No Joke Title: The Second 9/11 of this Century--The Nord Stream Pipelines Sabotage

 On September 26th a permanent rupture was created between Russia and the European continent. This happened when the two most important energy pipelines Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 burst in four  places. The two pipelines, which delivered 130 billion metric tons of gas to europeans every year was now spilling hundreds of millions of metric tons of gas into the ocean--making it visible from space. With this ended the era of Ostpolitick--the oil based relationship that lasted since 1969 with German Chancellor Willy Brandt. It has lasted throughout the Cold War and the chaotic decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union. At this point--the relationship between Russia and Europe will never return to what it was. There is also a lot of finger-pointing as Russia and the U.S try to blame each other. There is, in a way, a case for both scenarios--Russia, finding that its energy black-mail is failing with Europe decides to destroy the pipeline as a way to cripple Europe by either harming its economy or making Europeans unable to heat their homes or both. The U.S could decide to sabotage the pipeline to isolate Russia from Europe and to draw Europe closer to its circle of influence. Either way, sabotaging the pipeline would necessitate advanced underwater unmanned drones--which is why I believe the U.S is the more likely culprit because I believe that they have greater ability to posses, upkeep, and use these drones than Russia does. There has been some exaggeration about Biden's statements to "end Nord Stream" but I think that is exaggerated. Either way we won't know for a while--but recent evidence from Swedish police has confirmed that it is indeed sabotage. All we do know, however, is that the war will get increasingly worse as Europe will have to invest more in clean energy and get natural gas from the U.S and Nordic countries while Russia will draw closer to China and sell its natural gas to them. With winter coming up and both economies unstable the war will be sure to take it's toll on both sides. 

- Stay Tuned