Hersh: Nord Stream explosion decision possibly 'anger' or 'punishment

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Famed journalist Seymour Hersh, who had previously exposed US war crimes in My Lai and Abu Ghraib, and had most recently exposed the US' role in the Nord Stream explosions, reveals further information in an interview with China Daily.

Hersh argued that the US elites had a "long-standing history" of being "disturbed by the Russian gas and oil sales to Western Europe" which was further confirmed after US President Joe Biden’s public threat to "bring an end" to the Nord Stream pipelines just two weeks prior to the war in Ukraine. This, Hersh said, proved that it "wasn’t much of a secret what we wanted to do."

Biden's decision to order the demolition of the Nord Stream pipelines, says Hersh, was motivated by Germany's projected reluctance to continue arming Ukraine.

Hersh said "the only thing" he can "think and suppose" is that Biden "was afraid of Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz not wanting to put more guns and more arms into Ukraine."
 
During the interview, Hersh highlighted that he was not sure whether Biden's decision was made at a time of "anger" or as a form of "punishment", adding that "those who were involved [in the bombing] had the same thought."

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Significantly, Hersh explained that the US administration was unhappy with the fact that its proxy war against Moscow was not "going well", and "decided in late September to trigger the mines." He said that American foreign policy elites had made it clear, in the past, that they objected to Russian-Europpean cooperation. Based on that, Hersh said he was not "surprised one bit" by the decision to sabotage the Nord Stream Pipelines.

"Because Russia has a nearly ‘inexhaustible’ supply of ‘cheap and very clean’ natural gas, America has a long-standing history… of being very disturbed by the Russian gas and oil sales to Western Europe," Hersh stated.

To use US mainstream media terminology, Hersh said the Biden administration has "always been bothered by the fact that Russia… was ‘weaponizing’ gas." 

"And that’s the theme of American foreign policy towards Russia," Hersh argued.

In a nutshell, the journalist explained, the attack on Nord Stream meant that Biden "cut off a major power source through Western Europe," and thus, consequentially, "Europe is in a crisis now."

However, this crisis will inevitably have a ripple effect that will come to haunt the Biden administration down the road given that energy prices will continue to rise. Ergo, Hersh said "this summer and fall, it’s going to be very difficult for Biden," and explained that Biden is "going to get a lot of criticism for what he did, that’s for sure."

US may directly meddle in Ukraine war, Seymour Hersh warns

The US may directly delve into the Ukraine war if Kiev starts showing cracks in its defenses and signs of defeat against Russia, Hersh had said earlier, on March 15.

Addressing a US NGO event, Hersh quoted unnamed sources as saying there would be a NATO "game" against Russia that the US may wind up supporting.

"I'm told the game is going to be: this is NATO, we are supporting NATO in offensive operations against the Russians, which is not going to fool the world… It's us fighting Russia," Hersh stressed.

Read more: Biden, Scholz secretly discussed NordStream sabotage this month: Hersh