Russia's Attack on Finnish Pipeline Challenges Nato Partnership
Putin promised to make Finland pay, and now we know the admission price
While it’s challenging to extract fingerprints from objects underwater, and CCTV wasn’t in place below the surface of the sea that lies between Helsinki, Finland, and Tallinn, Estonia, one thing is sure: Cutting through the choppy waters of the herring-filled sea regularly is the Russian Baltic Fleet. To get to the St. Petersburg port, they must pass directly over the pipeline, which supplies one-third of Finland’s domestic cash consumption.
A year ago in September, there were attacks on the Russian-owned Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. While they played a less significant role due to sanctions against Russia, gas prices jumped by 12 percent just as Winter demand increased. Prices on Tuesday due to the attack on the Balticconnector increased 14 percent in the U.K.
This kind of sneakiness has Vladimir Putin’s fingerprints all over it. Since 1999, Putin has been notorious for committing acts that point to his direct involvement, but, at the same time, finding the smoking-gun proof has always been next to impossible. When accused of such disgraces, Putin does a barely-believable “Who me” shrug and then sends out his vile little army of organ monkeys: Dmitry Peskov, Sergey Ivanov, Dimachka Medvedev, etc.
As I have written in the past, Russians struggle with positive creativity. They lack self-confidence more so than vision, and after years of being crushed by teachers, parents, employers, the police, and government officials, they sooner or later develop skills that nurture negative creativity. It’s called “smekalka,” you can read more about it here.
There seems to be little doubt that the attack on this pipeline was carried about by Russia. Without having heard the official response from the Kremlin, I can write it right here: We did not do this, and yet again, the United States and the West are carrying out dangerous, clandestine attacks to find an excuse to destroy the Russian state. Let it be known if we are attacked; we will use the means we have at hand to defend ourselves. No one will win the next war.
Sounds pretty accurate, right? This is the tact Russia, and especially Russia under Putin, has used forever. Never guilty and always the innocent victim, a pipeline belonging to a country Putin promised would be punished for joining NATO is suddenly attacked in the exact spot where Russia’s fleet patrols. Nope, Russia had nothing to do with this, right? (Sarcasm, folks).
As journalist Robert Clark from The Telegraph said:
Those of us who predicted precisely this nature of below-threshold escalation by Russia, just enough to avoid Article 5 from being triggered, have got our answer, just as Europe prepares to head into another long winter.
We must not be afraid to call out Russian aggression in all forms and act accordingly when our national interests, and those of our closet allies, continue to be threatened. It was Finland’s undersea cables this week. Tomorrow, it could well be Britain’s.
NATO will prove that Russian special forces assaulted the Balticconnector pipeline. The world will see the evidence, and the world will also watch as Russia again looks us all in the eyes and denies knowing anything about it. Morally corrupt governments and countries like Serbia, Slovakia, China, and others will likely side with Russia and millions of stupid people; the dummies who think Putin is a great leader and a hero for “taking on America” will also agree.
Once again, we will be correct, but millions who the Kremlin’s sickness has duped will think we are wrong. We will retaliate, and then Russia, the “offended victim,” will escalate, and this is how the world could stumble in World War III.
Putin has to go before it is too late, people.
Is anybody reading me?
Ukraine is Europe's future. Finland is about our future, too.
Putin must be stopped. Without that, WWIII is upon us.
Thank you for this thoughtful piece. We all need to learn the lessons -- no more turning the cheek, no more optimism. We are where we are, and that means our choices are to stop WWIII before it starts or fight it later.
We must remember that Putin is Hitler. Hitler gobbled up country after country, one war crime after another and that is exactly when Putin is trying to do. Full of optimism, country after country stood by ... "oh, he won't come after us," but he did and finally when only England and the U.S. woke up, and began to fight, did WWII get stopped. Let's not wait until the odds are almost impossible. Let's be serious opponents of Putin and his ilk right now.
Hi Aidan, I am indeed an American. I have, however, been living ex-America for 30 years. I go home often, but it is true that there is a historical naivete that sadly leads us down the wrong rabbit holes. And, thanks for reminding me about Hungary! I forget to add them to the list--their leader is a major fascist s***head!