Officials familiar with the situation, as reported by US media, revealed that Dutch military intelligence officials had informed the CIA prior to the bombings that a Ukrainian sabotage team loyal to General Valerii Zaluzhny was actively searching for a yacht along the Baltic coastline that would enable divers to plant explosives along the Nord Stream pipelines.
"Despite the falsity of so much of it and the convenience of how it appears, I seriously question at this point whether the editorial boards of the New York Times and the Washington Post are actually literally taking their marching orders from the State Department at this point, because this is unbelievable," Mark Sleboda relayed, questioning the lack of skepticism in the Western media.
The security analyst suggests considering the possibility of believing a scenario where the US and the Netherlands, specifically the Netherlands' powerful intelligence operatives, were the ones who alerted the CIA about the alleged plan of the Ukrainians.
"But not of Zelensky. He is the good Ukrainian, right? His dad was Jewish, right. So it couldn't have been him. It was Zaluzhny! That guy the one in the ditch over there. A dead guy," Sleboda noted.
Mark Sleboda stressed that the Ukrainian government has been unable to provide accurate information regarding Zaluzhny's whereabouts or convince anyone that he was alive and not seriously injured due to a previously reported Russian missile strike.
Comparing the situation to a common theme in movies, like in Schindler's List where the Nazis interrogate Jewish slave laborers and they falsely point to a recently killed man, the expert acknowledges the possibility of believing the given scenario and proposes considering it as if we were all fifth graders.
If this were true, it would mean that the US knew that their proxy intended an attack on the major energy infrastructure of an allied NAITO member, did not tell them about it, and did nothing about it, except for advising Ukraine against doing it, which the later subsequently postponed upon the US's request.
“Well, okay, that was an attack on a NATO member by your proxy. Shouldn't that trigger a NATO's Article 5 response on Ukraine? Why isn't NATO attacking the Kiev regime?”
On the contrary, the West has not implemented NATO's Article 5 against Ukraine. It continues to support Kiev with financial aid, weapons, and intelligence. The story about Zaluzhny is intended to mask any perceived differences between the United States and Germany, Sleboda believes.
“I don't believe this story at all. This is meant to paper over public perception that there might be differences between the US and Germany, of which the current German political elite, they are fully on board.”
The current German political elite, including Scholz, Baerbock, and others, are in favor of destroying the Nord Stream pipelines, despite not being the ones who initially supported its construction. The security analyst suggests they prioritize maintaining the NATO alliance over their country's reliance on Russian energy, regardless of potential costs to Germany’s economy and industry.
In September 2022, explosions targeted the Nord Stream pipelines, a crucial gas transportation system connecting Russia and Germany beneath the Baltic Sea. The operator of the pipelines, Nord Stream AG, described the resulting damage as unprecedented and indicated that it was difficult to provide an estimate for the duration of repairs.
Denmark, Germany, and Norway have excluded Russia from their joint investigations into the incident, leading Moscow to initiate its own investigation, citing the charge of international terrorism.
While official investigation results are still pending, Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report in February 2023, alleging that the United States, with the assistance of Norway, had orchestrated the explosions. In response, Washington has vehemently denied any involvement in the attack.