RANT: BELATED THANKSGIVINGS

IF I WERE TO TRY and think about where it all went wrong, would I start with that time, one time long ago, when those first men boarded that first ship bound for the new lands of this continent? If they had taken a U-turn at Guanahani, things might have been a lot different. After nearly five centuries, our settler-colonialist project here in Canada, along with others in what is euphemistically called the “International community” (but is really just the United States and its familiars) seems to be drawing to a grinding, slow-motion train wreck of an end. It will be a while yet; vampires don’t die that easily, despite all the wooden stake and holy water disinformation that’s out there. [Sorry. Halloween looms, and my mind drifts into ghoulishness and things that go bump in the night. Jake.] 

 

But that ‘rock’ at the bottom of our garden, the one I mentioned in last week’s post? It's  being overturned slowly, and what’s underneath—all the slimy bits we’d rather not know about—is bit by gritty bit seeing the light of day. 

 

JUST ONE EXAMPLE of this slow-booting revelations revolution is the ill-fated Nord Stream2 pipeline drama that’s being played out in the Baltic Sea off Danish waters.  The undersea conduit was built to deliver gas to Germany and Europe from Russia (but never activated). It was recently damaged in an explosion and investigators suspect sabotage. It’s unclear whether the pipeline can or will  be repaired and, in addition, whether the nearby Nord Stream1 line remains intact. Both remain moot points, given the geopolitical crossfire raging between Europe and Russia these days. Gas flows from the Slavic giant ceased since the outbreak of hostilities with Ukraine, and the sabotage of the Nord Stream2 last month makes  resuming operations unlikely anytime soon. Oddly, there’s been mostly ‘radio silence’ among the digital commentariat and Western governments about who might be the culprit. Denmark, Sweden, and Germany have begun examining the wreckage using underwater cameras and drones to try and determine the cause of the explosion and hopefully identify who is responsible. But as of October 18, Sweden refuses to make its findings public, and Denmark and Germany seem ready to fall in line, citing “national security concerns” as their excuse to stay mum.

TO ME, that’s a scandal! Whose security concerns are they talking about? Theirs? It was their infrastructure that was destroyed, after all, and you'd think they might want to hang the scoundrels who wrecked it out to dry. it seems nobody, but nobody wants to turn that rock over! Let’s see if they change their minds this winter when things get a bit nippy, and their various populations start to rumble and roar, demanding answers.

AS I SAID last week, cui bono, “who benefits”? Not Russia. Certainly not anyone in increasingly chilly  Europe. Who then? Well, the obvious answer is the United States. The US doesn’t want to see Europe leaning towards Russia, making trade deals with its great rival. It wants to remove Russia from the geopolitical arena and as a bonus be able to sell to its European client-states expensive Yankee LNG. It’s win-win as far as they’re concerned. And while the default narrative initially adopted by Western media was that Russia did it, the fact that fingers are not pointing in Moscow's direction much anymore, and that no state actor yet stands accused, speak volumes. Indeed, if they had any smoking gun proving Russia did it, you know the collective West would be screeching “RussiaRussiaRussia!” at the top of their lungs. But, so far, they don't have proof. Nobody knows anything. Or they're not telling. Perhaps more to the point, no one has the cajones to publicly accuse the Americans of such malfeasance. Yet.

Again, the fact that Russia isn't being automatically scapegoated by every talking head and politico suggests there is a weakening of the consensus narrative, and this might lead to interesting developments down the road, not to mention speaking bold-faced truths for a change.

HERE'S A THOUGHT: One of the most affected countries in all of this will be Germany, with the hit it will take in terms of lost production and economic slowdown. Germany knows who’s screwing it over. The Americans browbeat them into not opening the newly completed Nord Stream2 pipeline just a few months ago. And now, it seems, the Americans (or one of their client-states) have blown it up, pre-empting any possibility for German industry and citizens to access Russian gas.  DO WE REALLY NEED a Germany that sees itself (and with good reason) humiliated and stabbed in the back by a so-called friend? In the middle of all this, in the middle of an increasingly fractious Europe, do we really need that, again?

ON THE OTHER HAND, I wonder if anyone will remember this farrago in a month or two? We have such short attention spans these days. Well, we'll see if other rocks get overturned in the meantime and their slimy landscapes put on public display. When things of this nature get "memory-holed", there's always a chance they will get dug up. And that may be uncomfortable, but it's certainly necessary.

 

Cheers, Jake.

 

 

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE!