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It's quite obvious from US military behavior during and after the invasion that the folks in charge genuinely believed Iraq had WMDs. Colin Powell was genuine,

It's quite obvious from US military behavior during and after the invasion that the folks in charge genuinely believed Iraq had WMDs. Colin Powell was genuine, if misinformed. If that narrative was an information operation, it was an Iraqi information operation, and it backfired horribly. The pipeline wasn't in use and there wasn't any indication that it would come into use anytime in the future. Germany already said - with Biden - that Nord Stream 2 was over. There was no real-world incentive for the US (or Ukraine, for that matter) to blow it up. But it sure is pretty good fuel for people who already think the US is the Great Satan.

somenameforme 3y ago
I'd encourage you to look at the findings of the "evidence" for the Iraq War. Not only was it overtly fabricated, it was just lazy and sloppy. Our high level informant in Saddam's government with first-hand knowledge of what was happening, was actually a taxi driver and thief with 0 knowledge of anything [1]. The mobile weapon's laboratories were completely standard run-of-the-mill weather balloon refilling stations. [2] The rock solid proof of Iraq trying to purchase 'yellowcake uranium', were poorly made forgeries. [3] Literally all of the "Irrefutable and Undeniable" evidence was fake and fabricated. Nord Stream had just finished completion in September 2021. The US was able to 'convince' Scholtz to defer certification of it, but it was an untenable position. Rejecting Russian gas would entail Germany doing what it was ultimately compelled to do - tanking its own economy for the sake of US geopolitical interests while also buying US gas at an ultra-premium price. Blowing it up not only helped ensure Germany would not be 'tempted' into turning away from the US and would remain heavily dependent, but was also extremely profitable for the US, and a substantially damaging blow to Russia who had again spent literally a decade getting that pipeline up, to say nothing of the viable income stream once the flows started. And now, again, add on top of this years of us trying to stop the pipeline's construction, and then eventually going so absurdly far as to publicly threaten to blow it up. I view the world probabilistically, so I will happily agree there's some chance that somehow the US was not responsible, but I think that chance is very close to zero. --- [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curveball_(informant) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curveball_(informant) [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_Iraqi_mobile_weapons_laboratories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_Iraqi_mobile_we... [3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger_uranium_forgeries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger_uranium_forgeries

somenameforme 3y ago

I'd encourage you to look at the findings of the "evidence" for the Iraq War. Not only was it overtly fabricated, it was just lazy and sloppy. Our high level informant in Saddam's government with first-hand knowledge of what was happening, was actually a taxi driver and thief with 0 knowledge of anything [1]. The mobile weapon's laboratories were completely standard run-of-the-mill weather balloon refilling stations. [2] The rock solid proof of Iraq trying to purchase 'yellowcake uranium', were poorly made forgeries. [3] Literally all of the "Irrefutable and Undeniable" evidence was fake and fabricated. Nord Stream had just finished completion in September 2021. The US was able to 'convince' Scholtz to defer certification of it, but it was an untenable position. Rejecting Russian gas would entail Germany doing what it was ultimately compelled to do - tanking its own economy for the sake of US geopolitical interests while also buying US gas at an ultra-premium price. Blowing it up not only helped ensure Germany would not be 'tempted' into turning away from the US and would remain heavily dependent, but was also extremely profitable for the US, and a substantially damaging blow to Russia who had again spent literally a decade getting that pipeline up, to say nothing of the viable income stream once the flows started. And now, again, add on top of this years of us trying to stop the pipeline's construction, and then eventually going so absurdly far as to publicly threaten to blow it up. I view the world probabilistically, so I will happily agree there's some chance that somehow the US was not responsible, but I think that chance is very close to zero. --- [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curveball_(informant) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curveball_(informant) [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_Iraqi_mobile_weapons_laboratories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_Iraqi_mobile_we... [3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger_uranium_forgeries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger_uranium_forgeries