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“How America took out the Nord Stream pipeline”

(seymourhersh.substack.com)
688 points hunglee2 | 1 comments | 08 Feb 23 12:50 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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xg15 ◴[08 Feb 23 22:16 UTC] No.34716225[source]▶
I find it extremely jarring how many reputable western media outlets immediately jumped to the conclusion that Russia did it even though that made zero sense - but absolutely refused to even consider the possibility that the US or another western state could have done it.

But at this point, the article is basically "cool story, bro". The only independently verifyable bits are the public statements of Biden, Nuland, etc, which are already well-known. But those only show that the US really really really didn't like the pipelines - and that was never a secret. They do not give any evidence for a planned operation to destroy them.

The rest of the article is amazingly detailed but only based on an anonymous source. Even if we trust that the source existed, there is no way to know if that source itself is trustworthy.

So as of now, I don't the information in the article would convince anyone of the "US did it" hypothesis who wasn't already convinced.

I think the only thing that the article is useful for is as a future reference. It could be useful to remember the details and keep an eye if they match with any future developments.

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alchemist1e9 ◴[08 Feb 23 22:23 UTC] No.34716330[source]▶
> I find it extremely jarring how many reputable western media outlets immediately jumped to the conclusion that Russia did it even though that made zero sense - but absolutely refused to even consider the possibility that the US or another western state could have done it.

One simple hypothesis would be that it is only an illusion that western media outlets are independent from their governments.

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hackandthink ◴[09 Feb 23 12:42 UTC] No.34723118[source]▶
A german book by Precht/Welzer argues it's the other way.

The media became a power by itsself and it's the media which influences the government.

And they analyze how the media synchronized itself on certain topics (especially Ukraine war).

https://www.fischerverlage.de/buch/richard-david-precht-hara...

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1. xg15 ◴[09 Feb 23 19:59 UTC] No.34730413[source]▶
That would match my impression in Germany on issues about involvement in the war. Usually, the government is divided, with FDP and Greens taking a hawkish position, arguing for strong support of Ukraine including weapons and not making any concessions to Russia; while SPD and the chancellor are cautious to the point of dragging their feet.

Meanwhile the press is not similarly divided but usually follows the hawkish position. So whatever opinion they are promoting, it's evidently not the government's.