Thank you for posting this, I enjoy Big Serge’s analysis and writing. He wrote in a previous piece how prolonging the Special Operation benefited Russia because it was the mechanism for waging an economic/psychological war on NATO and the EU. He didn’t touch on that this time.
It seems to me the damage to the Nordstream pipelines, regardless of who did it, will end up benefiting Russia. Putin has, in his own way offered peace by saying Ukraine needs to now cease hostilities. This sounds like he would be satisfied with the territory they have annexed. But, is he satisfied with his Cold War on NATO and the EU?
If Putin feels the need to further damage NATO and the EU, the sabotage to the pipelines positions him to have his cake and eat it too. A war weary Ukraine could negotiate peace with Russia and Russia can still inflict economic and psychological damage on the EU. Now, all he needs to do is drag his feet on starting repairs to the pipelines until their is an admission it was carried out by the United States or the UK.
Time, it seems, is squarely on Russia’s side. The economic pain being felt in the EU was already causing civil unrest. Now, with all hope gone for the flow of gas to be restored this winter people will fall into despair. And, many will blame the United States. If and when EU countries start to capitulate, I think we’ll be surprised how quickly a solution is implemented to get Russian gas flowing again.
Thank you for posting this, I enjoy Big Serge’s analysis and writing. He wrote in a previous piece how prolonging the Special Operation benefited Russia because it was the mechanism for waging an economic/psychological war on NATO and the EU. He didn’t touch on that this time.
It seems to me the damage to the Nordstream pipelines, regardless of who did it, will end up benefiting Russia. Putin has, in his own way offered peace by saying Ukraine needs to now cease hostilities. This sounds like he would be satisfied with the territory they have annexed. But, is he satisfied with his Cold War on NATO and the EU?
If Putin feels the need to further damage NATO and the EU, the sabotage to the pipelines positions him to have his cake and eat it too. A war weary Ukraine could negotiate peace with Russia and Russia can still inflict economic and psychological damage on the EU. Now, all he needs to do is drag his feet on starting repairs to the pipelines until their is an admission it was carried out by the United States or the UK.
Time, it seems, is squarely on Russia’s side. The economic pain being felt in the EU was already causing civil unrest. Now, with all hope gone for the flow of gas to be restored this winter people will fall into despair. And, many will blame the United States. If and when EU countries start to capitulate, I think we’ll be surprised how quickly a solution is implemented to get Russian gas flowing again.
I think this is the end of the war. Pretty sure that's why the DS is so pissed off. lol