A former Austrian government minister has called for the US to answer to the International Court of Justice over allegations it blew up two Baltic sea gas pipelines last autumn.
Award-winning US investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Wednesday when he published an exposé on his blog of how the Pentagon orchestrated the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines from Russia to Germany in September 2022.
Journalist and former Austrian foreign affairs minister Karin Kneissl told Sputnik that while she rejected the NATO narrative that Russia sabotaged its own pipeline as a 'false flag' attack, she was still astounded to read that Washington would go that far.
Kneissel, who was forced to emigrate to Lebanon after receiving death threats, recalled how many European governments tried to point the finger of blame at Moscow following the bombing.
They "said it was Russia that blew up its own pipeline, which was nonsense, but many did," Kneissl said. "When I was asked over the last few months, I always said, well, there are many suspects in the room."
One of those was US President Joe Biden, who openly threatened before the launch of Russia's de-Nazification operation in Ukraine that "If Russia invades... then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it."
"One thing was clear, ever since 2018, that the US was very much determined to make sure that this pipeline system would never, ever become operative," Kneissl underlined. But she stressed that "I would not have expected them to even blow it up."
The commentator believed Washington's efforts would stay focussed on pressuring Berlin to continue denying certification for the new supply line to begin operation — which had been successful since February 2022.
"But now let's say they can be sure that it will not work because they blew it up," Kneissl concluded.
More surprising to the former minister was Norway's alleged part in the sabotage, especially in light of its central role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process during the 1990s.
"So the fact that Norway is actively involved in such a, let's call it act of terrorism, breach of the international law, breach of the United Nations charter is really, to me, a big surprise," Kneissl said.
9 February 2023, 16:53 GMT
International Law
Kneissl also underlined that the sabotage was a "breach of international law" and the United Nations charter, and a throwback to Washington's covert operations in Latin America under the Reagan administration in support of the brutal Contra insurgents in Nicaragua.
"Maybe some of our audience remember a Cold War taking place in Central America in the 1980s," she said. "Nicaragua was one of the war theatres back then."
The US laid sea mines off the Nicaraguan coast to prevent cargo ships docking or even fishing boats from gathering their catch, Kneissl recalled, prompting President Daniel Ortega's Sandinista government to bring a case against Washington at the International Court of Justice.
"I would say the International Court of Justice, which was established by the UN Charter, has a jurisdiction in that case," she said.
10 February 2023, 08:06 GMT