Free Republic

The Pentagon on Thursday blasted Houthi rebels for striking an oil tanker and creating an “environmental disaster” in the Red Sea after the merchant vessel was lit ablaze with a million barrels of crude oil on board. Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters the Houthis striking the Greek-owned merchant vessel Sounion on Wednesday was threatening a “catastrophe” in Yemen’s backyard. “That is an environmental disaster that they are going to have to deal with,” she said, also slamming the group’s motives in the attack. “What exactly does this accomplish? They said they were launching these attacks to help...

Czech President Petr Pavel said that attacking the Nord Stream pipelines would have been a “legitimate” target for Ukraine amid reports pointing the finger at Kyiv for the sabotage. Pavel, who previously served as NATO chairman and before that at the head of the Czech Armed Forces, said that while he has no information to confirm reports that the Zelensky-led government in Ukraine was behind the September 2022 assault on the Russo-German Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, such an attack would have been justifiable in light of the Russian invasion months prior. Speaking to the online news magazine Novinky...

Leading populist lawmakers in Germany, from both the left and right, have demanded consequences for Kyiv over Ukraine’s alleged involvement in the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, including reparations and the cessation of arms deliveries. Last week, it was reported that German authorities had issued an arrest warrant against a Ukrainian citizen for alleged involvement in the 2022 sabotage against the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines owned jointly by Russia and Germany. This was followed by a report from the Wall Street Journal, which claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had initially approved the plot to attack the...

Well, this is sorta embarrassing. After all that loose talk about Russia for some strange reason, blowing up its own cash cow Nord Stream pipeline, it turns out that the Ukrainian military and some oligarchs from the country did the dirty deed with the knowledge of Zelinskyy, the CIA, and the highest levels of both governments. It's an odd tale told by the Wall Street Journal, and the German police have been quietly investigating the bombing for two years despite political pressure to hide the facts, and their investigation backs up what the Journal has found. What makes it all...

In May of 2022, a handful of senior Ukrainian military officers and businessmen had gathered to toast their country’s remarkable success in halting the Russian invasion. Buoyed by alcohol and patriotic fervor, somebody suggested a radical next step: destroying Nord Stream. ... The Ukrainian operation cost around $300,000, according to people who participated in it. It involved a small rented yacht with a six-member crew, including trained civilian divers. One was a woman, whose presence helped create the illusion they were a group of friends on a pleasure cruise. ... In September 2022, the plotters rented a 50-foot leisure yacht...

Germany has issued its first arrest warrant over the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia to northern Europe, saying it is seeking a Ukrainian citizen, named only as Volodymyr Z.A European Arrest Warrant issued in June over the sabotage of a major pipeline feeding Europe Russian gas has come to light for the first time. Per an investigation published by a group of German newspapers and broadcasters on Wednesday, the Federal Prosecutor General put out a warrant for the arrest of Ukrainian citizen named, in line with German privacy law protecting unconvicted suspects, as Ukrainian diving...

One of the German diplomats who snickered when then-President Donald Trump said Germany would “become totally dependent on Russian energy” didn’t respond to a question on whether his views have changed as rising energy costs amidst the war in Ukraine seem to prove Trump right. Trump made the remarks during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in Sept. 2018. Trump said during the same speech: “Reliance on a single foreign supplier can leave a nation vulnerable to extortion and intimidation.” At the time, Germany and the United States disagreed strongly about the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2...

There is no need for an international investigation into the explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines, Sweden’s Foreign Ministry has told RIA Novosti news agency. Last week, China’s deputy envoy to the UN, Geng Shuang, called for a probe into the September 2022 blasts that ruptured the pipelines, which were built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Europe. Countries should work together on an investigation “to bring the perpetrators to justice in order to prevent the reoccurrence of similar incidents,” Geng said. When asked about Beijing’s proposal by RIA Novosti on...

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Sunday that the difference between democratic and authoritarian regimes is that Russia and Iran would not tell the United States if there was going to be a terrorist attack in the U.S. Host Shannon Bream asked Kaine on “Fox News Sunday” whether the southern border can lead to “real danger” within the U.S., pointing to the attack in Russia that has left more than 133 dead in a Moscow concert hall. He first reiterated that the U.S. warned Russia about this kind of attack earlier this year.

Denmark on Monday joined Sweden in closing its investigation into the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines, with authorities saying they concluded there was deliberate sabotage but “not the sufficient grounds” to pursue a criminal case. Danish authorities said the probe “has been both complex and comprehensive.” Copenhagen police, which carried out the investigation jointly with the Danish security service, said they were not able to provide further comments. The underwater detonations on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany, occurred in international waters but within Swedish and Danish...

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski @RadoslawSikorski spoke at the UN Security Council on Ukraine yesterday. He devoted his speech to challenging claims made at the forum by Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia that his country is the victim of aggressive Western policies.

Tucker Carlson released his interview with Vladimir Putin on Thursday night. During the interview Tucker asked Putin about the Nord Stream Pipeline.Tucker Carlson: Who blew up Nord Stream?Vladimir Putin: You for sure.Tucker Carlson: I was busy that day. I did not blow up Nord Stream.Vladimir Putin: Thank you. You personally may have an alibi, but the CIA has no such alibi.Tucker Carlson: Do you, you have evidence that NATO or the CIA did it?Vladimir Putin: You know, I won’t get into details, but people always say in such cases, look for someone who is interested. But in this case, we...

Sweden plans to close its investigation into the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany after apparently failing to identify a suspect, several German media outlets reported on Tuesday. According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit newspapers and broadcasters NDR and WDR, the prosecutor leading Sweden’s investigation will announce a halt to the probe soon. “I will take a decision tomorrow and what that decision will be, I cannot tell you now,” Swedish Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist told Reuters on Tuesday, declining to elaborate. “It’s being coordinated for various reasons...

A senior Ukrainian military officer with deep ties to the country’s intelligence services played a central role in the bombing of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines last year, according to officials in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, as well as other people knowledgeable about the details of the covert operation. The officer’s role provides the most direct evidence to date tying Ukraine’s military and security leadership to a controversial act of sabotage that has spawned multiple criminal investigations and that U.S. and Western officials have called a dangerous attack on Europe’s energy infrastructure.

A senior Ukrainian military officer with deep ties to the country’s intelligence services played a central role in the bombing of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines last year, according to officials in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, as well as other people knowledgeable about the details of the covert operation. The officer’s role provides the most direct evidence to date tying Ukraine’s military and security leadership to a controversial act of sabotage that has spawned multiple criminal investigations and that U.S. and Western officials have called a dangerous attack on Europe’s energy infrastructure. Roman Chervinsky, a decorated 48-year-old colonel...

On Tuesday, April 25, 2023, Huw Pill, the Bank of England's chief economist, warned U.K. citizens that they need to accept that they are poorer and stop pushing for higher wages. "Yes, we're all worse off," he said, saying that seeking to offset rising prices with higher wages would only fuel more inflation. "So somehow in the U.K., someone needs to accept that they're worse off and stop trying to maintain their real spending power by bidding up prices, whether higher wages or passing energy costs through on to customers, et cetera." This was a somber assessment of the state...

On June 6, Ukraine suffered an environmental catastrophe. The collapse of the Kakhovka dam in the south of the country sent water thundering downstream, killing more than 100 people according to Ukrainian officials. It wiped out villages, flooded farmland and nature reserves, and swept up pollutants like oil and agricultural chemicals as it made its destructive path towards the Black Sea. The causes of the collapse have yet to be established – whether it was targeted as part of Russia’s war in Ukraine, or whether it was a structural failure – but what is certain is that it is one...

German investigators are examining why the yacht believed to have been used to carry out the sabotage deviated into Polish waters, Wall Street Journal says. Poland could have been used as an operating base to carry out the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing findings of a Germany-led investigation. German investigators are examining why the yacht believed to have been used to carry out the sabotage deviated into Polish waters, according to the report. The investigators have been able to reconstruct the two-week journey of the the boat —...

The discovery On September 26, Swiss-based Nord Stream AG, the operator of the Nord Stream pipelines, informed Danish authorities of a pressure drop at Nordstream 2 landfalls in Russia and Germany. As early as 13:56 Danish local time, the national shipping authority (Søfartsstyrelsen) issued a navigational warning for a sea area southeast of Bornholm after a leak in the Exclusive Economic Zone was discovered. At that time, a natural cause still seemed possible. However, this assessment changed by the same evening at the latest, when Nord Stream AG again contacted the coastal services to report a pressure drop in Nord...

VIDEOYet another suspect in Nord Stream pipeline bombing has been suggested by the Washington Post. First it was blamed on the Russians. Then Seymour Hersh reported it was the USA. After that it was blamed on a group of rogue Ukrainians and now the Washington Post claims it was the Ukrainian military who bombed the pipeline with the full knowledge in advance by the Americans. However, isn't the all too obvious suspect being overlooked? In this video you will be given slight clues as to who are most likely the REAL perps. So put on your Sherlock Holmes caps and...