Yesterday’s attack on the Nord Stream system is not unprecedented:

professional hog groomer @bidetmarxman – 15:51 UTC · Sep 27, 2022In 2015, the annual routine underwater survey of the Nord Stream 1 pipelines came across a remote-operated vehicle rigged with explosives right next to one of the lines in Swedish waters.  The umbilical cable had been cut. The drone’s national origin was never disclosed.

In 2015 Pipeline Journal reported:

The Swedish military has successfully cleared a remotely operated vehicle (drone) rigged with explosives found near Line 2 of the Nord Stream Natural Gas offshore pipeline system. The vehicle was discovered during a routine survey operation as part of the annual integrity assessment of the Nord Stream pipeline. Since it was within the Swedish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) approximately 120 km away from the island of Gotland, the Swedes called on their armed forces to remove and ultimately disarm the object.

The national identity of the drone has not been verified so far, as many countries use Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) of similar construction, [Jesper Stolpe, Swedish Armed Forces spokesman,] said.

To destroy a sub-sea pipeline requires more than an ROV/drone-delivered shaped charge.

Javier Blas @JavierBlas – 15:18 UTC · Sep 27, 2022How strong is a Nord Stream pipe? Quite!

The steel pipe itself has a wall of 4.1 centimeters (1.6 inches), and it’s coated with another 6-11 cm of steel-reinforced concrete. Each section of the pipe weighs 11 tonnes, which goes to 24-25 tonnes after the concrete is applied.

It wasn’t earthquakes that destroyed the pipelines. These were several well-targeted and massive explosions:

A Swedish seismologist said on Tuesday he was certain the seismic activity detected at the site of the Nord Stream pipeline gas leaks in the Baltic Sea was caused by explosions and not earthquakes or landslides. Bjorn Lund, the seismologist at the Swedish National Seismic Network at Uppsala University, said seismic data gathered by him and Nordic colleagues showed that the explosions took place in the water and not in the rock under the seabed.

 

The targeted explosions were not small:

Dagny Taggart @DagnyTaggart963 – 15:56 UTC · Sep 27, 2022Swedish seismologists from Lund University noted that “at least 100 kg of TNT (perhaps more) were used to destroy the pipelines.”

Much more at the link moonofalabama.org

Dirk Pohlmann’s excellent documentary submarine deceptions end with the murder of Swedish premier Olof Palme. Investigative TV journalism like this does not get to the airwaves anymore, in fact, co/producing German broadcaster ZDF re-edited the film without consulting the author. Here’s the original from ARTE.

Pay close attention to the players involved in the hysteria that went on for years, US, UK, and rouge Swedish military circles. I remember it well from my time in Denmark, and the choc felt at the assassination of Olof Palme. One can compare it to the loss of JFK, without hyperbole.

 

REAGAN’S SECRET WAR

Ronald Reagan’s secret war of covert ops to undermine the Soviet Union was exposed for the first time, with expert witnesses and footage never seen before – 30 years before the NSA scandal…

While his inauguration in 1981, Ronald Reagan redefined the U.S. Cold War strategy: The best defense is a good offense, was his motto. Especially the “Deception Operation Committee” worked tirelessly to undermine the faltering Soviet Union. Gas pipelines were sabotaged with computer chips smuggled in, causing the biggest non-nuclear explosion in history. Air and sea maneuvers were conducted off the Russian coast in order to demonstrate strength and technical superiority while intimidating and embarrassing the Soviet counterpart.

The film examines the importance and impact of US covert ops under Reagan through the expert testimony of high-placed eyewitnesses and never-seen-before footage. We see up close how the Reagan administration pulled no punches, even when it came to compromising the sovereignty of democratic nations. A fatal development that finds its echo thirty years later in the NSA surveillance scandal.

From 9/27

First footage shows gas leaks in Nord Stream 1 and 2, as a 200m circle of gas escapes pipes

Norwegian Armed forces have released the first footage of gas leaks within Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

From Moon of Alabama’s Bernard

Just yesterday I laid out how the U.S. is winning its war on Europe’s industries and people.

That war, hidden behind the U.S.-created Ukraine crisis, is designed to destroy Europe’s manufacturing advantage compared to the U.S. It is more likely though to strengthen the economic position of China and other Asian economies.

I have argued that Germany must open the Nord Stream II pipeline which can bring Russian natural gas to Germany without crossing other countries’ territories. It must also allow Siemens to repair the defective Nord Stream I compressors. It is in fact inevitable if German’s industry is to survive.

Others have come to a similar conclusion and decided to sabotage the pipelines to make their re-opening impossible:

Three offshore lines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline system have sustained “unprecedented” damage in one day, Nord Stream AG, the operator of the network, said on Tuesday in what one German official has suggested is a “targeted attack”.

Nord Stream 2 suffered a gas leak which was then followed by a drop of pressure on Nord Stream 1. The company also said that it was impossible to estimate when the gas network system’s working capability would be restored.

The simultaneous sub-sea damage to three pipelines is obviously not an accident.

A German economy official told Tagesspiegel: “We can’t imagine a scenario that isn’t a targeted attack.”They added: “Everything speaks against a coincidence.”

biggerThe warmongers at the British Telegraph claim without any evidence or logic that Russia is the culprit:

Russian sabotage of gas supplies to Europe has been feared after three offshore lines of the Nord Stream pipeline system suffered “unprecedented” damage in a single day.

Russia has withheld gas supplies to Europe as it seeks to hit back against Western sanctions imposed for the illegal invasion of Ukraine. German newspapers reported sources saying the leaks were a result of a “targeted attack”.

As stated in yesterday’s piece the claim that Russia is withholding gas from Europe is outright false:

Nord Stream II was created to make Germany independent from pipelines running through Poland and Ukraine. Blocking it was the most stupid thing for Germany to do and thus chancellor Scholz did it.

In the following months, Poland blocked the Yamal pipeline which also brought Russian gas to Germany. Ukraine followed up by cutting off two Russian pipelines. The main compressor stations of the Nord Stream I pipeline, which the German company Siemens had built and has the maintenance contract, failed one after the other. Sanctions are prohibiting Siemens from repairing them.

It is not Russia that has blocked its gas and oil from European markets. It was the German, Polish, and Ukrainian governments that did it.

Russia would in fact be happy to sell more. Putin has recently again offered to push as much Russian gas as possible through Nord Stream II to Germany:

If Russia were to cut pipelines in the Baltic Sea it would damage those that bring Norwegian gas to Europe, not the pipelines it owns and which give it some leverage.

Russia thus surely has no plausible interest in sabotaging the Nord Stream system. Others though do have such interests. They likely want Germany to ‘stay in line with their war to Decolonize Russia. The major potential actors behind this are the U.S., the British, the Ukrainian, and the Polish government, or a mixture of those.

Geography, and the shallow depth of the Baltic Sea, seem to exclude that U.S. or British submarines did the damage. Ukraine does not have access to the Baltic Sea. Poland, which had already tried to prevent or hinder the Nord Stream II construction, is the most likely actor behind this though I doubt that it would dare to act alone.

Consider this from April 2021:

The developers of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline have accused foreign naval forces of “provocative” activity in the vicinity of construction work. The controversial pipeline is about 93 percent complete, and two Russian pipelay vessels are on station and working on the project in Danish waters.

Andrei Minin, the branch director of Gazprom-run Nord Stream 2 AG, told TASS that “foreign warships and vessels were demonstrating higher activity” near the operation, and that “such actions are provocative and can lead to gas pipeline damage.” He also accused Poland of deploying a military M-28 patrol aircraft to survey the site.

“The Polish Navy is not conducting provocative operations and has been carrying out its statutory tasks in agreement with international laws,” responded the Polish Army’s central command in a social media post. “M-28B Bryza planes regularly conduct patrol flights in the Baltic Sea region.”

Poland strongly opposes the development of Nord Stream 2, which will give Gazprom a subsea alternative route for supplying natural gas to Western European customers. At present, that gas has to pass through overland pipeline networks in Poland and Ukraine, bringing in valuable transit fees and providing both nations – which do not always have cordial relations with Russia – a measure of energy security.

 

Followed by this from May 2021:

Poland has reacted angrily to President Joe Biden’s decision to waive US sanctions on Nord Stream II, warning the move could threaten energy security across Central and Eastern Europe.“The information is definitely not positive from the security point of view, as we know perfectly that Nord Stream II is not only a business project – it is mostly a geopolitical project,” said Piotr Muller, a spokesman for the Polish government.

On February 7 Biden stated that he would decide if Nord Stream II opens:

After both leaders appeared to avoid mentioning the pipeline, under repeated questions from reporters at an afternoon press conference, Biden, standing next to the German chancellor said Nord Stream 2 would not move forward if Russia invades Ukraine, in a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin of potential economic consequences.”If Russia invades, that means tanks or troops crossing the — the border of Ukraine again, then there will be — there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,” Biden said during the press conference with Scholz, who did not go as far as Biden, but insisted the U.S. and Germany remain “absolutely united.”

On February 27 Biden sanctioned the company for owning the pipeline.

Under its current rightwing leadership, Poland has been extremely hostile to Germany. This month it even renewed is demand for war reparations from Germany, an issue that had been settled decades ago:

Poland’s top politician said Thursday that the government will seek the equivalent of some $1.3 trillion in reparations from Germany for the Nazis’ World War II invasion and occupation of his country. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Law and Justice party, announced the huge claim at the release of a long-awaited report on the cost to the country of years of Nazi German occupation as it marks 83 years since the start of World War II.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday the government’s position remains “unchanged” in that “the question of reparations is concluded.”

“Poland long ago, in 1953, waived further reparations and has repeatedly confirmed this waiver,” the ministry said in an emailed response to an Associated Press query about the new Polish report.

It is high time for the German government to wake up and to recognize that a war has been launched against its country.

And no. It is not Russia that is waging it.

Posted by b on September 27, 2022 at 12:03 UTC | Permalink

BERLIN, Sept 27 (Reuters) – A seismograph on the Danish island of Bornholm twice recorded spikes representing earth tremors on Monday, the day on which the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines underwent dramatic falls in pressure, German geological research center GFZ said.

The seismograph recorded near-silence until 0003 GMT (2am local time) when there was a spike representing a tremor in the earth followed by a continuous hissing waveform. The pattern repeated itself at 1700.

European politicians and security experts have suggested that the pipeline rupture near Bornholm could have been caused by sabotage. GFZ declined to be drawn on whether the tremors recorded could have been the result of an explosion.

“There was a spike and then regular noise,” said GFZ spokesperson Josef Zens. “We cannot say if that could be gas streaming out.”

---

Seismograph spiked twice on day of Baltic pipeline leaks – Germany’s GFZ

Großer Flottenverband der US-Navy passiert Fehmarnbelt

Am Mittwoch passierte ein Flottenverband der US-Navy Fehmarn. Die „USS Kearsarge“ als Flaggschiff war dabei das größte Kriegschiff. Kreiszeitung.de

(S+) Nord-Stream-Pipelines: Dänische Erdbebenstation registriert verdächtige Signale

Ein Ereignis am Montagmorgen, ein weiteres am Abend – ein Messgerät auf Bornholm hat offenbar den Moment festgehalten, an dem die Nord-Stream-Pipelines beschädigt wurden…

” … Das Deutsche GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) in Potsdam hat die öffentlich zugänglichen Aufzeichnungen der seismischen Station auf der dänischen Insel Bornholm analysiert. Die Daten der Station »DK.BSD« belegen zwei Ereignisse, eines am frühen Montagmorgen um 02:03 Uhr, ein weiteres am Abend um 19:04 Uhr.

Zu beiden Zeitpunkten schießt die Kurve im Messbereich von zwei bis acht Hertz abrupt nach oben. In beiden Fällen zeigt sich außerdem im Anschluss über Stunden ein erhöhtes Rauschen. Erdbeben kämen als Quelle für die Geräusche in dem Zeitraum nicht infrage, heißt es beim GFZ. … ”

Dänische Erdbebenstation registrierte verdächtige Signale

Large US Navy fleet unit passes Fehmarn Belt

On Wednesday a fleet unit of the US Navy passed Fehmarn. The “USS Kearsarge” as flagship was the largest warship. Kreiszeitung.de

(S+) Nord Stream pipelines: Danish seismic station registers suspicious signals

One event on Monday morning, another in the evening – a measuring device on Bornholm apparently captured the moment when the Nord Stream pipelines were damaged…

” … The German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam has analyzed publicly available records from the seismic station on the Danish island of Bornholm. The data from the “DK.BSD” station documented two events, one early Monday morning at 02:03, and another in the evening at 19:04.

At both times, the curve shoots up abruptly in the measurement range from two to eight Hertz. In both cases, there is also an increased noise for hours afterward. Earthquakes are not a possible source of the noise during this period, according to the GFZ. … ”

Translated with DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Nord-Stream-Pipelines: Experte nennt Gründe für mögliche russische Sabotage

Raw Empire feed (In German)

Am Donnerstagmorgen passierte ein Flottenverband der US-Navy Fehmarn. Die „USS Kearsarge“ als Flaggschiff war dabei das größte Kriegsschiff.

• Russische Atom-U-Boote sowie NATO-Verbände im Fehmarnbelt.
• Schiffe wieder Richtung Westen unterwegs.
• 40 Hubschrauber und Kampfflugzeuge an Bord.

Fehmarn – Spätestens mit dem russischen Angriffskrieg auf die Ukraine, der im Februar begann, sowie der dadurch bedingten sicherheitspolitischen Zeitenwende mit den NATO-Beitrittsgesuchen Finnlands und Schwedens ist die Ostsee zu einem Aufmarschgebiet der Seestreitkräfte Russlands und der NATO geworden. Das lässt sich gut an der steigenden Zahl der Kriegsschiffe festmachen, die in den vergangenen Monaten den Fehmarnbelt passiert haben. Das gilt für russische Atom-U-Boote ebenso wie für NATO-Verbände. Am Donnerstagmorgen passierte ein Flottenverband der US-Navy Fehmarn.

Großer Flottenverband der US-Navy passiert Fehmarnbelt

Fehmarn Fleet USS Kearsarge USS Arlington

The “USS Kearsarge” (r.) and the “USS Arlington” were part of the U.S. Navy fleet convoy that passed westbound through the Fehmarn Belt Wednesday morning. © Rolf Dunkel
On Thursday morning, a U.S. Navy fleet unit passed Fehmarn. The “USS Kearsarge” as flagship was the largest warship.

Russian nuclear submarines as well as NATO formations in the Fehmarn Belt.
Ships again heading west.

40 helicopters and fighter planes on board.

Fehmarn – At the latest with the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, which began in February, as well as the resulting change in security policy times with the NATO membership applications of Finland and Sweden, the Baltic Sea has become a deployment area for the naval forces of Russia and NATO. This is well illustrated by the increasing number of warships that have passed through the Fehmarn Belt in recent months. This applies to Russian nuclear submarines as well as NATO formations. On Thursday morning, a U.S. Navy fleet unit passed through Fehmarn.

NATO maneuvers in the Baltic Sea

The amphibious assault ship “USS Kearsarge,” accompanied by the landing ships “USS Arlington” and “USS Gunston Hall,” was on its way west Wednesday morning. Previously, the ships were part of U.S. units participating in NATO maneuvers, calling at numerous ports in Germany, Scandinavia, and the Baltic States.

Nord Stream AG, the owner, described the breakages as “unprecedented”. The pipes were not pumping gas to Europe at the time the leaks were found amid the dispute over Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, said it was an “act of sabotage”, while his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said she views the leaks as “deliberate actions”, and the Danish energy authority said any event like this was “extremely rare”.

Dramatic gas bubbles rising to the sea’s surface measure 100m in diameter and will continue for several days, the authority said.

The two pipes were damaged near the Danish island of Bornholm in the southern Baltic Sea.

The Kremlin said it could not rule out sabotage as a cause of the damage, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov describing developments as “very concerning news”.

A European security source said: “There are some indications that it is deliberate damage. You have to ask: Who would profit?”

A reading from a nearby seismograph, which records vibrations on the planet’s surface, was found to show spikes at similar times to when the losses in pressure in the pipes were first recorded, according to a German geology research center.

Read more: How Nord Stream 2 has been controversial from the start

‘No doubt these were explosions’

Sweden’s national seismology center said its stations recorded “powerful subsea blasts” in the area where the gas leaks occurred, the latter measuring the equivalent of a magnitude-2.3 earthquake.

Bjorn Lund, a seismologist with Uppsala University who is part of Sweden’s national seismic network, told the national broadcaster SVT: “There is no doubt that these were explosions.”

He said the first was recorded in the early hours of Monday southeast of Bornholm. The latter and stronger blast on Monday evening was northeast of the island and equivalent to 100kg of dynamite.

“We know very well what an underwater blast looks like. And so in this case, there’s no doubt this is not an earthquake,” Mr. Lund said.