‘US sabotage’ of Nord Stream pipeline should worry Australia

A Pulitzer Prize-winning writer says Australia should be deeply concerned about Joe Biden’s latest move. Here’s why.

Australia should be deeply concerned over Joe Biden’s ‘secret sabotage’ of Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline, according to the award-winning writer who revealed the sensational espionage claims.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh told News Corp that Australians should worry about the far-reaching consequences of the United States’ escalation in Europe, which this week led to a wild collision between a Russian jet and American drone.

It comes as Vladimir Putin, who dismissed claims by US intelligence that the sabotage was carried out by a ‘pro-Ukrainian’ group, said an “antenna” was discovered near the explosion that could reveal the saboteur’s identity.

Mr Hersh said claims by US intelligence agencies that the attack was carried out by a small “pro-Ukrainian” group that hired a yacht was a thinly-veiled cover story for what Russia would consider an act of war.

“The problem with this story is it’s completely crazy. You can’t go 260ft deep and start dropping mines and bombing stuff,” Mr Hersh said.

“It’s a steel pipeline covered by concrete, so you had to blow through concrete, then blow through steel, you can only do one charge, you need professional divers, and you can’t rent a f*cking yacht with a fake passport and claim you’re going diving.”

Mr Hersh said that US media was ignoring US responsibility for sabotaging the pipeline for sheer fear of helping former president Donald Trump back in the White House, allowing president Joe Biden to “get away with a lie”.

“And that shouldn’t happen,” he said.

Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipeline was destroyed by currently unknown saboteurs in a major escalation. Picture: Supplied

If the US is proven to be behind the Nord Stream explosion, it’ll be seen as part of a series of major escalations that climaxed this week with the collision of a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet and American MQ-9 Reaper drone.

It furthered fears of a dangerous spiral into global conflict following the Nord Stream explosion and the unprecedented shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon over American territory.

Mr Hersh said the Nord sabotage and escalation of the Russian war was a major blow for European trading partners like Australia.

“I’m in contact with Germans and others in Western Europe and they’re very worried about what’s going to happen,” Mr Hersh said.

A Chinese spy balloon was shot down by a US fighter in an unprecedented air-to-air kill over American territory. Picture: Supplied

“In terms of the international economy it’s going to be incredible. The largest chemical company in the world, BASF, is in Germany. And they’ve been talking to the Chinese about maybe moving some production facilities there. You can’t do big business without knowing what’s going to happen in gas. And Biden took the option away.”

Mr Hersh, a veteran war correspondent who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for revealing the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, and later went on to cover the Watergate scandal for The New York Times, last month reported how US Navy divers, under the cover of a NATO military exercise, planted C4 explosive mines along the pipeline in June 2022 that were remotely detonated three months later.

A collision between a Russian fighter jet and a US Reaper drone furthered fears that the war in Ukraine was spiralling into a global conflict. Picture: Supplied

The European Union represented Australia’s third largest trading partner in 2020, after China and Japan and before the US.

Mr Hersh said the extent of the geopolitical impact of the pipeline explosion has yet to be fully realised, but that Australia would not go unscathed due to its remoteness.

“Don’t forget, you guys just cut a deal with us on submarines. We’re putting pressure on China, but China’s a great trading partner for you too. Are you really going to walk away from a relationship with China? I doubt it. You do a lot of business there,” he said.

“It is all about sustaining, sustaining business, sustaining contracts and keeping people warm and happy. And if somebody were to blow up one of the main power companies in your country you wouldn’t be very happy about it.”