Returning to the subject of yesterday’s post, I was considering what kind of effects might be caused by a country sabotaging the valuable infrastructure of a country with which it was not in a state of war. What immediately came to mind was reciprocation. Currently a new pipeline is going into operation from Norway to Poland. Would it surprise anyone if that pipeline were sabotaged? Now maybe this isn’t something the Russians would want to do. Maybe they have other fish to fry with the Poles. But it seems to me that the US has moved into entirely new territory with the bombing of the pipelines and they should expect the Russians to respond in kind.
Now, maybe this is all according to plan. Maybe the people running our foreign policy (and domestic policy) are looking for a response. As I said yesterday, this may be a tail wagging the dog operation they’re running and they need a Russian reaction to provide a distraction from the economy during the mid-term elections. If that’s the case they may be hoping for something soon and drastic. If nothing happens then probably the CIA will be disappointed. I’m sure they want acknowledgement for their wanton destruction. Maybe a commendation.
But here’s the thing. This is a different level of provocation than even the military aid we’ve given the Ukraine. Even with the targeting information and advanced artillery we’ve provided to the Ukrainians the actual attacks have been through proxies. The sabotaging of the pipelines was done by United States directly. It was a non-military target and it was completely unrelated to the Ukraine conflict. It will be answered.
Really the only question is when. Supposedly the Russians are pretty savvy about injecting their actions into the politics of their adversaries. After all, hacked by Putin is a byword of Democrat party fear. What they might do is wait for the mid-term elections to conclude and then once the Democrats have been trounced and can’t benefit from the distraction, I imagine some kind of revenge might occur. What it might be is hard to know. I have no knowledge of the relative vulnerabilities of different sections of US infrastructure.
The most likely thing would be an underwater pipeline. That is what’s known as poetic justice. But it could be anything. It might not be sabotage. It could be a data dump based on some kind of espionage that would be especially embarrassing to the Biden government. It could be a terror attack coordinated with a Mexican drug cartel. After all the southern border is essentially wide open. It could be almost anything.
But the point is the Biden administration has gone out of its way to slap Russia in the face. Chances are there will be a response and chances are it will be an escalation. My only hope is that innocent Americans aren’t hurt or killed in the process. But this is what happens when the foreign policy of a superpower is put in the hands of Yale and Harvard goofballs. Maybe in 2024 we can rejoin the community of responsible nations again. Until then just pray it all doesn’t go nuclear.
Update
Nostradumbass has suggested a couple of theme songs for the current situation
We are definitely treading in dangerous territory.
Very dangerous and completely unnecessary. The people running our foreign policy are delusional.
Let me see. If I’m Vlad and I want to get Joe back but not help him in the midterms what would I do? I’d wait until the US holiday season and then I’d have my cyberwarfare folks shut down utilities across the United States. It would be an attack in kind to what Joe did and I could have plausible deniability by hiding behind the anonymity of the internet. I’d not only hurt a ton of people by cutting off their heat, water and power but I’d also kick the snot out of the US economy and maybe, crash… Read more »
Yeah, Joe has left us open to a lot of very depressing counterattacks. He has a real shot at going down in history as the worst US president of all time.
Here is another way it could go: Civil trial and penalties. The Nordstream pipelines were not a military target nor was there a declaration of war between the US and Russia. If it can be proven that the US blew up those pipelines, then Russia can file charges in the international court, force the US to pay for repairs and repay Russia for loss of income every day until the pipes are repaired. And, trust me, Vlad could stretch that repair out for decades. The US gets a black eye on the international stage (Sorry you are feezing, Hans –… Read more »
What scares the hell out of me is we’re about two steps from a real war. Joe Biden is too brain-addled to care what his handlers tell him to do. I don’t want to see young Americans die for these maniacs. There’s nothing worth dying for in this whole stupid mess.
time to queue “For what it’s worth” by Buffalo Springfield.
If nothing else, all this thrashing around is not increasing voter satisfaction with the Biden administration. Joe’s going to lose the Congress or else there is no longer any relation between voter sentiment and election results. Either way we’ll have a resolution as to whether there is any way out of this thing. And we may also find out if the Republicans are completely useless or not.
or maybe Ball Of Confusion (That’s What The World Is Today) by the Temptations, esp. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
Vote for me and I’ll set you free”
They sure had some good music back then. I’ve started to forget how good it was. Those were scary times back then. But I think we’ve got them beat today. Things are coming apart at the seams.
I sometimes forget that there is a different perspective depending on where you live and how you have lived. I am sorry that you have this dread, I look forward to the changes that are coming, if only to break the tension of the noose around my neck. The heavy lifting is coming, not the end of the world, just the end of the status quo.
I worry about the damage that the Deep State can still do. A shooting war with Russia is pretty bad. Stealing another election this year would be pretty bad. They seem to have dropped the mask and taken off the gloves. A lot of misery could be in the cards. But you’re right. Resolution is better than living like this.