Germans: What did your Chancellor know, and when did he know it?
Germans: What did your Chancellor know, and when did he know it?
Germany's Olaf Scholz appears to have been "in" on the plan to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline.
This article was originally published on Medium on Feb 21, 2023, but since Scholz is now under so much fire …
I have been perplexed, as are many, at the idea that the USA would unilaterally blow up the Nord Stream pipeline, thereby destroying the economies of Europe, but particularly eviscerating the German economy, which was so dependent on cheap Russian gas to fuel its heavy industries.
Indeed, Germany is already feeling the economic results of the sabotage, as more and more companies shut down operations there and move to the USA, where energy is 7x cheaper than it is in Germany now. The country is literally “de-industrialising”.
It is even more of a mystery that the UK, Denmark, Norway and Sweden all seemed to be briefed on— or at least aware of — the plan to destroy Nord Stream. Indeed, Norway appears to have played a critical role in executing the operation, according to Seymour Hersh’s bombshell exposé.
Why, then, was Germany itself excluded? Did those other countries not feel any loyalty to their fellow EU and NATO member Germany?
And then I thought: what if Germany WAS in on it? What if Olaf Scholz had been briefed? What if he had given the “green light” to the project?
This sounds ridiculous, but let’s just look at the timeline.
Angela Merkel holds the line on Nord Stream
In July 2021, Germany and the US issued a joint statement about Nord Stream:
“Germany underscores that it will abide by both the letter and the spirit of the Third Energy Package with respect to Nord Stream 2 under German jurisdiction to ensure unbundling and third-party access. This includes an assessment of any risks posed by certification of the project operator to the security of energy supply of the EU.”
Angela Merkel had held firm. The US was going to allow Nord Stream 2 to go forward, as long as Germany made guarantees in some areas.
Then came … Baerbock?
Before Olaf Scholz arrived in Washington on his first diplomatic trip to the US, his warmongering Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, beat him to it. She arrived a few days earlier to meet with the Administration before Scholz made his own debut.
Baerbock has never made any bones about her opposition to the Nord Stream project. She condemned the project — in Neocon terms — as soon as she took office:
Baerbock said the pipeline only benefited the Putin regime, destabilised Ukraine, contradicted EU climate change targets and clashed with Europe’s geostrategic interests.
Baerbock is a globalist who has espoused very strong “transatlanticist” views. This includes the need to keep the USA on top by isolating Russia and preventing Germany from relying too much on cheap Russian gas.
She also believes in escalation, and provoking Russia at every turn.
As she left for Washington, Baerbock pronounced her fealty to the US point of view:
“The strength of the trans-Atlantic alliance is not measured in tanks and missiles but first and foremost in the way we act in concert when it matters — when basic norms of international law have to be defended and we have to stand up for our common values,” she said before heading to Washington.
Two days later, when Scholz met with Biden, the two leaders gave a joint press conference, where Biden said this:
“If Russia invades, that means tanks or troops crossing the … border of Ukraine again, then there will be … no longer a Nord Stream 2. We, we will bring an end to it,” Biden said. Asked how, given the project is in German control, Biden said: “I promise you, we’ll be able to do it.”
Scholz, who was standing just a few feet away, said, in English: “We are closest allies and working intensely together”, he declared. “We’re absolutely united and we will not take different steps. We will do the same steps”.
Whether Scholz caved of his own accord, or whether his Foreign Minister had succeeded in pre-empting the discussion and foreclosing on any protest, the deal was struck: on Biden’s orders, and with Scholz’s acquiescence, Nord Stream would be, to use the Americans’ words, “a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea”.
Deafening silence from both Scholz and Biden
Remarkable also is that both the Scholz government and the Biden Administration are keeping mum on the subject of the Nord Stream debacle and the Hersh allegations.
Dr. Maximilian Krah, who used to belong to Angela Merkel’s CDU party, is now foreign policy spokesman for the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) delegation in the EU Parliament. He called attention to the sellout of the Scholz government regarding Nord Stream 2 in 2022:
“One inevitably has the feeling that the [Scholz government] is taking its orders from Washington”, he observed, “because in times of an already tense situation in the energy sector, it is certainly not in the interest of German citizens to forego another cheap energy source”.
In the wake of the Sy Hersh revelations about Nord Stream, Krah is not letting up:
“It is certain that the German government was informed of the sabotage beforehand by the Americans. This is the only explanation for Scholz’s awkward silence. With the addition of a woke and irresponsible warmonger like [Foreign Minister Annalena] Baerbock, who declares that Germany is at war with Russia, nothing surprises me”, he said.
Krah went on to confirm some of Sy Hersh’s conclusions:
“The problem is that this is tearing the German economy to pieces and significantly impoverishes Germany. Moreover, the billions spent by Germany on this gas project, which ensured us cheap energy, are lost, but the coalition which governs Germany does not care”.
“Officially, Scholz knows nothing”, Krah added sarcastically: “Apparently, we live in a democracy”.
Indeed, since the legendary Hersh published his account of how the US “took out” the Nord Stream pipeline, both Berlin and Washington are refusing to address the story.
Biden and Scholz are not breaking ranks.
In retrospect, Scholz was serious when he said, “We’re absolutely united and we will not take different steps. We will do the same steps”.
The same steps indeed.
#End
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