I suspect very much that their hand was forced by knowledge that Hersh has more information that he is planning to reveal. If so then I think HIS new account will drown out THIS nonsense story rather than the other way around.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Mar 9 2023 0:15 utc | 249

Good news: “Billionaire fraudster who ‘stole Russia’ dies aged 56: Sergey Grishin once boasted that he ‘practically brought the Russian banking system to collapse’ in the 1990s.”
Seems it was a stroke, although I’m surprised his passing isn’t being spun as Novichock induced.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 9 2023 0:20 utc | 250

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Mar 9 2023 0:15 utc | 249
god I hope Hersh just drip, drip, drips them to death with a series of scoops. I think the tensions between the majority of americans, who are getting screwed 6 ways to Sunday, are going to ramp up. we’re going at least have to go through experiences similar to the Bonus marchers and the Haymarket riot and the Ludlow massacre to get the powers that be to start paying attention to US problems and stop trying to burn the world down in a tantrum about not getting their way.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 9 2023 0:21 utc | 251

Apologies if redundant (I haven’t read the thread) but Bhadrakumar’s commentary on this case presented a paragraph of ice-cold writing that I especially admired:

“The Biden team in sheer naïveté thought that sabotage of the Nord Stream would be a geopolitical masterstroke to humiliate Germany and make it a vassal state, destroy all bridges leading from Russia to Europe, and consolidate the US’ transatlantic leadership. They overlooked, out of sheer hubris, that it still remained a cowardly criminal act.”
– It is Zugzwang for Biden in Ukraine

Posted by: Grieved | Mar 9 2023 0:27 utc | 252

Posted by: David Aceret | Mar 8 2023 23:18 utc | 243
Which isn’t doable, either – unless one is prepared to simply find and execute the lot of them. As I’ve said many times, unless one is ready to take up arms in an effective manner – and that’s the hard part, the effective manner – and simply take out the corrupt individuals running the country, nothing is going to change because those people have the power to prevent any other form of change, from voting to legal efforts to trying to convince the population to revolt. All such efforts must fail because of the power imbalance between the rulers and the ruled.
This has been true throughout history. Rulers fall only when the population revolts or someone kills them (usually another ruler) – and these days, revolutions are out of favor in virtually all populations due to brainwashing over generations that some other mechanism can solve their problems – which in reality they can’t.
So we have any number of idiots like Jimmy Dorr who thinks some “People’s Party” is going to change things. Email me when that happens.
Computers and guns – that’s the only solution.
As someone once said, “Armies create problems by killing many, when the solution to all problems is to kill one – the right one.”

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 9 2023 0:36 utc | 253

As an addendum to my last, if I were Putin, instead of invading Ukraine, I would have, starting way back in 2014 or even earlier back in the ’90s, assigned my best assassins to track down and assassinate every last neocon in the US and Europe.
Problem solved. Of course, there would have to be no screw-ups and no way to track the assassins back to Putin. Like I said, “effective manner.”

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 9 2023 0:40 utc | 254

Apologies if redundant (I haven’t read the thread) but Bhadrakumar’s commentary on this case presented a paragraph of ice-cold writing that I especially admired:
“The Biden team in sheer naïveté thought that sabotage of the Nord Stream would be a geopolitical masterstroke to humiliate Germany and make it a vassal state, destroy all bridges leading from Russia to Europe, and consolidate the US’ transatlantic leadership. They overlooked, out of sheer hubris, that it still remained a cowardly criminal act.”
– It is Zugzwang for Biden in Ukraine
Posted by: Grieved | Mar 9 2023 0:27 utc | 252
Thank you for posting that, it is great stuff.

Posted by: Bemildred | Mar 9 2023 0:50 utc | 255

Posted by: tbq | Mar 8 2023 23:16 utc | 242
yeah i know. on the point i made, i’m preaching to the choir.
except in a matter really of a few months, the west has tucked tail and ran from Afghanistan (except for the goal of starving them via sanctions), then jumped into Ukraine 7 months later, and now one year after this debacle, real manly men (and Samantha Power) are done with Moscow. Now it’s on to Beijing!
it’s comical, it’s own horrible, bloody way. but i’m not on the receiving end of such humanitarian concern. yet.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Mar 9 2023 0:53 utc | 256

@ Vragtes | Mar 8 2023 17:12 utc | 129
Appreciate your effort. Thank you so much. MOA community is always very helpful – so many brains and intellects are weaved into fabric of views and opinions.

Posted by: Alex Vadim | Mar 9 2023 1:14 utc | 257

The Outlaw US Empire released its annual Threat Assessment today that’s filled with Howlers, some of which were reported by RT in two separate reports, one for China and one for Russia. Here’s an excerpt from the Russian one, but set your beverage down first:
US spies believe Russia’s ground forces have been weakened by the war and “military failures” in Ukraine, which will compel Moscow to rely on its significant nuclear deterrent. Alleged losses in Ukraine will “require years of rebuilding,” making Russia “less capable of posing a conventional military threat to European security” or “operating as assertively in Eurasia and on the global stage,” they claim.
This has probably “reduced the likelihood of Russian military intervention in other post-Soviet states,” the spies believe. They suggest Moscow won’t be able to intervene as it did in Belarus (2020) and Kazakhstan (2022) “to prevent expressions of popular dissatisfaction with the government from leading to regime change.”
I do wonder what the classified version says; is it just as wrong and projection filled as the public version?

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 9 2023 1:25 utc | 258

Six tries at posting a comment each of which failed. Back to lurking.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 9 2023 1:34 utc | 259

The story is utterly inadequate, yet the intelligence community is seeding it in the media. Why does the IC feel it necessary to lie? Because of course the Hersh story is correct, or correct enough. It is indirect confirmation of Hersh’s information.

Posted by: Walter | Mar 9 2023 1:35 utc | 260

@ karlof1 | Mar 9 2023 1:34 utc | 258
Infrequently recurring, yet transient, here as well … no identifiable reason as far as I can identify. Semi-retired platform(WordPress), minimal maintenance/support ?
Enjoy a coffee & try again later. 🙂 Cheers.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 9 2023 1:39 utc | 261

Experienced divers who do not work for military or intelligence services.
How could they possibly know that? Thus why say it? It assumes 1) they know exactly who the perpetrators are and 2) they believe their database of foreign agents is 100% complete.
Even more dubious: “it is possible that the perpetrators received specialized government training in the past.”
So some ex-military or intelligence operative who no longer works for such…yeah, right.

Posted by: gailstorm | Mar 9 2023 1:45 utc | 262

BAYONETS AT THE READY AS UAF TROOP AMMO RUNS DRY
Troops fighting the relentless Russian advance in Bakhmut have been reduced to WW1 levels of combat, according to two soldiers, in the centre of the city, who recently managed to get the message out on a social media platform.
The two, who wished to shield their identity for obvious reasons, said “Our Guns and artillery are now useless. They’re dead weight. There’s no fukin ammo….we’ve been left to fight with bayonets and knives against a formidable enemy”.
Bakhmut is key to the Ukraine defence lines in the Donbas region. Kiev fears the loss of the city will shatter morale amongst the already badly depleted Ukraine army. One officer, who wished to remain anonymous, told us “We’ve been outmanoeuvred by the Russian military since the start of the invasion”.

Posted by: HERMIUS | Mar 9 2023 2:02 utc | 263

Air raid sirens going off in 404 again! Does anyone else get that Christmas morning feeling when this happens?

Posted by: LGB! | Mar 9 2023 2:08 utc | 264

Why is one NS2 pipe undamaged?
Did they not plant charges?
Why would the perpetrators leave one out of four intact?
If they had to, why one of the two high capacity pipelines?
Did the charges not detonate? Are the charges still there?
Has anybody found them?
Has anybody looked?
Has anybody even – ever – asked the “investigators”?
Three out of four pipelines were hit.
How many charges per pipeline? One? Two?
Did one of the pipes get hit twice?
How many explosions registered in seismic data? Has anybody asked?
It is not surprising that there are no answers to be found.
But what is astonishing is that nobody in published opinion even appears to ask?
Not Seymour Hersh either?

Posted by: b. | Mar 9 2023 2:44 utc | 265

The Swashbuckling nature of the pipe bombing would require US or UK divers and submersibles SEALS SBS and certain specialists in the art on top of that. 4 devices set off 2 accidently placed on one pipe. This just isn’t something the De-automatized Germans would dare do. I doubt the Norwegian demolition divers have the capacity to do the dive and the autonomy.
Certainly not a hydrate slug eh?

Posted by: Wokechoke | Mar 9 2023 2:44 utc | 266

@Exile #217
“Appears that regimist media everywhere has lost all credibility”
I have noticed that many, if not most, comment sections have disappeared recently. Especially from publications without a paywall. They don’t want public opinions on display.

Posted by: Billb | Mar 9 2023 2:49 utc | 267

Hearing rumors of missile strikes across UKRland but can only find this from any “news” source :
https://theatlasnews.co/conflict/2023/03/08/major-russian-air-attack-on-ukraine/
Anyone have anything?

Posted by: Just Observing | Mar 9 2023 2:51 utc | 268

Anne Applebaum meets a well-informed young questioner and she wilts into silence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2NJrZtJxzY

Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 9 2023 3:00 utc | 269

https://t.me/s/Slavyangrad
The sounds of a Russian missile flying over Odessa —a missile strike across the entire territory of Ukraine—continue.
Arrivals are also reported in the Nikolaev and Dnepropetrovsk regions of the country. Air raids are still sounding throughout Ukraine, while geraniums, which completely disoriented Ukrainian air defense, and Russian missiles, are simultaneously striking at the country’s critical infrastructure.

Posted by: james | Mar 9 2023 3:02 utc | 270

Of all places, the NY Times is also reporting it:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/03/08/world/russia-ukraine-news
(I hope for NY Times’ sake that madman Zelensky doesn’t put them on the kill list, for reporting it.)

Posted by: Chris | Mar 9 2023 3:06 utc | 271

Does anyone else get that Christmas morning feeling when this happens?
It does raise the spirits to contemplate a US or European politician visiting Kiev, and being at the right place, at the right time, when an arrival hits.

Posted by: Chris | Mar 9 2023 3:11 utc | 272

Posted by: b. | Mar 9 2023 2:44 utc | 264
Difficult operation. Difficult operations tend to fail at least partially. Everyone involved in covert operations understands Murphy’s Law perfectly. These aphorisms describe the usual military situation:
Level 1) SNAFU Situation Normal All Fucked Up.
Level 2) TARFU Things are really fucked up.
Level 3) FUBAR Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.
Level 4) BOHICA Bend Over Here it Comes Again.
So I’m not at all surprised that one or more charges failed to detonate and only half the job was done. I’d be surprised if the mission were a complete success.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 9 2023 3:22 utc | 273

Simplicius has a new Substack post up… Nice maps of Bakhmut. He has links to five videos showing what it means to have fire control over a road. He discusses the Russian advance toward Avdeevka. He discusses what happens after Bakhmut falls. He references MoA’s report on the Nordstream situation. He also discusses the delivery of JDAMS to Ukraine. Lastly he mentions the degree of minefields that Ukraine has at its disposal.
Everyone should read his post.
SITREP 3/8/23: Southern Advances Amid Prigozhin’s Momentous Speech
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-3823-southern-advances-amid

It continues to appear that Wagner’s Prigozhin is the ultimate troll. The pattern many are starting to notice is that, as soon as he complains, feigning some sort of massive problems, Wagner in fact subsequently spurs into a string of large gains.
And once again it has happened. Only days after some new ‘controversy’ surrounding Prigozhin, followed by more complaints and ‘rumors’ of everything from Wagner needing to ‘pull out’ or retreat, to ammunition shortages, to fears of being ‘flanked’ by a new AFU counter-attack, suddenly Wagner has in fact surged forward with such ferocity that even Stoltenberg appears to have finally caved in, stating that Bakhmut may now fall ‘within days’:

I agree – Prigozhin is a troll and the idiots here who constantly quote him are concern trolls. Take not who they are for the next time this issue surfaces – because it will.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 9 2023 3:36 utc | 274

@ b. | Mar 9 2023 2:44 utc | 264
Impersonating b (not ‘b.’) to deceive the unwary ? Tsk, tsk, tsk. 🙁
@ Billb | Mar 9 2023 2:49 utc | 266
Very many years now. And those that do exist, heavily pre-moderated to align with the propaganda/narrative.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 9 2023 3:37 utc | 275

Sounds like Odessa is getting the business! Been a minute. I was getting worried (you cuz Russia has no more missiles, lol)

Posted by: LGB! | Mar 9 2023 3:39 utc | 276

US officials have now positively identified the six perpetrators of this crime:
Willie Gilligan
Jonas Grumby (codename “Skipper”)
Thurston Howell III
Eunice Howell (codename “Lovey”)
Roy Hinkley (codename “Professor”)
Ginger Grant (codename “Movie Star”)
A seventh person was under suspicion – one Marie-Ann Summers – but is no longer regarded as a person of interest as she was too darn cute to have been involved in something like this.
Arrest warrants were issued for the remaining passengers and crew, but in a cruel twist of fate they went out on a three-hour tour and never returned.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Mar 9 2023 3:46 utc | 277

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 9 2023 3:36 utc | 273
Thanks for that link. I was speculating earlier that the Wagner/RF spat was mostly a psy-op to suck in Zelensky to send more meat into the grinder.

Posted by: Chris | Mar 9 2023 3:49 utc | 278

I’m afraid this farse won’t change a thing. It won’t damage U$-German or German-Ukrainian relations as long as they keep it to some abstract ‘pro-Ukrainian group’. Pretty much à la Suchany.

Posted by: Sektion2B | Mar 9 2023 3:55 utc | 279

@ Richard Steven Hack | Mar 9 2023 3:36 utc | 273
Well, Simplicius may well be foolishly imperceptive, & I’m likely a troll then. Take note. 😉
See: Maskirovka: From Russia, with Deception. Co-ordinated/directed, Strategic/Operational, Influence/Information/Deception/Uncertainty OPs. Col Glantz has an excellent treatise on the the topic … for a a briefer tome with excellent refs, ‘Krym Nash’: An Analysis of Modern Russian Deception Warfare, Col Bouwmeester(NL)

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 9 2023 3:58 utc | 280

@273 Richard Steven Hack | Mar 9 2023 3:36 utc
Let’s unwrap that a little more. “Prigozhin is the ultimate…” – well, call him a troll for want of a better word but I call it classic maskirovka, Russian military deception.
We spend so much time watching the US talking the big game about advancing while actually retreating that we tend to forget how the Russians do it, which is silently to conquer while talking about failure.
Indeed, Prigozhin is the ultimate. A smaller scale and less accomplished than Medvedev, but a piece of the whole just the same. More public than the Kremlin, so a more free agent to be outlandish.
Is there any doubt that the Russian MOD could silence Prigozhin with one command if it deemed it necessary?
Progozhin, like Medvedev, is part of the much needed levity for the soldiers in this campaign, a little bit of irony and perhaps even grace in the midst of the carnage – part of the antidote to blood-letting.
So keep talking that trash, comrade Prigozhin, and we’ll watch your soldiers keep taking that ground.

Posted by: Grieved | Mar 9 2023 3:59 utc | 281

@279 Outraged | Mar 9 2023 3:58 utc
Ah, we agree. And I took Simplicius to mean that all along, but in the middle of a big sitrep he reached for a word and troll was what he came up with.
Even so, the overwhelming import of his paragraphs on that matter is that every time Prigozhin runs his mouth, looking lightweight, it’s cover for the fact that Wagner is doing something heavyweight. I’m sure Simplicius understands this well, but explained it a little elliptically.
~~
It’s as hard to look like a showboat when you actually are deadly serious as it was for Mohammad Ali to look like he was losing on the ropes for all those long rounds, until Foreman was finally exhausted and Ali landed his terminal blows.

Posted by: Grieved | Mar 9 2023 4:06 utc | 282

Clearly the leadership of western governments are acting, independent of authority allowed to the governments the leaders work for. So what are the governed masses doing? They no longer believe the news, the media, the corporate empires or anything the governments say, so what are the governed masses doing to provide for their own security? Few members of the governed masses are happy the governments have given tax payer dollars to Ukraine, jobs and small businesses are disappearing, food and clothing prices are rising about 1% a month and .
I think we are seeing a lull before the storm..
Today I was visiting a town where the news reported Gaetz a member of the US house , said the FBI, the DOD and I think it was Homeland Security needs to be closed down, <= hope I heard that correctly.. ? This level of dissatisfaction suggest the governed crowds are sick of things. Its possible this war in Ukraine could have far reaching impacts on the behaviors of corporations and their partnerships with governments in the USA, UK, Germany and other places ..

Posted by: snake | Mar 9 2023 4:09 utc | 283

You are making the extremely common mistake of imagining that the puerile attempt to manufacture an alternative narrative is meant to be credible. It is not. Credibility has nothing to do with it; in fact credibility would be a significant drawback in what it is meant to be.
Which is, a loyalty test.
Remember the Skripal hoax? How credible was that? Yet the faithful fell over themselves in their haste to swallow that fairy story. The same thing will happen here. The faithful need a line to tie themselves to; whether it makes sense or not is not just immaterial, the more nonsensical the better, because it will conpel the faithful to tie themselves even more tightly to it.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 9 2023 4:14 utc | 284

My favourite part is how the Commando Squad returned the boat.
When you hire a boat under a false name to conduct major geopolitical infrastructure destruction, don’t forget to return it, without cleaning it, so you can get your security deposit back.

Posted by: DDK | Mar 9 2023 4:17 utc | 285

Posted by: b. | Mar 9 2023 2:44 utc | 264
Exactly, those questions are relevant, if Russians would want to repair the damage – they could inadvertently cause another huge explosion. The perpetrator (NATOs) would smirk and trumpet – “the Russians did it again”.
The insurance companies which would be responsible to pay for the damages done thus far, and damages resulting from the explosion of that elusive unexploded charge will want to have some questions answered. Unless they will be told to keep quite and swallow the loss and pay / or not pay…

Posted by: fanto | Mar 9 2023 4:19 utc | 286

@ Grieved | Mar 9 2023 4:06 utc | 281
Indeed ’tis so.
Your shout! Beat ya by a minute(with suggested refs). 😉 Cheers.
Appear weak when you are strong, appear strong when you are weak. – paraphrased(?), Sun Sue.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 9 2023 4:24 utc | 287

Somethings happening…

Posted by: Irish | Mar 9 2023 4:30 utc | 288

English Outsider @111. Fantastic analysis. FWIW,followimg his meeting with Biden, I am absolutely certain Scholz gave the green light to the USA to destroy the pipelines.

Posted by: Jo Dominich | Mar 9 2023 4:32 utc | 289

Donbass Devushka @PeImeniPusha on Twitter reporting explosions across Ukraine

Posted by: Irish | Mar 9 2023 4:32 utc | 290

Posted by: Irish | Mar 9 2023 4:32 utc | 288
Yup. The first wave started at 4 am Moscow time.

Posted by: Sektion2B | Mar 9 2023 4:36 utc | 291

Rumours of launches from the “north” – Belarus? Kursk?

Posted by: Irish | Mar 9 2023 4:37 utc | 292

For those interested in the Russian economic situation…
Russian Oil Price Cap: Has It Failed? Paul Sankey and Richard Medhurst (2 hours, 50 minutes – the Sankey interview is probably less followed by Richard’s usual)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4pYyTo5oNY
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 9 2023 3:58 utc | 279
Posted by: Grieved | Mar 9 2023 3:59 utc | 280
Calling Prigozhin a “troll” doesn’t preclude his trolling being a deception operation. 🙂
Barflies trolling his troll still makes them concern trolls.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 9 2023 4:52 utc | 293

Posted by: A.z | Mar 8 2023 8:03 utc | 22
I think you may have a point about Ukrainian involvement in the Nordstream explosins.
At the time of the Nordstream explosions I had previously noted the following:
1-UK had upgraded their naval diver Corps for essentially special ops early in 2023.
https://www.defenseadvancement.com/news/royal-navy-divers-create-new-elite-mission-teams/
2- UK gave submersibles and tra ining Urkraine in using them for mine removal. If you can remove a mine you can place a mine. UK had apparently been training Ukrainian personnel three months prior to this August 2022 announcement.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/27/uk-to-give-ukraine-underwater-mine-clearing-drones-and-training
3- NATO had been conducting ordinance removal exercises in Baltc prior to Nordstream.
https://mc.nato.int/media-centre/news/2022/nato-ships-participate-in-historical-ordnance-disposal-operation-open-spirit-2022
A Utube interview (that I cannot now locate, sorry) by a Polish environmentalist who had opposed both Nordstream I and II, made an interesting point. He stated that when he heard that Nordstream I had blown up he was not surprised. He said that was because Nordstream I was located in an area where there was a lot of old ordinance that could explode which it randomly does. He thought is was vindication of his environmental objection to Nordsteam I. He then said that when he heard Nordstream II had blown, he was certain it was sabotage because no old ordinance was in that area.
Could this disaffected group of Ukrainian saboteurs comprised of UK trained Ukrainians and better trained mercs on leave or retired military from NATO countries?
Just say’in

Posted by: Jerr | Mar 9 2023 4:56 utc | 294

I was listening to Mercouris earlier on. He is right to state that, if these alleged 6 people and yhe alleged Ukranian oligarch who funded them is plus the fact the alleged yacht was rented in Poland then there should be an intl warrant out for their arrest and they should be put on trial for a gross act of Terrorism. That’s proper evidence.

Posted by: Jo Dominich | Mar 9 2023 4:56 utc | 295

I would like to see the deep state take a political hit for all this, but you don’t always get everything you want. If Gonzalo Lira is correct and it is an excuse to get Germany to withdraw support for the war, then on balance it is to the good. If Germany drops out, the rest of the EU in Europe will slack off or drop out officially. The United States, despite the enormous military budget, is not well equipped to fight a major war in central Asia, and we would have to pass on the effort also, preferably before mid summer because the election season is coming up.
As for Russia, I am reminded of Machiavelli’s aphorism, “That which does not kill me makes me stronger.” Russia at the absolute minimum would keep the four oblasts they nationalized, and would insist that the rest of it go officially neutral. Something close to the Chinese peace plan would be the minimum. I would go for more but Putin doesn’t seem to be all that territory hungry. The eastern end, by the way, is the best part of the country. Too bad so sad for the Ukrainians.
On balance to the good for us, and on to another stupid confrontation, this time with China.

Posted by: Jmaas | Mar 9 2023 5:03 utc | 296

@ Richard Steven Hack | Mar 9 2023 4:52 utc | 291
Um, therefore, trolling, the trolling, by the troll, is ‘concern trolling’, yet the primary trolling at issue, by The troll, is valid deception OPs. Wodger that, understood, 5×5. Out. lol 😉

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 9 2023 5:14 utc | 297

Wokechoke | Mar 9 2023 2:44 utc | 265

4 devices set off 2 accidently placed on one pipe.

I think you are on to something woke. I recall seeing recently a high-resolution underwater photo montage, showing the location of the “pipe bombs” and that there were two sections of pipe at remove from the pipeline they came from. One embedded vertically and I believe the other was bent at 90 degrees, or as explained in the caption.
1. To blow up this stuff must take a lot of explosive, and carefully set
2. Why were only three of the four pipes breached? If deliberate I can’t think of any reason save bragging, “we could have blown them all up!”
Otherwise it suggests an error or misfire/dud situation. If they sat for months, (Feb to September?) maybe the batteries went dead.
However Wokechoke, if you can follow up, are you saying it’s possible they laid the bombs at two parts of the same pipe? Any data to back that up, I think the photo montage I described above might have something to say, but I can’t find it.
Maybe someone has a link to some map of the area and where the pipes were broken. This idea is worth following up.

Posted by: jonku | Mar 9 2023 5:14 utc | 298

Hmm, I’ll guess that this could be one of the rare times that Russia is strongly taking into account the psychological warfare aspects of the timing of these massive waves of missile and drone strategic attacks against Ukrainian installations within Ukrainian cities.
In short, Russia waited for the reality of the bad news coming from Bakhmut to hit home within Ukraine, and then, as news just as bad is on deck to be delivered, and seen as irrefutably true, launch missile and drone attacks that will be impossible to ignore across Ukraine, and which highlight that the Zelenskyy government in Kiev is unable to defend against Russian offensives both on the ground, and from the air.
I think the Russian High Command is pretty, pretty, pretty, darn sure of positive news coming from the battlefront, news that neither the Zelenskyy regime, nor its media and political allies, will be able to spin as anything other than a low point for the Ukrainian government’s attempts to hold off Russia from attaining its goals.
What better time to have Ukraine reeling from an air bombardment that demonstrates the Russian military’s prowess, and the Zelenskyy regime’s inability to defend from it?

Posted by: Babel-17 | Mar 9 2023 5:16 utc | 299

Eng translation:
All warfare is based on deception.
Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
Sun Tzu

Posted by: suzan | Mar 9 2023 5:20 utc | 300

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