Last week, US media outlets stated that sabotage strikes against the Nord Stream gas pipeline network last fall were carried out by an unidentified, unknown “pro-Ukrainian group” that had no known ties to any particular state. Dmitry Medvedev, a former head of state of Russia, characterized the reporting as “cheap” but “grand Hollywood drama.”
Tulsi Gabbard, a former congresswoman from Hawaii and current presidential candidate, has provided an explanation for the Biden administration’s attempt to use the media to shift responsibility for the Nord Stream attacks on a different party. She claims that the international repercussions of suspected US responsibility for the crime are simply too serious to admit.
The United States and NATO are clearly to blame for this act of sabotage and act of war that involved targeting and damaging the Nord Stream pipeline at this point. In a segment on Tucker Carlson’s show, Gabbard referred to Tuesday’s New York Times reporting citing US intelligence officials who blamed a “pro-Ukrainian group” for the sabotage. “They’ve been lying to us about it all along, now they’ve been busted and so they’re trying to sell us this absurd cover-up story,” Gabbard said.
Biden sending F-16s to Zelensky and the “pro-Ukrainian organization” that destroyed the Nord Stream pipeline are topics Tulsi Gabbard and Tucker Carlson discuss:
“It is so obvious at this point that the United States and NATO are responsible for this act of sabotage and act of war attacking and… https://t.co/Zo9eAVGf6R pic.twitter.com/XTXO2JMqLi
— kanekoa.substack.com (@KanekoaTheGreat) March 10, 2023
The truth is that [Washington] is to blame for this, and the consequences—both immediate and long-term—are grave. It establishes a precedent for nations like China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia to conduct attacks and sabotage against other nations’ vital infrastructure, including gas pipelines, underwater cables, financial systems, satellites, and the list goes on. Just consider the issues that would arise for us, the American people, and the rest of the globe as a result, Gabbard said.
The former congresswoman and veteran of the Iraq War dismissed reports in the US and German media about the “Ukrainian trace,” claiming that they “implies that the United States and NATO’s military intelligence agencies are so inept and incapable that nobody knows what was going on” and that “nobody saw this coming.”
Carlson chimed in, “This pipeline fed Germany, which is the economic powerhouse of Europe. “Germany is a major NATO player… We just destroyed the economy of a significant NATO ally. Would Germany still be a close NATO ally if it blew up the Hoover Dam? He questioned, “Doesn’t NATO have to fall apart after we get discovered doing this?
Gabbard agreed, saying that the White House and NATO want people to believe the cover-up story to nullify the implications of what actually took place – “an act of war not just against Russia but also against our ally, Germany,” and illegal under US laws to boot, since war can only be declared by an act of Congress.
Part of a Pattern
Tuesday’s reporting blaming Ukraine was not the first time during the Ukrainian crisis that the White House has used its access to the legacy press to push its narrative and throw Kiev under the bus.
In October, before any Ukrainian officials claimed responsibility for the attack on the Crimean Bridge, the New York Times reported that Kiev was responsible, citing a pair of anonymous Ukrainian intelligence officials. Separately last fall, anonymous officials told the newspaper that US intelligence assessed that Ukraine was responsible for last summer’s car bombing murder of Russian journalist Darya Dugina.
Senior Russian officials have mostly avoided addressing the new reporting about the “pro-Ukrainian group’s” and the Nord Stream attacks, instead repeating calls for a comprehensive and transparent probe into the act of terrorism.
However, former Russian president and Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev could not help but react to the story, characterizing it as “ignorant US propaganda” that sounds like a Hollywood blockbuster about a group of “inglorious bastards”-style “lone rangers fighting against the damned Muscovites.”
Unfortunately, he said, the end result was just “so-so,” featuring “mediocre actors, a director that’s no Quentin Tarantino, very poor casting and camera work, and a script that’s boring as s***.”
Last month, bombshell reporting by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that the pipelines were rigged to blow by a team of US Navy divers operating under the cover of a NATO exercise last summer, and remotely triggered by a Norwegian aircraft flying overhead months later. The Biden administration dismissed Hersh’s story, while most legacy media has either refused to report on it, or tried to smear Hersh, who has an unimpeachable reputation for accuracy and more than 60 years of journalistic experience, as a “discredited journalist.”