Latest Nord Stream theory ‘fake, dumb, improbable’: Swedish expert – World
STOCKHOLM – A Swedish expert has refuted claims by US and German media that a non-state actor was responsible for the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions last September.
On Tuesday, the New York Times cited new evidence suggesting that a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. However, the paper could not identify a source for the claim that a chartered yacht was used to commit the crime.
“How stupid do you think we are? What did a small pro-Ukrainian group do on a yacht?” asked Jan Oberg, director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Studies, in a recent opinion article on his personal portal.
“Western ‘intelligence’ and the New York Times (are) in deeper waters than usual, offering us a devious and fake story,” Oberg said, adding that he “had no hesitation in calling (the claimed theory) a fake and a fabrication.” to denote and just so stupid, improbable and improbable.”
He said that the “orchestrated Western mainstream media,” which had remained silent on Seymour Hersh’s earlier analysis but now reported extensively on the apparent “false” theory, was “revealing its journalistic and moral decay.”
In an article published on US portal Substack in February, investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh revealed that the United States had worked with Norway in a top-secret operation in June 2022 to plant remote-controlled explosives, affecting three of the four shut down Nord Stream pipelines three months later.
Compared to Hersh’s detailed and compelling disclosure, Oberg dismissed the latest theory as “a made-up story that comes with far less documentation, analysis, and credibility than Hersh’s.”
Calling Hersh “truly independent, highly skilled and well connected,” Oberg insisted that the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines “was carried out by the US with some help from Norway and maybe others.”
Referring to previous statements by US President Joe Biden that “the US would blow it up,” Oberg said an “interest analysis” would also lead to an apparent conclusion of US crime.
“Who could have an interest in destroying this enormously important piece of energy infrastructure that also connected Europe to Russia? And who would have the technical and other capacities for this?” asked Oberg.
The Nord Stream pipelines, which carried natural gas from Russia to European markets via Germany, were badly damaged after explosions in the Baltic Sea last September. One pipeline, Nord Stream 1, was operational at the time of the explosion and Nord Stream 2, although not operational, was filled with gas.