The new claim of the “alt right” Tass News mouthpiece conspiracy theorists is that the NordStream 2 pipeline was sabotaged by the US Navy. Vlad Putin is gleefully parroting this nonsense and calling for a UN investigation (NYPost).

The claim is made by Seymour Hersh. Hersh is an 85 year old Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. He won the prize for his reporting on the Mai Lai Massacre cover up during the US involvement in Vietnam. Descended from Lithuanian Jews who emigrated to Chicago, he got his start working for United Press International (UPI) and later the Associated Press(AP). Here is his essay on the topic.

Many of the same “alt right” types going batshit crazy over this report criticize Biden for his age (80 years) and think the Jews control the mainstream press (AP). Possibly this will help some of them lose their anti Semitic and age discriminatory views.

Hersh’s credentials are great, with regards to most of his career. However, over the years he has made some interesting claims. Many of which are on track or close to being so. This one is, however, bunk.

There are problems with this theory. There is no motivation for the US to blow up the Nordstream 2 pipeline. It wasn’t in use. If the intent of the Biden administration were to disrupt oil supply from Russia they would have hit a working pipeline.

Another is the ships with their tracking devices turned off were reported over the sabotage site just prior to the leaks (Wired). This was according to the analysis by satellite data monitoring firm SpaceKnow. CNN reported that European security officials observed Russian Navy support ships nearby where the leaks later occurred on 26 and 27 September. One week prior, Russian submarines were also observed nearby.

Biden’s statement when asked about shutting down the Nordstream supply to Europe was “we can do it” (YouTube). He said that while standing next to German Chancelor Olaf Scholz (some versions cut Scholz out). The statement wasn’t a threat of sabotage, it was a threat of diplomatic action. The Russians, under advisement from above, could have acted in response to Biden’s statement to make a political case against him. This would mean blowing up a pipeline that wasn’t and isn’t going to be in use to do so

Hersh’s anonymous source may have gone sour. There is a more sinister thing to consider. We know Putin’s gods are rabid anti-Semites. This could be an attempt to use his credibility to help their cause. If the ploy doesn’t work they can blame “the Jews” for the false story and destroy Hersh’s credibility. They would not have supported any of the other stories Hersh has published. They may even attempt to assassinate Hersh (successful or failed) in an attempt to further smear the Biden administration.