Ray McGovern and Jeffery Sachs addressed the U.N. Security Council Tuesday on the Nord Stream pipelines sabotage in light of Sy Hersh’s reporting.
The Security Council meeting was called by Russia after Seymour Hersh’s report pointed to the U.S. and Norway as the culprits.
My name is Jeffrey Sachs. I am a university professor at Columbia University. I’m a specialist in the global economy, including global trade, finance, infrastructure and economic statecraft. I have appeared before the U.N. Security Council on my own behalf. I represent no government or organization in the testimony that I will deliver. The destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines on September 26th, 2022, constitutes an act of international terrorism and represents a threat to the peace.
It is the responsibility of the U.N. Security Council to take up the question of who might have carried out the act in order to bring the perpetrator to international justice to pursue compensation for the damaged parties and to prevent future such actions. The consequences of the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines are enormous. They include not only the vast economic losses related to the pipelines themselves and their future potential use, but also the heightened threat to transit boundary infrastructure of all kinds submarine Internet cables, international pipelines for gas and hydrogen transboundary power transmission, offshore wind farms and more.
The global transformation to green energy will require considerable transboundary infrastructure, including in international waters. Countries need to have full confidence that their infrastructure will not be destroyed by third parties. Some European countries have recently expressed concern over the safety of their offshore infrastructure. For all of these reasons, the investigation by the U.N. Security Council of the Nord Stream explosions is a high global priority.
The destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines required a very high degree of planning, expertise and technological capacity. The Nord Stream 2 pipelines are a marvel of engineering. Each section of pipe is of steel of 4.5 centimeter thickness, and with a pipeline internal diameter of 1.15 meters. The pipe is encased in concrete of 10.9 centimeter thickness. Weight of each section of concrete encased pipe is 24 metric tons.
The Nord Stream 2 pipelines, some 1200 kilometers in length, contained around 200,000 pipes. The pipelines sit on the sea floor. Destroying a pipeline of heavy rolled steel encased in concrete at depths of 70 to 90 meters requires a highly advanced technology for transportation of the explosives. Diving to install the explosives and detonation to do so undetected in the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden adds greatly to the complexity of the operation.
As a number of senior officials have publicly confirmed, an action of this sort must have been carried out by a state level actor. Only a handful of state level actors have both the technical capacity and access to the Baltic Sea to have carried out this action, including the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Poland, Norway, Germany, Denmark and Sweden, either individually or in some combination.
Ukraine lacks the necessary technologies, as well as access to the Baltic Sea. A recent report by the Washington Post revealed that the intelligence agencies of the NATO countries have privately concluded that there is no evidence whatsoever that Russia carried out this action. This also comports with the fact that Russia had no obvious motive to carry out this act of terrorism on its own critical infrastructure.
Indeed, Russia is likely to bear considerable expenses to repair the pipelines. Three countries have reportedly carried out investigations of the Nord Stream terrorism. Denmark, Germany and Sweden. These countries presumably know much more about the circumstances of the terrorist attack. Sweden in particular, has perhaps the most to tell the world about the crime scene, which its divers investigated. Yet instead of sharing this information globally, Sweden has kept the results of its investigation secret from the rest of the world.
Sweden has refused to share its findings with Russia and turned down a joint investigation with Denmark and Germany in the interest of global peace. The U.N. Security Council should require these countries to immediately turn over the results of their investigations to the U.N. Security Council. There is only one detailed account to date of the Nord Stream destruction. The one recently put forward by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, ostensibly based on information leaked to Hersh by an unnamed source. Hersh attributes the Nord Stream destruction to a decision ordered by U.S. President Joe Biden and carried out by U.S. agents in a covert operation that Hersh describes in detail.
The White House has described Hersh’s account as, quote, completely and utterly false, unquote, but did not offer any information contradicting Hersh’s account and did not offer any alternative explanation. Senior U.S. officials made statements before and after the Nord Stream destruction that showed the U.S. animus towards the pipelines. On January 27th, 2022, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland tweeted, quote, If Russia invades Ukraine one way or another, Nord Stream two will not move forward, end quote.
On February 7th, President Biden said, quote, If Russia invades again, then there will be no longer Nord Stream 2 We will bring an end to it. End quote. When asked by the reporter how he would do that, he responded, quote, I promise you, we will be able to do it. End quote. On September 30th, 2022, immediately following the terrorist attack on the pipeline, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that the destruction of the pipeline is, quote, also a tremendous opportunity.
It’s a tremendous opportunity to once and for all remove the dependance on Russian energy, and that’s to take away from Vladimir Putin the weaponization of energy as a means of advancing his imperial design. End quote. On January 28th, 2023, Undersecretary Nuland declared, in testimony to Senator Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate, quote, I am, and I think the administration is very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea.
End quote. Such language is not at all appropriate in the face of international terrorism. I hope that the United States, together with all other Security Council members, will condemn this act of international terrorism and join together in an urgent U.N. Security Council led investigation of this international crime in order to determine the truth. The truth is not yet known by the world, but it is knowable more than ever.
The world depends on the U.N. Security Council to do its work to stop the escalation to a new world war. The world will be safe only when the permanent members work together diplomatically to solve global crises, including the war in Ukraine and the rising tensions in East Asia. The U.N. Security Council provides the unique global venue for that peace affirming work.
More than ever, we need a healthy, functioning U.N. Security Council carrying out the mission assigned to it by the U.N. Charter. A U.N. Security Council objective investigation of the Nord Stream 2 terrorism, in which all countries contribute what they know, is important for the global confidence in this body and most importantly, for global peace and sustainable development. Thank you very much.
In the days and weeks ahead all of humanity shall learn which world leaders in the year 2023 accept nothing less than fullest truth, maximum-deterrent justice, and gratefully welcomed-by-all peace in this world, while simultaneously learning which world leaders – for God-only-knows what reason(s) – have, in an extremely disappointing-to-all-people everywhere illustration, rejected the moral principles embodied in the highest human, ethical concepts: Truth, justice and universally desired peace on Earth.
In listening to the comments from various nations after Prof Sach’s and Ray McGovern’s fine speeches before the UNSC, I believe only the UK among the Western supporters of our proxy war on Russia, mentioned Sy Hersh’s article, and then only to disparage it (of course). The other speakers studiously avoided mention of Hersh’s report, instead accusing Russia of seeking to deflect attention away from the anniversary of its invasion. While there may be some truth to that–though I personally doubt it–the fact Hersh’s piece has been ignored in the US speaks volumes about the state of journalism here. I’ll add the same is true of the Columbia Journalism Review piece on Russiagate, that has also been ignored by US MSM. Russiagate revitalized Cold-War Russophobia and Putin Derangement Syndrome. The lies of the Russiagate hoax have made all the lies since easier for most to swallow.
“RAY McGOVERN and JEFFERY SACHS addressed the U.N. Security Council on the sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines in light of SY HERSH’s reporting.”
IS THERE A DRY EYE IN THE HOUSE?
This ‘address’ is beyond moving & outstanding!!! Thank You, Gentlemen!!!
IF, I had a million dollars I would buy $ome MSMedia Air Waves & broadcast McGOVERN’S, SACHS,’ & The RUSSIAN Federation’s Summary of The DELIBERATE, Human Act of WAR!!! How the Nord Stream Pipeline was f/Blown Up!
A necessary, well deserved Public Service Announcement, running 24/7!!! W/Links, Names, Dates, Places, Etc., Etc., Etc., that will f/answer, CUI BONO?!?
Sound the alarm” “ATTENTION, EVERYONE! We’ve GOT proof that Joey “Patriot Act” Biden is demented, deranged, perverted & way f/creepy; but, he did have a “Senior Moment” of clarity. SEYMOUR HERSH reports “THAT BIDEN did NOT want the detonation to occur so soon after the exercise, fearing it would point to NATO’s guilt. INSTEAD THE EXPLOSIVES were set off on Sept. 26, 2022 when a Norwegian plane dropped a device into the sea that sent audio signals to set them off,” IT’S “OPERATIONAL PLANNING.” (Seymour Hersh).
Imo, The Killers in High Places,” Victoria Nuland, Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken, Joey “the Political Corpse” Biden-Comma La Harris, posing as POTUS masquerading as Human, their Board of Executioners, are veterans of the OhBama cabal. The present crises, all of ‘em, arise out of the 2014 regime change operation. Joey “Patriot Act” Biden, as a leading Senate voice on foreign policy, as vice president tasked by Ohbama with running Ukraine policy; and, NOW as POTUS masquerading as Human, is deeply implicated in this long-running operation.
Fingers crossed, The UN Security Council will step on the gas, speed up the investigation, pursue accountability, and “Book ‘Em!!” Having a major negative impact on each the rest of their gawd damn f/life. Get ‘em outta our life. Please, Give US Peace.
I believe it is hoped because Bidet is so gaga that he won’t be able to testify when/if the truth is revealed. He looks to me (especially after the red carpet dêbacle in Poland) as if he’s struggling. I wouldn’t hold your breath for the UN.
Kudos to Mr. McGovern and Mr. Sachs
If Biden thinks he can get away with it because he is a “more believable” liar than Trump, I’ve got some news for him.
Evil is running the show in the USA and Great Britain. Shameful.
Let’s say, for the sake of agreement, that Russia is trying to create a distraction from the anniversary of its occupation of a slither of land in Ukraine, but how does this remove the responsibility of the nation who sabotaged the Nord Stream pipeline? The sabotage is still a criminal act and I’m glad that many of the nations are asking for an investigation.
Two things noticeable with the US representatives’ response: his comment as ad hominem; his tone as ripe with venom. Here’s the text of what he said:
xttps://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-a-un-security-council-briefing-on-nord-stream-pipeline-attacks-called-by-russia/
This tone stood out from the others’ remarks and is a reminder of the first rule of proper debate: avoid the smear. The smear, the ad hominem, is automatically a red flag indicator of weakness and emotion, or non-rationality, in arguing.
Note this contrast–if he had said: The US is delighted to join in with any investigation of whatever and whoever blew up the pipeline. We will lend our resources to this end. Such a high crime endangering world relations and threatening a wider war MUST be properly investigated.
Rhetorically, this approach is far superior to a venom packed diatribe against Russia as conspiracy theorist etc. etc. Of course, it might lead on to disastrous revelation but for the moment such a consequence is delayed. Further, the venom-packed response, at such a significant forum, is highly noticeable to a world increasingly skeptical of the continual distortions of the US.
I expect that the SC won’t vote for this, as many around that table are complicit. Thus Russia will have to seek other means for retribution — an eye for an eye, a pipeline for a pipeline. Biden started a game he can’t win, as the US has more offshore oil infrastructure than anyone.
We are already at war with Russia. The war will escalate and American cities will burn. It has been the desire of corrupt leaders to destroy Russia for many decades. Since WW I the western elite have lied to Russia. I have no faith in the United Nations resolving any serious issues…they are a house divided. I am ashamed of my country.
Interesting how the world turns, and what was once considered the “Free World” longer represents freedom but intimidation and servitude.
No one likes to be bullied. More and more nations will be encouraged to stand up and find their voice. When the time comes it will a the small cluster of NATO and G7 countries representing Empire and its vassals on the margins of a new multipolar world led by the BRICS++.
One hopes though, that in this new world, the US will once again be led and influenced by men like Sachs and McGovern.
Both Jeffrey Sachs and Ray McGovern did a terrific job. Ray McGovern’s presentation was especially moving and heartfelt. He mentioned the duck & cover drills that were, for me as well, carried out weekly in grade school as a protection against a nuclear attack. It and the circumstances that compelled it was the distillation of madness and decades of dedicated effort were required to establish trust based treaties that captured and locked away that madness, we thought, forever. Who in their right minds would ever want to return to that? Apparently, for the Victoria Nulands, Bidens and the rest of the US and their vassal state neocons this madness is exactly where they want to be. Why to we let them?
The US, after systematically scrapping one after another of the arms treaties that have kept the world safe, not to mention alive, for the last 30 and more years apparently wants the freedom to prosecute nuclear solutions on the rest of the world as part of its dreams of empire. Washington is now the heart of madness in the world. The only thing that is required for evil to flourish is for good people to remain silent. It is terrifying to contemplate the degree of impunity that Washington feels as evidenced in carrying out its mammoth act of state terrorism in blowing up the NordStream pipeline which is why it is necessary to investigate and hold the culprits accountable.
This kind of impunity should not exist because it only leads to bigger crimes. Europe “won the lottery” this year in having a much warmer than usual winter. In contrast, initial worries were that up to 100,000 people could die due to the cold weather without the heat provided by NordStream gas pipeline. Europe seems to have dodged that bullet, this year but there are no permanent solutions forthcoming. The overall impoverishment of Europe is a given.
Blowing up NordStream was a crime against humanity. The people of Europe, just like the Ukrainian people have been treated as cannon fodder to be used and discarded by US neocons in pursuit of their dreams for an American uni-polar empire. The last thing that they should be granted is the impunity that comes from acquiescence to their crime. The international community must join together and make sure that this can never happen again. This is for the sake of our own survival. In fact, this was the “original sin” of the Obama admin that doomed it to mediocrity. Instead of “hope & change,” we got “change is hopeless” By providing impunity to the criminal necons of the Bush admin then, we are living the results today. Even worse will be true if the US and its criminal allies are not held accountable now in regards to the NordStream bombing. No one should be able to act toward the destruction of humanity with such impunity, ever.
I appreciate Ray McGovern’s analysis over the years, of Russia-gate for instance, and now his supporting Hersh on Nord Stream, but I needed to pause watching this several times out of embarrassment. The UN is not a Rotary Club or church somewhere in the American Midwest. The commentary on the roots of “verhandeln” and “verstehen”, mimed shooting to dramatize “schießen” was all just awful. McGovern started by saying he didn’t have anything prepared (to speak at the UN?) but still read from several pages on the CIA’s lies about Iraqi WMD.
Passionately warning about Putin’s concern NATO would be able to base cruise and hypersonic missiles “on the periphery of the United States” just makes your heart drop hoping you didn’t hear that right, or hoping no one else heard it.
The finishing with gospel about “Keeping on moving forward, keep on loving our enemies”, and then telling the UN “Keep on doing what’s necessary so no one kills the children any more” as a close to supposedly giving expert opinion on the Nord Stream bombing was bad beyond words. Who would I possibly recommend this to?
When I heard him say that, I knew he meant “Russia” instead of “United States.” Cringe-worthy indeed.
I’m reminded of an Oxford don, last name Spooner, who gave a very strange sermon. At the end he rushed back to the pulpit to say that all the time he had referred to Aristotle he meant Jesus Christ. (As an aside, the name spoonerism is given to the kind of mistake where you might say “town drain,” when you meant “down train.” He is reported to have said to a lazy student: “You have tasted a whole worm and must leave by the town drain.”)
Hey Mr. Wehle, give the guy a freakin’ break. How many 83 year-old survivors of cancer and open heart surgery would have the gumption, much less the ability to address one of the world’s most prestigious, if not powerful, deliberative bodies.
Sure, I kind of “cringed” when he misspoke “United States” when he meant “Russia”, but unless you were not paying attention (or were extremely ignorant of world geography), you had to know that he meant Russia; after all, Romania and Poland (about which he was speaking), have not been known to be on the border of the U.S.
Additionally, it turns out Ray’s more colloquial address complemented well the more fact-based address of Jeffrey Sachs.
It also seems your opinion is in the minority, as many other commenters have praised Ray for speaking in an unconventional, attention-getting way. I didn’t see any representatives or staff snoozing, as can often happen at these meetings. And I join with commenters Ella and Valerie, in even praising Ray’s singing. Yes, probably a first for the Security Council. Good for you, Ray!
Full disclosure: I am one of Ray’s brothers. (much younger, much more handsome, and a better singer!)
As a singer myself, i appreciate all impromptu renditions. Especially unaccompanied.
It certainly made a change from the drab, dismal, repetitious delegates on display.
It was 1962, I was 16 years old, and standing in Trafalgar square in the middle of London, a traditional venue for political debate and actions. Russian warships are steaming toward Castro’s Cuba in order to install short-range nuclear-armed missiles. Kennedy is about to make an historical speech and Nikita Khrushchev is also to make a similar pronouncement. These two men had the fate of the world in their hands. I was happy to see the outcome of this situation – Khrushchev turned his ships around and WW3 was averted. For the uninitiated this is called diplomacy.
Today I am in my late 70s and things are very different. I never thought I would be here today. But it seems that the deranged US neo-cons are lining up and aching to start a war with Russia, along with an ever-ready media and political class, either in tow or even one step ahead. This is absolutely unforgivable. If we ever survive this crime against humanity heads will have to roll.
In the words of Kurt Vonnegut, “There is no reason good can’t triumph over evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.” Though facetious, these words amplify a condition of corruption that totally envelopes the leadership of the West.
I salute Jeff Sachs and Ray McGovern for their dedication to truth.
I imagine guillotines will be erected in bombed out America, and those responsible for the disaster will chop off the heads of their critics.
I am in my early seventies, and I remember how the nuns made us duck and cover under our school desks during that time. My father had been on the Manhattan Project and I was terrified, especially when the Civil Defense cards they handed out said: “If you see a flash brighter than the sun…” People dug bomb shelters. The intervening decades have soothed the population into a sort of sleepwalk. The hundred and twenty thousand or so who died immediately in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the lucky ones. I read John Hersey’s book while I was still in grammar school. My teacher did not want me to do a book report about it.
The US and its NATO accomplishes singing from the same hymn sheet, conflating their own act of international terrorism aimed at preventing Germany from any reconciliation with Russia for with their proxy war against Russia through Ukraine.
Indeed it is the US and Norway now making huge profits from this act of piracy, while leaving much of Europe cold and European industry devastated.
What a joke! The world is seeing through their lies, as the sheepskin falls off their true wolf nature. As with Little Red Riding Hood, the Huntsman with the axe is at the door and the days of the Big Bad Wolf are numbered.
I am 61 years old. At times I was a bit embarrassed by Ray McGovern’s old-timer rambling, but his singing and appeal for the children made me cry. What a heart of gold!
Hurrah for Sachs and McGovern!. They restore hope in humanity and also that the United Sttes deserves far fr better than Biden, Blinken, Sullivan, Nuland and the rest.
Yes Elial. And what a voice he has. That must be a first – someone singing at the UN. Good for you Mr. McGovern. You should sing more often.
It is First Degree evil when the USA puppets lecture Russia for whatever war crimes committed in Ukraine, when we know western Ukrainians have been killing fellow countrymen living in the east. For eight years Russia pled to the UN for help to stop the brutal carnage in Ukraine, they did nothing.
The intentions of today’s UN meeting was to discuss the attack on Russian/German pipeline. The Nord Stream II pipeline angered the US as they feared a positive relationship between Russia and Germany appears to threaten the US standing in Europe and the world.
When the facts are against you argue everything but the facts.
I was particularly disgraced at the slimy rebuttal of the United States UN Representative.
The UN is not to be taken seriously anymore. It has been subjugated by the US. It has become largely irrelevant.
Surely, if the UN were totally subservient, the views of Hersh, Sachs, and McGovern would not have been given a platform. For loss of relevance, look to the mainstream media.
Are the three countries doing the so called investigation going to implicate themselves, or get one their number to fall on the USA’s sword. Unless these three investigators are totally incompetent, or corrupt (therefore guilty of the dastardly act). they have to come up with a culprit. You have to admire the chutzpah of that USA representative. No integrity whatsoever. The truth is going to come out. My country is a disgrace.
I felt nauseaous watching that U S representative and the one from the UK. Bald-faced liars.
For a guy without a prepared text, McG rocked the shit out of this.
Great work, Old Man!
It looked like they wern’t even going to vote on it in the end?
The vote was not scheduled for this meeting but later this week.
Thank you for providing access to this broadcast and letting us know that the vote will be later in the week.
Who was the person speaking for the U.S. please?
I think he said the U.S. was concerned that someone would destroy a pipeline…..say what??????
That man seemed to be ignorant of the history of encroachment that intentionally provoked the Russian invasion. He seemed brainwashed that Russia started this aggression out of the blue….
Where did they find him? I noticed that the usual apologists were not there….even though everyone of them usually ignores the basis on which the session was called and jumps right to their contrived narrative.
I also noted that China seems to have become more outspoken than in the past recently and angry about the destruction of the pipeline or any critical infrastructure. they seem to have lost patience with the WEST. I wonder how they will deal with continuing to sell their manufactured goods to the WEST and paying in PETRO$.
And Brazil addressed Seymour Hersh’s piece but seemed concerned about “only one source” although that may not mean that they’ll vote against the initiative for the U.N to initiate an investigation of the attack on the Nordstream pipelines.
Do you have a sense of how that vote will come out. The G7 seem to have an edge on how the votes turn out.
Thanks!
Missed it – where can i see a replay?
Click on the link provided in the article.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
This UN resolution fizzled. Keeping hitting at this. In different venues. Showing the consequences if any country can behave like this.
As a U.S. citizen who loves my country, I found myself nevertheless identifying strongly with the U.N. responses from both Russia and China about U.S. state sponsored terrorism. Our President is a complete failure as a leader and is running a U.S. government who act as pirates. Any country who disagrees with the U.S. is subject to military force and confiscation of their assets, i.e. money. I am disgusted by the behavior of my country and hope that the U.S. Congress will act to prevent the Biden Regime from further acts of aggression toward other countries. The U.S. is presently a pariah nation. Jefferey Sachs an Ray McGovern are U.S. citizens. They had nothing to gain except to make an effort to avoid nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. A noble cause.
You are not alone in how you feel about how our country behaves or at least how those at the top behave and have behaved.
China, it seems, has become quite outspoken lately. Their Ministry of Foreign Affairs published an article on 2/20/23 titled:
“U.S. Hegemony and its Perils”
hxxps://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjbxw/202302/t20230220_11027664.html
It’s an amazing piece that covers a lot of ground. Interesting that they quote Jimmy Carter.
They analyze 5 aspects of our hegemony – Political, Military, Economic, Technological and Cultural.
They conclude with this sobering view:
“While a just cause wins its champion wide support, an unjust one condemns its pursuer to be an outcast. The hegemonic, domineering, and bullying practices of using strength to intimidate the weak, taking from others by force and subterfuge, and playing zero-sum games are exerting grave harm. The historical trends of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit are unstoppable. The United States has been overriding truth with its power and trampling justice to serve self-interest. These unilateral, egoistic and regressive hegemonic practices have drawn growing, intense criticism and opposition from the international community.
Countries need to respect each other and treat each other as equals. Big countries should behave in a manner befitting their status and take the lead in pursuing a new model of state-to-state relations featuring dialogue and partnership, not confrontation or alliance. China opposes all forms of hegemonism and power politics, and rejects interference in other countries’ internal affairs. The United States must conduct serious soul-searching. It must critically examine what it has done, let go of its arrogance and prejudice, and quit its hegemonic, domineering and bullying practices.”
Wow, thank you, evelync, for this powerful and true statement from the Chinese.
We’d all better be careful when quoting it, careful about attributing the source. We’ll be condemned for being “in Xi’s pocket”.
Doesn’t have the alliterative ring of “Putin’s pocket”, does it? Oh well, that won’t stop them.
The U.S. representative denied that the U.S. was involved at all in the sabotage. He agreed in condemning the act. He questioned why the Russian representative would be bringing the matter to public attention now, five months after the incident. He suggested that Russia was attempting to deflect attention away from its own crimes, beginning with its invasion of Ukraine a year ago. He saw the Russian request for an independent investigation as a move to prejudice opinion, based on “a conspiracy theory” from one source. Russia wants to “change the subject” and was engaging in a “blatant attempt to distract,” he claimed. People should be concerned about the “humanitarian crisis” brought about by Russia in Ukraine, along with the current crisis cause by earthquakes. The Security Council should not initiate another inquiry
From what I’ve read, there can hardly be doubt about U.S. involvement. So we may be in the territory of the “diplomatic lie,” where the consequences of telling the truth (U.S. involvement) are likely to be worse than the consequences of telling a lie (the U.S. definitely had no part in this horrible, dastardly crime). My own predilection is for the truth, but there are two truths. There is the truth about what happened, and the truth about what would likely happen if the truth of U.S. guilt (assuming such) were widely broadcast. I don’t feel competent to make a judgement on that matter of consequences, but I have some sympathy with those who judge they would be catastrophic.
At this point I look to Jacques Ellul, (mentioned in another CN posting) who saw no hope as long as we are caught in the technological frame of mind. We need to allow room for consideration of the Almighty, look to our own faults, don’t be too hasty in condemning others, and eschew violence.
People who read only the Technological Society, and not Ellul’s other works, will miss his message of non-violence, based on Christian hope. Some may remember the Unibomber, who may have benefited from reading wider in Ellul than just that one book.
Thanks for introducing me to Jacques Ellul. What an interesting guy.
It strikes me that “technology” provides those who control the gears the means to exploit the rest of us in part by controlling the flow of information. (Isn’t that what the fight for Net Neutrality is all about?)
It seems the powerful will try to twist any “innovation” to their benefit.
But, somehow, the will to find and share the truth seems to seep out via the courage of whistleblowers and heroic master publishers like Julian Assange who believes that democracy is achieved only when the truth is widely available to all.
It seems that Ellul was one of those towering courageous champions of fairness and justice.
Good for him!!! And lucky for us to have his voice.
Ellul died in 1994, but a large and dedicated group of scholars carry on his work. Go to . If you look at current and back issues of The Ellul Forum you will see the enthusiasm of contributors. There are excellent documentary films available on line.
Thank you, Randal Marlin. I appreciate it.
The briefings by Ray McGovern & Jeffery Sachs were both very good, though McGovern **twice** misspoke, saying “the United States” when he clearly meant “Russia.” (As in, “and NATO kept expanding, all the way to the border of “the United States’).
I listened also to the remarks of several of the Security Council members. While none of them explicitly denounced the US, they mostly seemed sympathetic to the idea that blowing up the Nord Stream was a very grave act of terrorism. The exception (of those I saw) was unsurprisingly the little twit from the UK, who performed exactly as you’d expect – as a US vassal. His view was that the Sy Hersh report was simply giving Russia a means of diverting attention away from its crimes in Ukraine.
When I last checked, the NYT had not even mentioned that the Security Council was meeting today.
Right on, Ray McG! For speaking forthrightly, without prepared text, and for bringing a song of struggle into security council chambers. As my mother would have said, “A man after me own heart” (with a playful brogue but with true sentiment) for being steadfast, bold & true.
And well done & well played, Jeffrey Sachs, for couching the issue of Nordstream sabotage in terms of international terrorism.
Could it be that the country that most hides perfidious deeds behind exaggerated threats of terrorism finally will be outed as a flagrant instigator of state terrorism and thereby hoist with its own petard? A heavy lift to be sure.
Stop The War
What a disgrace!
Not one Country or well the few there will
Condemn the U.S. or Norway!
Are all of them Vassal States to US?
This reminds me of The USS Maine and
America’s Segway into the Spanish American War.
The US then and now were responsible but no one
Has the cojones to stand up to the elephant in the
Room.
They all just reiterated the need for whoever guilty to be held accountable. Maybe they are waiting for concrete evidence. But as long as it’s the US, i doubt that will ever suface. (Pun intended)
The psychological projection by and hypocrisy of the US is utterly repulsive.
Hoping for a discussion of implications that the U.S. took a horrible situation we’ve been curating for decades and raised it to level of a epic humanitarian disaster with Presidential boasting for flagrant act of international terrorism. Sure this sounds simple enough, but…
“But…” indeed. If the U.N.S.C. were an impartial investigator it would indeed investigate the Nord Stream Attack rather than be dominated by members intent on diverting the discussion into alleging that Russian aggression is the motive for demanding that the Nord Stream attack be investigated as was originally supposed to take place.
Well, screw the U.N.S.C. and encourage the majority of the General Assembly members who don’t agree with its behavior and can insist on doing the job they allegedly signed up to do. At least this ‘discussion’ has given Russia a platform to highlight some of what the West has been up to all along and it and China still have veto power to stymie most substantive actions it might take.
Yes, the U.S. still has the muscle of the PETRO$ to threaten sanctions and embargoes and other devious controls vis the IMF and World Bank against weaker countries. But U.S. overreach – appropriating the $Billions of Russian deposits etc etc has gotten the attention of the other power centers of this emerging multi-polar world who are scared that they could be next if they fail to buckle to some capriciousness that our White Supremacist Racist Sinophobic, Russophobic Colonial Hegemonic WEST confronts them with.
The emerging multipolar world is seen as the expanding BRICS countries and the SCO countries and the shift to bilateral trade outside the U.S. reserve PETRO$ currency.
We are in the process of killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
Our NEOCONS fail to see the consequence of their bullying which has been backfiring lately…..they’ve bitten off more than they can chew with Russia, China, India as unwilling targets who are forming new economic and perhaps military alliances too.
Brazil and Argentina have developed trade agreements in their own currencies. So have Russia and China and India. Saudi Arabia is in the process of shifting from the PETRO$ to the Yuan….
At some point the bullying of the WEST will no longer have the weight it has enjoyed for too long.
The countries who we bully into voting our way at the U.N. will see other options. I’ve read that one technique for bullying a pro WEST vote is to threaten the voter that his/her child will not be allowed to get a degree from an “elite” university in the U.S. that they believe would get that kid a ticket to elite status.
I think that our current leadership is so wrapped up in their own “exceptionalism” to notice that “the times they are a changing”…hopefully sooner rather than later…..
The BRICS countries talk about cooperation and diplomacy and respect for the borders and sovereignty of each country large or small and win/win/win opportunities. Our current leadership doesn’t;t seem to understand or care that the people of our country would be far better served with this type of thinking…