A few days ago, American reporter Jose Vega questioned Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader of the US House of Representatives, on issues related to the “North Stream” explosion at a venue.
American journalist Jose Vega:I hope you can explain the “North Stream” explosion. We need peace, we need dialogue, accountability should not be brainless, communication bridges should be built instead of bombs, dialogue should not be buried (“North Stream”), and diplomacy should be used instead of destruction.
American Journalist: Saddened by the Lost Voice of the Western Mainstream Media
Recently, Jose Vega accepted an interview with Russia Today TV station, and clarified his views on Seymour Hersh’s report, why the United States did not admit to blowing up “North Stream” and other related issues.
Jose Vega said that American politicians are reluctant to directly answer the question of the “Nord Stream” explosion because they really want to cover up the facts reported by Hersh.
American journalist Jose Vega:If what Hersh reports is true, which I believe to be true, then NATO will be terminated and so will the geopolitical relationship between the US and Germany for a long time, which is why they do not discuss or comment.
Vega further explained that the purpose of the United States blowing up the “North Stream” was to tie Germany to a tank.
American journalist Jose Vega:You should ask who is the beneficiary, the United States. The Russians are not going to blow up their own gas pipelines, are they? (Blowing up the “North Stream”) can ensure that the conflict will continue, because Germany really has no choice now, they are tied, they have to rely on the United States now.
Regarding the status quo of Western mainstream media’s collective loss of voice in reporting on Hersh, Vega said that he feels sad for them.
American journalist Jose Vega:The media is all complicit, like the military-industrial complex is complicit, and the mainstream media’s move to block Hersh’s coverage is insane. I’m not mad at my peers, but they are mad at me. In fact, I feel sad for them because they are denied the right to report the truth.
News link: “North Stream” pipeline – the “thorn in the eye” of the United States
The “North Stream” natural gas pipeline crosses the Baltic Sea and directly connects Russia and Germany. It is the main pipeline for Russia to transport natural gas to Europe, and has always been regarded as a “thorn in the eye” by the United States. In fact, Biden and his two previous US presidents both promoted their own natural gas to Europe, and also obstructed or destroyed the construction and operation of “North Stream” by issuing warnings to Europe and imposing sanctions on related companies.
The idea of building the “Beixi-1” pipeline began to brew as early as 1995. Initially, during the process of proposing and negotiating the idea of the “North Stream” pipeline, the United States focused on oil instead of natural gas in the energy field, and it did not seem to have expressed too much attention to this project.
After a long initial stage, the construction of the “Beixi-1” pipeline started in 2010 and was completed and put into use the following year. Under normal circumstances, it provides about 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Germany and other European countries every year.
The completion of “Beixi-1” has brought a large amount of cheap Russian natural gas to Europe. Immediately afterwards, the “Beixi-2” project, which is roughly parallel to “Beixi-1” and has an equivalent design capacity, began to be planned.
However, at the same time, on the other side of the ocean, the US government’s attitude towards the “North Stream” pipeline has changed. In 2009, driven by shale technology, the United States surpassed Russia in natural gas production for the first time and became the world’s number one. The United States began looking for buyers for domestic natural gas.
After the “Beixi-2” project began to advance, the United States first called on Europe to stop the “Beixi” project on the grounds that the “North Stream” natural gas pipeline harmed Ukraine’s interests; then, the United States began to advocate Europe’s “energy security” and warned Europe Energy imports must be diversified, and the “Beixi” project will allow Russia to control European energy security.
Then-President Barack Obama (March 2014):I think Europe should think about how to diversify its energy imports. And because of the application of new technologies, the United States has more energy resources.
Trump, Obama’s successor, also issued a warning to Europe about the Nord Stream project.
US President Trump at the time (July 2018):In my opinion, Germany is captured by Russia because Germany imports too much gas from Russia.
Despite threats and resistance from the United States, in 2018, the construction of “Beixi-2” still started. Seeing that the warning was fruitless, the Trump administration waved the big stick of sanctions. In December 2019, then US President Trump signed a bill imposing sanctions on companies participating in the “Beixi-2” project, which was severely condemned by Germany and Russia.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the time (December 2019):We need serious dialogue, and we will not tolerate sanctions. “Long-arm jurisdiction” sanctions are useless. We now need to see how to make progress on the “Beixi-2” natural gas project.
Russia said the U.S. move violated international law and was a typical example of unfair competition.
After Biden took office, the U.S. government has not changed its position against the construction of the “Beixi-2” project.
Former US White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki (February 2021):Our position on “Beixi-2” is very clear and has not changed. President Biden made it clear that Nord Stream 2 is a bad deal.
Despite the heavy obstruction and sanctions pressure from the United States, the relevant parties of “Beixi-2” finally completed the project in September 2021.
At this time, the United States began to blaze fire on the Russia-Ukraine issue again, and used this as an excuse to continue to press for the suspension of “Beixi-2”. Before the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out in February last year, US President Biden directly threatened the “Beixi” pipeline.
US President Joe Biden (February 7, 2022):If Russia attacks, then the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will cease to exist and we will end it.
Under pressure from the United States, on February 22, 2022, Germany announced the suspension of the certification process for the “Beixi-2” natural gas pipeline project.
At the end of September 2022, the “Beixi-1” and “Beixi-2” pipelines exploded and leaked in the waters near Sweden and Denmark. Seymour Hersh, a senior American investigative reporter, published an article earlier this month claiming that the United States was behind the explosion of the “North Stream” pipeline.
[Responsible editor: Xu Dan]
