A few hours ago, the pressure in Nord Stream 2, the undersea gas line connecting Russia and Germany, plummeted and began leaking gas bubbles into the Baltic sea near the Danish island of Bornholm. 🧵
German media is reporting that a leak in the newly built pipeline is most likely the result of sabotage.
The relatively shallow depth of the Baltic Sea at the location of the leak means that the damaged pipeline will be readily accessible by submersible and possibly even divers.
Over the coming days and weeks, we should expect to see a forensic investigation into the failure to determine the cause.
However the dramatic drop in pressure to only 7 bar (~60 m of water) suggests that the pipeline may have filled with seawater.
If that’s the case, it may be that the pipeline will require such extensive repairs that restoring it to operability is cost prohibitive.
Prior to any investigation, Western media is likely to push the theory that Russia is behind this sabotage.
Which makes little sense since there is no reason for Russia to destroy their own infrastructure they both spent billions constructing and have complete control over.
Who most clearly benefits from such a disaster?
Since the same time last year, the US has more than doubled the volumes of gas it is sending to Europe.
In this context, it is readily apparent that the US has been motivated not only to spark and maintain the conflict between Russia and Ukraine but also in subordinating Europe to temporarily buoy its own flailing economy.
Prior to this leak, the only thing preventing flow through the pipeline was a regulatory block placed in February by German Chancellor Scholz at the behest of the US.
Earlier today, protests demanding the pipeline be opened erupted in Germany. The timing is simply incredible.
If a pipeline is closed simply due to a regulatory block, the only impediment to opening the valves is political.
But if a pipeline is destroyed, there is no need to worry about a change in Chancellor.
This relentless pursuit of monopoly control over Europe’s energy supply is the most clear demonstration of how Europe is being imperialized by the U.S.
Thus it is no coincidence that, in the absence of communist leadership, Europe is seeing a rise in fascist govts as a result.
Addendum: we’re going to have to wait for the investigation, but if you wanted to sabotage a new undersea pipeline while making it appear as an accident, one way to do it would be to trigger a very small submarine landslide.
Another possible pipeline sabotage technique with plausible deniability is the use of unexploded ordinance left over from WW2.
BREAKING: unconfirmed reports of pressure drops in ***BOTH*** Nord Stream lines (1 and 2)
US-backed attempts at foreign destabilization always try to leverage *real* grievances, not to bring any resolution to the aggrieved. Quite the opposite, they attempt to intensify.
The only correct position for the western left to take is to oppose *ALL* forms of intervention.
Yellen is once again traveling to Beijing, this time to try to get China to curb “overproduction”.
What's the real goal? 🧵
The goal of this pressure campaign is to somehow convince China to self-sabotage the foundation of their budding prosperity—their means of production—thereby eliminating the competition.
Why don't the capitalist countries try to out-compete China on commodity prices instead?
They've tried!
But due to decades of offshoring productive capacity and hoovering up their best and brightest minds into the financial and "tech" sectors, regaining a competitive edge will require a lot more effort than simply throwing money at the problem.
On Monday, Israeli fighter jets bombed the Iranian consulate in Damascus killing over a dozen people in an outrageous act of provocation against both Iran and Syria.
It is clear that Israel is intent on instigating a direct confrontation with Iran.
What’s the goal? 🧵
While this attack represents a blatant provocation, it is not without precedent by western powers. Those old enough might recall a similarly atrocious act by the US in the 1999 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
Iran's increasingly close alignment with Russia and China over the past few years is something Israeli and American foreign policy experts have feared since Brzezinski's warning in 1997.
In America, a "FICO Credit Score™ " is a blacklist administered by an unelected private oligopoly.
Americans are inducted into this capitalist credit initiative from birth, which controls everything from where they can live and which employer they are allowed to work for.
In order to be allowed to live in a house when they're older, Americans must begin taking out loans starting from an early age—even if they don't need a loan.
Americans call this ritual to appease private banks and landlords "building credit".
Before being hired, many employers require Americans to divulge their FICO credit history to assess their trustworthiness.
If deemed insufficiently trustworthy, an applicant will not be hired.
It has become clear Israel has no plan beyond trying to force millions of Palestinians into the Sinai desert by starving and bombing all that remain in Gaza. Israel is acting as if any Egyptian objection to this plan is a bluff.
This is utter insanity. 🧵
Despite being led by a US puppet, Egypt is facing a dramatic economic crisis of their own that worsens each day of Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.
Both Suez transit fees and tourism—key buttresses of govt revenue—have fallen off a cliff since Oct 7.
Egypt's recent decision to increase transit fees betrays a level of desperation, since higher fees only make the shipping via the alternate route around Africa more attractive when new insurance risk premiums are factored in, and thus risk additional rerouting.