Seymour Hersh | The New York Times called it a “mystery,” but the United States executed a covert sea operation that was kept secret—until now | Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning. ● Two of the pipelines, which were known collectively as Nord Stream 1, had been providing Germany and much of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas for more than a decade. A second pair of pipelines, called Nord Stream 2, had been built but were not yet operational. Now, with Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border and the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945 looming, President Joseph Biden saw the pipelines as a vehicle for Vladimir Putin to weaponize natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions. ● Biden’s decision to sabotage the pipelines came after more than nine months of highly secret back and forth debate inside Washington’s national security community about how to best achieve that goal. For much of that time, the issue was not whether to do the mission, but how to get it done with no overt clue as to who was responsible. THE OPERATION: Norway was the perfect place to base the mission. In the past few years of East-West crisis, the U.S. military has vastly expanded its presence inside Norway, whose western border runs 1,400 miles along the north Atlantic Ocean and merges above the Arctic Circle with Russia. The Pentagon has created high paying jobs and contracts, amid some local controversy, by investing hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade and expand American Navy and Air Force facilities in Norway. The new works included, most importantly, an advanced synthetic aperture radar far up north that was capable of penetrating deep into Russia and came online just as the American intelligence community lost access to a series of long-range listening sites inside China. ● [In] Washington, planners knew they had to go to Norway. “They hated the Russians, and the Norwegian navy was full of superb sailors and divers who had generations of experience in highly profitable deep-sea oil and gas exploration,” the source said. They also could be trusted to keep the mission secret.

■ 2 Minutes of U.S. Official Incitement Against Nord Stream Pipeline (C-Span2/You Tube)
■ The West attempts to silently curtail Nord Stream terrorist acts’ investigation — Kremlin (TASS)
■ Snowden comments on Nord Stream revelations (RT.com)
■ Some Small Corrections To Seymour Hersh's New Nord Stream Revelations (MoA)
■ Seymour Hersh on the American "covert sea operation" to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines (eugyppius)
■ "Северные потоки" взорвала страна-террорист (RIA Novosti)[DeepL.com]
■ Россия пригрозила США последствиями за атаки на «Северные потоки» (lenta.ru)[DeepL.com]

■ The United States, Norway and NATO have Committed an Act of War Against Russia (Hal Turner) | Very long story short: The President of the United States ordered his staff to come up with a way to "deal with" the Nord Stream Pipeline. They did. It got blown up. This was a crime. It is also, an Act of War against Russia.

ER Editor: It’s clear that the Covid criminals have hit some of the wrong people, including retired Swiss banker Pascal Najadi and Thai princess, Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, for example. Najadi is triple vaccinated and injured; Mahidol, idem and in a coma since December. | Following the intervention of Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi (also a friend of Najadi) with the Thai government recently, Thailand may be the first government to take contractual action against Pfizer. We’re publishing this to note that Pascal Najadi is bringing his own legal action against the Swiss government, plus the fact of there being some interesting legal angles to this matter, called ‘universal jurisdiction’ crimes.

■ hailand to become first country in the world to declare its Pfizer contracts null and void (02/03/23)

Valentina Matvienko | The only possibility for Kiev to prevent an ultimate catastrophe is to start searching for a peace formula that takes into account objective reality and Russia's legitimate interests. | This is the only real prospect. Because Joe Biden's promise to maintain a military confrontation for as long as it takes, if you think about it, is a requiem for Ukraine. Because the Kiev regime has zero chance of defeating Russia on the battlefield, the American president's statement condemns Ukraine and its people to slaughter. This is exactly what is happening right now. The losses of the AFU are huge, the economy is collapsing, people are fleeing. The country is getting closer and closer to the line beyond which it risks the total and irrevocable loss of statehood. For what? For the interests of the United States and its allies? For the West's desire for world hegemony? (Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator; free version)

Ukrainian military bloggers also spoke almost directly about this the day before. Denis Pushilin, the acting head of the DPR, said that they were dropping munitions banned by all possible conventions from drones. In addition, poisonings of Russian fighters were also reported. | AFU preparing to use banned chemical munitions in Artemivsk. Ukrainian “military blogger” Yuriy Madiar has published a video showing chemical munitions and “hinted” that the Ukrainian armed forces are preparing to use banned munitions on facilities in Artemivsk (Bakhmut). Previously, “Madiar” posted footage of him and members of his gang making drones with colourful cylinders. At that time, it was not known exactly what the Ukrainian soldiers were using in their homemade bombs, but now the blogger has independently confirmed that the containers contain chemical weapons.

■ Ukraine war: Borrowed time for Bakhmut as Russians close in (Penny For Your Thoughts)
■ Video Proof Ukraine Using Chemical Weapons Against Russian Troops (02/08/23)

Ukraine handed over the last of its Soviet-era nuclear weapons to Russia in the mid-1990s after signing an agreement on security guarantees with Moscow and Washington. Last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Kiev might revoke its non-nuclear weapons status due to “Russian aggression.” | Owing to its large-scale nuclear potential, Ukraine may have already built a nuclear bomb, Polish General Waldemar Skrzypczak suspects. 💬 “I do not rule out Ukraine having nuclear weapons, because the Ukrainians have nuclear power plants, scientists, laboratories and knowhow. In other words, everything they need to possess such a weapon. In fact, today no one is in a position to prohibit the Ukrainians from having it,” Skrzypczak, the former commander of Poland’s Land Forces, said in an interview with Polish media.

On 6 February, south-eastern Turkiye and northern Syria were hit by a massive earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, several powerful aftershocks and then another earthquake causing unimaginable devastation. | The earthquake toppled thousands of buildings and has left more than 15,000 dead in both countries. The death toll is expected to climb as more bodies are recovered from the rubble. Many international organizations and world leaders have offered assistance to the Turkish and Syrian authorities to deal with the aftermath of the disaster. Turkiye says it was the most powerful earthquake recorded in the country since 1939. It was followed by more than 78 aftershocks and a second quake of 7.5 magnitude.