The United States must answer some day for the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline and the resultant collapse of its German ally’s economy, says analyst George Szamuely.
The senior research fellow at London’s Global Policy Institute joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program this week to discuss the controversial incident, which some experts claim represented “the largest single methane gas” release ever recorded.
“It's always remarkable that the most belligerent actors in any drama are the ones who are the furthest away from the action,” said Szamuely, responding to reports that the UK has taken a leading role in providing drones and other equipment for Ukraine’s proxy war against Russia. “The British have been consistently the most belligerent on Ukraine.”
“If the stakes are so high, why don't you get involved directly yourself?” the analyst wondered. “Why are you allowing Ukraine to do all the heavy lifting? … They [the United States] have been consistent in thwarting any possibility of any kind of negotiated outcome, any temporary ceasefires, temporary resolutions. And without doubt they are involved, and they have been involved in this incursion into Kursk.
“There is no way in the world it can be done, an invasion, without very accurate satellite intelligence. You can't do it. You can't just simply launch an invasion without knowing the terrain, the exact disposal of Russian forces. So clearly this was engineered by the Western powers, the British obviously – the British are now boasting about it – but above all, the Americans.”
German authorities claimed they had wound a new lead in the case of 2022’s Nord Stream pipeline explosion last week, pinning the blame on a small group led by a Ukrainian diving instructor. The whereabouts of the new suspect are conveniently unknown, the officials claimed.
Germany’s economic growth has cratered in the wake of the country’s loss of cheap Russian natural gas, with the European Commission estimating the country’s GDP will only expand by .1% this year. Polling has shown most Germans remain concerned over the lack of clarity over the pipeline’s explosion, which has widely been alleged by journalist Seymour Hersh and others to have been engineered by the United States.
“The more serious issue is that Germany is really losing its position as an economic giant, as an economic superpower,” said Szamuely. “It's now steadily going from one quarter after another into recession. But even more seriously, the German industries are being sidelined. They're moving out of Europe and they're being priced out of markets because there's just simply the energy costs. They're now really going through the roof.”
“It has been cheap Russian energy that has powered this German economic miracle,” he noted. “So it doesn't have it anymore. Germany is ceasing to be competitive and that's why Germany is now invariably in a recession.”
Host Garland Nixon agreed that the situation is “very dangerous,” speculating that the US and its allies are likely escalating their involvement in the Ukraine proxy war to attempt to negate the threat of a newly-reelected President Donald Trump seeking to end the conflict. Szamuely suggested that Republican allies such as notorious neoconservative Lindsay Graham would likely move to impeach Trump in such an event.
Szamuely also claimed Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Deutschland party could stand to gain from the declining popularity of the NATO-backed war, with the German establishment seeking to “crackdown” on the controversial party.
At some point Germans will seek to regain their sovereignty and oppose Washington’s influence over the country, Szamuely speculated.
“No one in Germany is buying it,” Szamuely said of German officials’ latest explanation for the Nord Stream pipeline explosion. “It's a violation of common sense… Even if the German government is committed to this and saying, ‘oh, well Ukraine is behind this, which of course undercuts its position as to why you are assisting Ukraine since Ukraine is destroying your own infrastructure, Ukraine is creating ecocide.”
“And this is your great client? This is the one we're supposed to create sacrifices for? For this Ukraine?” he asked. “So that argument doesn't work. And then, of course, then you have the next argument, the common sense argument: ‘well, it was the Americans who were behind this.’ And it goes, ‘well, so that's your great ally? Your great friend? Your great elder brother? And this is what they do to you?’”
“‘They humiliate you, they destroy your infrastructure, they destroy your industry. This is what we're supposed to sacrifice ourselves for?’ So it's a huge problem. And the Germans are going to try and kick the can down the road, try not to address it. But… at some point they're going to have to really seriously look at this.”