It was a Keyser Soze move that basically destroyed Russias bargaining position.
At the same time, it was an enormous fuck you to EU citizens and, in particular, Germany: "Oh yes you will buy our gas ..."
It appears to be panning out in a non-destructive way for the EU citizenry as they muddle through this winter but it was not obvious that would be the case and this (relatively) benign outcome could not have been predicted.
If I were an EU citizen (particularly a German) I would be upset. Even as an American I am disturbed ...
EDIT: You know that thing ... that crazy thing that Dick Cheney said in that interview[1] ? About how there is no reality and reality is whatever we say it is:
"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."
... every day that goes by I become more and more convinced that he could be right. NS2 sabotage makes it hard to argue with him.
Another one of those interesting discussions that the news seems to have forgotten. It seems Ukraine had the most to gain, but from my limited understanding it's not so easy to robotically place explosives at the bottom of the sea in a precise, destructive manner unless you have a really well-funded naval force.
It kind of reminds me of the polonium poisoning that has become a Russian signature move. Despite not taking credit, the number of actors who have the capability to do it is so limited that it's basically outing them regardless.
No one seems to want to bring up the press conference where Biden said that if Russia invaded Ukraine there would no longer be a nord stream pipeline. When asked to clarify he said something like " oh youll see"
Nobody "forgot". Germany shut it down in February[1], like he said they would. The White House celebrated those words coming true literally the day after.[2]
It was a Keyser Soze move that basically destroyed Russias bargaining position.
At the same time, it was an enormous fuck you to EU citizens and, in particular, Germany: "Oh yes you will buy our gas ..."
It appears to be panning out in a non-destructive way for the EU citizenry as they muddle through this winter but it was not obvious that would be the case and this (relatively) benign outcome could not have been predicted.
If I were an EU citizen (particularly a German) I would be upset. Even as an American I am disturbed ...
EDIT: You know that thing ... that crazy thing that Dick Cheney said in that interview[1] ? About how there is no reality and reality is whatever we say it is:
"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."
... every day that goes by I become more and more convinced that he could be right. NS2 sabotage makes it hard to argue with him.
[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2009/04/were-...