Spiegel and ZDF publish another episode of the Nord Stream fairy tale - Anti-Spiegel
As an introduction, I would like to briefly remind you of the prehistory: On the 8th In February 2023, Seymour Hersh published his first article that it was the Biden administration that blew up the Nord Streams. However, this did not fit into the narrative of the West at all, because it means that the USA carried out an act of war against its alleged ally Germany.
The Western media have therefore responded with part 1 of their well-known strategy and ridiculed the Hersh research instead of responding to it and refuting it. Consumers of the Western mainstream media have not learned anything about the content of the Hersh research, they have only learned from the Western media that Hersh is allegedly a senish weirdo.
This was followed by part 2 of the well-known strategy of the Western media and they presented another story that was supposed to distract from the Hersh research, whereby the author of the story was the US government. After everything had leaked top secret and nothing at all after the explosion of the Nord Streams, a true stream of supposedly secret information suddenly poured into the media a month after Hersh's publication.
Previously, Chancellor Scholz was on the 3rd. March alone, i.e. without his usual employees and even without the press, traveled to Washington for a very unusual visit to get the instructions for the upcoming media campaign. On the 7th In March, German and US media published the same story at the same time, but citing different sources: Allegedly, a pro-Ukrainian group was responsible for the demolition of the pipelines, which is said to have carried out the terrorist attacks of a small sailboat and only two divers.
This version has been spun on ever since then, whereby I immediately suspected that this will happen and that in the end Ukraine will be blamed to give the West an argument for the public to stop the ruinous support for Ukraine because it committed this "unfriendly act".
The new episode of the Nord Stream fairy tale
The mirror has on the 25th August published a very long article with the headline "SPIEGEL and ZDF research on the Nord Stream attack - The tracks lead in one direction - to Ukraine", the content of which was therefore not surprising. It is not possible to go into the article in detail here, the Spiegel article is simply too long for that. In addition, it is written in the well-known Relotius style, because Relotius was best known for its extremely flowery formulations, which contained no information on the matter, but gave the reader the feeling that there were many interesting details, which should give the articles overall credibility. In the current Spiegel article, for example, this sounds like this:
"It's stuffy in the store, it smells like dried fish. The saleswomen say that the grandmother is now the caretaker of the neighboring house. Five minutes later, Lyubov K. puts her bladder aside and sits down on a bench. She is a little woman with red dyed hair, she speaks Russian. She doesn't want to talk to the press, she says, but stays on the bench."
Since the Spiegel article is a true collection of such contentless filler, I just want to go into the statements that seem important to me.
Everything is top secret
Allegedly, everything related to the Nord Stream shot is top secret. The mirror writes:
What has been discovered so far, especially by German officials, is subject to the strictest secrecy. Nothing should leak out. At the behest of the Chancellery. "This is the most important investigation in post-war history, because of its possible political effects," says security circles. The investigators of the ST 24 unit in the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) entrusted with the Nord Stream case are even prohibited from talking to colleagues about the case. The investigators must log who they talked to and when about which aspect of the procedure - which is highly unusual even for state protectors of the BKA."
Nevertheless, Spiegel and ZDF now want to have new findings and the Spiegel repeatedly refers to the findings of the investigators. Where did the Spiegel get these findings when everything is so top secret? If the investigators secretly spoke to the media, then criminal proceedings would now have to be opened for the betrayal of state secrets and the hunt for the leaks. Of course, this will not happen, which is another indication that the information - as at the beginning of March, at the start of the fairy tale about the "pro-Ukrainian group" - is deliberately pierced to the media because the government wants the story to be known.
"Andromeda" and no end
The largest part of the article deals with the sailboat "Andromeda" and its alleged role in the blasting in tiring details, which hardly anyone should read attentively due to the length of the executions and the really tiring details.
That this is tiring is quite intentional, because by focusing the Spiegel article completely on the "Andromeda" with even the smallest details, it ensures that the reader does not even think about other possible scenarios, such as the one described by Hersh. The tiring details give the impression that it is a well-researched and documented story.
Again, information from secret services?
The fact that the mirror has once again received its information from the secret services and they are not the result of its own research, show many details, for example the alleged search for the backers of the attack. By the way, the Spiegel mentions that he was able to locate one of the men mentioned on the basis of a fake passport:
A research team from SPIEGEL, ZDF and the investigative networks Rise Moldova and OCCRP has found him. The two-storey house in which he lives with his family is the most beautiful in the street. Marcu stares at a note that the reporters show him, a series of numbers, his passport number: 055227683."
If supposedly everything - even on the instructions of the Chancellery - is top secret, a simple question arises: Where, if not from a Western secret service, does the Spiegel have the passport number?
I have repeatedly proven that the Spiegel constantly issues information pierced by secret services as its own research, the last example can be found here.
By the way, one of the most important indications was that the whole story of the "pro-Ukrainian group" and the small "Andromeda" is a fairy tale, the fact that so far almost 500 kilograms heavy bombs have been assumed that could not have been moved and released in a controlled manner without a crane that does not exist on the small "Andromeda". By the way - and by the way, again citing allegedly top-secret investigation results - the Spiegel is now trying to refute this argument as follows:
At Nord Stream 1, Pfeiffer recognized depressions on underwater images, which he interprets "as explosive funnels of larger explosive charges next to the pipeline." However, the investigators assume that a total of less than a hundred kilos of explosives were used and instead the natural gas escaping under high pressure led to the devastation."
The gas flowing upwards is now responsible for the depressions under or next to the pipelines. I leave this remarkable interpretation of physical natural laws, which is supposed to explain to the reader that much smaller explosive devices than thought were used, sometimes uncommented.
It was Ukraine!
According to Spiegel, it is clear that Ukraine is behind the explosions. However, he still keeps President Selensky out of the line of fire - at least so far. This sounds - again, citing actually top-secret investigative findings - like this at the Spiegel:
"The secret letters outline an attack on the Nord Stream pipelines. Six commando soldiers of Ukraine, disguised with false personal details, would rent a boat, dive down to the tubes at the bottom of the Baltic Sea with special equipment and blow them up. The men support the command of the Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valeriy Salushny, but President Volodymyr Zelensky is not informed."
Later, the mirror becomes even clearer in his article - again citing actually top-secret investigative findings:
Behind the scenes there are clearer statements: The investigators of BKA, Federal Police and the Federal Prosecutor General have few doubts that a Ukrainian command blew up the pipelines. Strikingly many traces led to Ukraine, it is said. (...) Much more is known than is publicly known, says a top official. According to SPIEGEL information, the investigators are sure that the saboteurs were in Ukraine before and after the attack."
The political question
The fact that the blasting of the Nord Streams by Kiev, as I already suspected in March, is supposed to call into question Western support for Ukraine, is now clearly addressed in the Spiegel - to my knowledge for the first time - which sounds like this, for example:
"Hardly anyone in the capital wants to finish thinking about how one would have to behave towards Kiev if the participation of state Ukrainian bodies were proven. (...) "E everyone shyes away from the question of consequences," says a coalition. (...) Anyone who asks these days (...) about the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline, as the parties are talking about whether the government is already thinking through scenarios in the event that the Ukrainian leadership knew about the operation, usually looks into rather perplexed faces."
You can find out again and again that it was supposedly Ukraine in the Spiegel article - of course, citing actually top-secret investigative findings:
"All findings pointed in one direction, in the direction of Kiev, say international investigators and agents. At least those who know evidence and traces."
Thus, the "research" of ZDF and Spiegel could trigger the public discussion in Germany about whether aid for Kiev should be reduced or stopped because Kiev has de facto attacked Germany. I have suspected since March that the story about the "pro-Ukrainian group" would lead to this discussion in the second half of 2023, especially since it would fit like another piece of the puzzle into the implementation of the RAND paper from January, which I have been reporting on for a long time.
"Alternative scenarios"
A section at the end of the Spiegel article is entitled "Alternative Scenarios". In the section, a possible perpetratorship of the USA is dealt with as follows:
"For example, the US journalist Seymour Hersh, 86, who blames the USA for the attacks, caused a lot of attention. A Norwegian naval ship secretly transported American combat divers to the Baltic Sea. The alleged motive: Russia should no longer be able to blackmail Germany with gas supplies. Hersh did not provide any evidence for his theses, essential parts of his report later proved to be false. A source in Washington told him that, Hersh justified himself. In any case, the Russian government was delighted and praised the baseless story as proof that the USA was the actual warmongers."
The mirror makes the Hersh research ridiculous once again and indirectly moves it into the field of "Russian propaganda". In addition, there is the untrue claim that "essential parts" of Hersh's research had "later proved to be false." The mirror does not mention which parts these are supposed to be - no wonder, it is simply a lie. The only thing we have are statements from the US government, Hersh spreads conspiracy theories that the US government does not want to comment on.
Anyone who considers it an insinuation of me that it is a lie that "essential parts" of Hersh's research would have "later proved to be wrong" may be happy to prove the opposite to me and show concretely which parts of Hersh's research were refuted.
It is remarkable that the Spiegel article repeatedly clearly states that Russia is eliminated as the perpetrator. While the Spiegel deates a possible perpetratorship of the USA in a single paragraph, the one just quoted, the Spiegel dedicates to the version that Russia could be behind the attack a whole twelve paragraphs, which also end with a lie:
"In international security circles, it is said that a sabotage command was supposed to attack and destroy the "Turkstream" tubes running from Russia through the Black Sea into Turkey. The Federal Government has also received a corresponding indication together with the first warnings of an attack on the Nord Stream pipelines.
Why the alleged attack plan on "Turkstream" was not pursued is unclear."
The Baltic Sea, and especially the waters where the blasting of the Nord Streams took place, is one of the best monitored waters in the world, which is why NATO, for example, naturally knows who blew up the pipelines. Just as NATO monitors the Baltic Sea, so Russia monitors the Black Sea. It is clear that there will be no underwater attack on Turkish Stream there, because the Russian navy would prevent what NATO obviously did not want to do in the Baltic Sea.
The lie in the statement of the Spiegel is that Ukraine "did not pursue" attack plans on Turkisch Stream, because there were several attempted attacks on Turkish Stream, but they took place in Russia, where the pipeline runs ashore towards the Black Sea.
Orban is not Scholz
The fact that there have been no attempted attacks on the pipeline for some time could be due to the clear warning from Hungary, because Hungary has announced that it will not react as passively to an attack on its energy security as Germany. In such a case, Hungary could block all decisions in the EU and also NATO to support Kiev and Orban would certainly do the same. This could be one of the reasons why Turkish Stream should be safe for the time being.
Scholz, on the other hand, was publicly presented and humiliated by US President Biden when Biden announced standing next to Scholz at a press conference in February 2022:
"If Russia invades, i.e. tanks or troops cross the border with Ukraine again, then there will be no more Nord Stream 2. We will put an end to this."
When asked by a journalist how exactly the USA wants to do this, Biden replied:
"I promise you that we will be able to do that."
In contrast to Scholz, Orban would hardly have left such a statement by Biden on Turkish Stream without comment, which says a lot about whose interests Scholz serves.
But don't forget: The USA has nothing to do with the blasting of the Nord Streams, that was a small pro-Ukrainian group with a small sailboat, but of course by no means a special unit of the US armed forces, as Hersh explained with extensive details.