[amalter]

It certainly highlights the vulnerability of undersea pipelines to sabotage. If Russia had written off a restart of NS(1/2) this move further destabilizes the large EU economies, introduces fear and uncertainty into the political theater and sows discord between allies.

Any of the highly sophisticated players could have rendered the pipeline useless without this explicit show of force. A simple reversing of the cathodic protection undersea would permanently degrade kilometers of pipeline. There are dozens of proposed scenarios that would permanently damage both pipelines while maintaining at least the semblance of reasonable doubt.

So the "critical thinking exercise" is not just who gains from the NS destruction, but who gains from this flashy, public show of force.

At this point the "China Theory" that this forces Russia over the barrel on pricing is as good as any.

(Disclaimer - I think Russia totally did it, but no one here knows).