Well, a year later... I think we know know whether this is true or not.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

Introduction: proxy wars and proxy forces | Security and Defense Quarterly - Q4 2020 |

The use of proxy actors in warfare is not a new phenomenon. They have been an instrument of foreign policy and a feature of inter-state competition through the ages. Powerful states have frequently backed rebel groups operating on an opponent's territory or used militias and mercenaries to support a client state in an internal conflict, while seeking to avoid direct involvement. Proxy warfare was prevalent during the Cold War as the United States (US) and the Soviet Union sought to pursue their rivalry without risking a military confrontation that could lead to nuclear war. The Soviet Union supported anti-colonial and revolutionary movements opposed to the West, while the US backed anti-communist leaders and counter-revolutionaries. The use of proxy forces has again increased in the twenty-first century as states with a stake in an internal conflict seek to use military force indirectly in order to minimise the political and financial costs and risks of involvement. The tendency to outsource warfare to non-state agencies seems set to continue, as contemporary conflicts in the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine illustrate.

The 2018 US National Defence Strategy emphasised great power competition as the primary national security concern (Department of Defense, 2018). The main objective of the US armed forces is now to prepare for hi-intensity warfare against near-peer competitors rather than engage in the irregular wars that have been their priority for the last two decades. However, irregular or hybrid wars will continue, involving nation states as well as non-state actors. A traditional war between the great powers would pose huge military, political and financial risks for the states involved and cause unimaginable destruction even without the use of nuclear weapons. Therefore, as great power armed conflict remains less likely than intense great power competition, the US and other major powers will not be able to ignore civil conflicts, insurgencies, and proxy wars. These confrontations will provide opportunities and challenges for rival powers just as they did during the Cold War. Rather than the direct use of military force, competing states will likely operate in the so-called grey zone between peace and war, employing information and cyber warfare, covert special forces' operations, and, of course, proxy forces to achieve their objectives while seeking to stay below the threshold of activities that might trigger a conventional military response.

In the last decade there has been a growing reluctance by major powers to put "boots on the ground". Large scale ground force operations have been replaced by what Paul Rogers calls "war by remote control", involving the use of stand-off weapons, special forces, local militias and Private Military Companies (PMCs) (Rogers, 2016, p. 160). In this respect, the current civil war in Libya has been described as a possible "testing ground for how wars will be fought in the future" (Vest and Clarke, 2020). Libya certainly illustrates the complexity of contemporary proxy wars and demonstrates how the Cold War era, unilateral sponsorship of chosen proxies has largely been replaced by what has been termed "coalition proxy warfare" (Mumford, 2013a, p. 45). A number of states currently provide military support to the combatants in Libya, while typically denying their involvement in the fighting. Russia is the main military backer of the rebel Libyan National Army (LNA) while Turkey has emerged as the military provider for the Government of National Accord's (GNA) forces. GNA and LNA ground operations have been assisted by foreign sponsor military drone and air strikes, advanced air defence systems and, especially in the case of the LNA, social media campaigns directed by its state backers Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. Another feature of the war is the deployment of thousands of Syrian and Sudanese mercenaries, reflecting a growing trend to exploit stateless or displaced populations to supply soldiers for proxy wars (Vest and Clarke, 2020; England, 2020).

NATO vs Russia Proxy War In Ukraine Could Become a Real War | CATO Institute - Oct. 12, 2022 |

Blueprint for Disaster; Confusing a Proxy War and a Direct War with Russia in Ukraine: The United States has been waging a proxy war against Russia since Vladimir Putin's government launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine in late February. Washington has spent billions of dollars to flood Ukraine with increasingly potent weaponry. At the same time, the Biden administration has emphasized repeatedly that the United States will not become a direct participant in the fighting.

Nevertheless, the line between proxy war and direct war in Ukraine is becoming dangerously thin.

In addition to the deluge of weaponry that the United States and some of its NATO partners are pouring into Ukraine, Washington is providing Kyiv with extensive military intelligence on the deployment of Russian forces. Such intelligence appears to have helped Ukrainian forces score some impressive victories, including the downing of a Russian troop transport plane, the assassination of several Russian generals, and the sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of the Kremlin's Black Sea fleet. There are even credible reports that U.S. special operations forces are now operating inside Ukraine. Russian complaints about U.S./NATO actions are getting louder and angrier. Washington is running a growing risk that its current proxy war, dangerous as that gambit is, may culminate in something far worse: a direct war between Russia and NATO.

The model for the Biden administration's current approach appears to be the strategy that Washington pursued against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. Both the Carter and Reagan administration provided financial and military aid to Afghan mujahidin fighters who were resisting the Soviet occupation of their country. Washington's goal was to bleed Soviet forces without becoming a belligerent in the war, relying instead on its Afghan proxies to inflict serious damage.

Consequences of War Made Invisible

The role of government and media in concealing the consequences of war.

With formidable clarity, Solomon, the executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and author of War Made Easy, documents how the so-called war on terror has spawned an endless and secretive program of foreign interventions. The author is particularly eloquent in explaining how the media's exclusive focus on past and potential "American suffering" in framing such activities has meant that "there [isn't] much room to see or care about the suffering of others, even if--or especially if--it was caused by the United States."

Solomon points out that this pattern of selective moral attention accompanies a widespread ignorance of the actual policies being carried out by the American military and its numerous contractors. Particularly persuasive are the author's illustrations of how media outlets have been co-opted into producing what is essentially war propaganda and how journalists who seek to question the honesty of government officials are routinely silenced. Solomon makes a striking comparison between the American media's strong interest in the losses endured by Ukrainian civilians after the recent Russian invasion and its indifference to the fate of Iraqi civilians after America's invasion in 2003.

As such, it should be no wonder how fantasies of an incorruptible national innocence--or what the author memorably dubs "the standard Manichean autopilot of American thought"--have been perpetuated. Solomon may have offered a somewhat deeper analysis of why American journalism fails to live up to its ideals in reporting on war and the reasons why political leaders might feel compelled to traffic in deception when addressing the public. Nonetheless, the author presents an incisive and provocative overview of the consequences of the media's appalling failures in making important truths known.

Last months Ukraine was winning the war - at least in 'western' media. But this week the NYT's man on the ground reports the opposite:

Outnumbered and Worn Out, Ukrainians in East Brace for Russian Assault

Exhausted Ukrainian troops complain they are already outnumbered and outgunned, even before Russia has committed the bulk of its roughly 200,000 newly mobilized soldiers. And doctors at hospitals speak of mounting losses as they struggle to care for fighters with gruesome injuries.

....
At one frontline hospital in the Donbas, the morgue was packed with the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers in white plastic bags. In another hospital, stretchers with wounded troops covered in gold foil thermal blankets crowded the corridors, and a steady stream of ambulances arrived from the front nearly all day long.

Cakewalk | The New Yorker - April 2003 |

'Sapere aude'

The Netherlands is buying 'at least' a hundred Leopard 1A5 battle tanks for Ukraine | AD Rotterdam |

Together with Germany and Denmark, the Netherlands are providing Ukraine with at least 100 refurbished Leopard 1A5 tanks from industrial stocks. We remain determined to support
Ukraine in their fight against the Russian aggression. pic.twitter.com/3O0ukQ6TZv

— Kajsa Ollongren (@DefensieMin) February 7, 2023

Seymour Hersh: "How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline" | MofA |

Seymour Hersh:

How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline

The New York Times called it a "mystery," but the United States executed a covert sea operation that was kept secret--until now.

The U.S. Navy's Diving and Salvage Center has been training highly skilled deep-water divers for decades who, once assigned to American military units worldwide, are capable of technical diving to do the good--using C4 explosives to clear harbors and beaches of debris and unexploded ordinance--as well as the bad, like blowing up foreign oil rigs, fouling intake valves for undersea power plants, destroying locks on crucial shipping canals. The Panama City center, which boasts the second largest indoor pool in America, was the perfect place to recruit the best, and most taciturn, graduates of the diving school who successfully did last summer what they had been authorized to do 260 feet under the surface of the Baltic Sea.

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.

But it has since become more and more obvious that the U.S. was responsible for the enormous economic damage to Germany that its action has caused.

The gloating by Sec State Antony Blinken and his deputy Victoria Nuland is just too too obvious. It is a"tremendous strategic opportunity for the years to come" said Blinken and Nuland, in a Congress hearing, was "very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal."

Most Germans, if not their pliant government, have drawn their conclusions from that.

Nord Stream Whodunnit UPDATE | Oct. 31, 2022 |

'Sapere aude'

Not only has BP made record breaking profits of £23bn, it has announced a U-turn on its much touted production cut of 40% by 2030 - now just 25%.

We can't rely on voluntary commitments from oil and gas firms to curb emissions at the rate we need. [_link] #oott pic.twitter.com/dZ4jVabNLb

— Chris Garrard (@TheGarrard) February 7, 2023

Western countries are attempting to quietly wind down the investigation of terrorist acts at Nord Stream gas pipelines, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: [_link] pic.twitter.com/TgTlR0zqiX

— TASS (@tassagency_en) February 9, 2023

New on MoA:
Some Small Corrections To Seymour Hersh's New Nord Stream Revelations
[_link] pic.twitter.com/U7DLkTbcsW

— Moon of Alabama (@MoonofA) February 9, 2023

[_link]

— Carsten (@CarstenBartel1) September 27, 2022

Russian frigate ADMIRAL GORSHKOV (Hull number 454) passed through the Fehmarn Belt on 7 July 2022

'Sapere aude'

Ukraine asks Netherlands for F-16 fighter jets; Still some obstacles, Defense Min. says [_link]

— NL Times (@NL_Times) February 10, 2023

Former top US general: Jets could seal quick Ukraine victory | DW News |

Ben Hodges stressed that Kyiv must retake Crimea to preserve the "international rules-based order" and the "UN Charter." Hodges added that it is important for Ukrainian ports to maintain access to the Sea of Azov through Crimea.

Peacemakers get fired, warmongers get honored ... crazy world.

'Sapere aude'

Russia: U.S. has questions to answer over Nord Stream explosions | Reuters | February 8, 2023 @ 5:28 PM GMT

Russia's foreign ministry said the United States had questions to answer over its role in explosions on the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines last year.

Commenting on a report published earlier that said the United States was involved in the explosions, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called on the White House to comment on the "facts" that had been presented.

Reuters was unable to verify the report, published by U.S. investigative journalist Seymour Hersh on his blog, alleging U.S. involvement in the explosions.

The White House said on Wednesday that Hersh's account was "utterly false and complete fiction".

...
Investigators from Sweden and Denmark - in whose exclusive economic zones the explosions occurred - have said the ruptures were a result of sabotage, but have not said who they believe was responsible.

Report over pipeline blasts causing uproar | China Daily |

'Sapere aude'

Swedish seismologists register two explosions on Nord Stream routes -- TV | TASS - Sept. 27, 2022, 16:52 |

According to the data obtained by the Swedish National Seismic Network (SNSN), two clear explosions were registered by the measuring stations. One of them had a magnitude of 2.3.

SNSS spokesman Bjorn Lund said there was no doubt that these were explosions. The TV channel reports that the coordinates of the registered explosions coincide with the area where the gas leak is currently occurring.

The first explosion was recorded at about two o'clock in the morning on Monday, the second at 07:04 p.m. on the same day.

Gas leak warnings were issued on Monday at 01:52 p.m. and 08:41 p.m. respectively. Vessels passing through the area reportedly notified the Coast Guard of the seething on the sea surface.

Nord Stream: Explosions recorded prior to discovery of major gas leaks | Surfside Guardian - Sept. 28, 2022 |

Danish Police confirms explosions are behind Nord Stream leaks | SWZ-Maritime - Oct 18, 2022 |

**UPDATE**

Swedish journalists got permission to image one of the Nord Stream explosion sites using an underwater drone (ROV)

Caution against listening to the impending wave of explosives experts on Twitter

Their article (in Swedish) [_link] pic.twitter.com/aAkSeva0zf

— H I Sutton (@CovertShores) October 18, 2022

Videos from The Guardian ...

• Aerial footage of leak in Danish waters from Nord Stream 1 pipeline | Sept. 27, 2022 |
• Nord Stream pipeline damage captured in underwater footage | Oct. 18, 2022 |

"Swedish authorities stopped short of assigning blame to any individuals or nation-state."

Guess it was not Russia then because they would have said that straight away.

— stewie john 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@stewiejohn2) November 18, 2022

Claims of U.S. Involvement in Nord Stream Attack Draw Scrutiny

Published Feb 9, 2023 10:10 PM by The Maritime Executive

A U.S. Navy EOD diver participates in the Baltops 2022 exercise, June 2022. Seymour Hersh's new report alleges that a U.S. covert operation used the exercise as cover (U.S. Navy file image)

Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Seymour Hersh has self-published a bombshell report suggesting that the Nord Stream pipeline attacks were carried out by the U.S. government, using a NATO minehunting exercise as cover. Russia and China have embraced the allegations and called for a closer investigation, while the Biden administration and U.S. security services have denied involvement.

Hersh has spent most of his multi-decade career studying sensitive national security secrets. He won a Pulitzer for breaking the story of the My Lai massacre in 1969, published extensive details on Israel's covert nuclear weapons program in 1991, and exposed the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in 2004, with many highlights in between. He has been lauded as a "quintessential investigative reporter" for his work, but in recent years he has also attracted criticism for his sourcing - in particular [death of Osama bin Laden], a heavy reliance on a single anonymous source.

His latest report, released on his personal Substack page, suggests that the high-profile attack on the Nord Stream pipeline system was orchestrated by the Biden administration. Drawing primarily on information from a single anonymous source in the intelligence community, Hersh asserts that Biden's White House and the CIA planned a covert, time-delayed attack on the pipeline complex, executed months before the actual explosions.

'Ghost ships' emerge from the shadows of the Nord Stream mystery | Nov. 15, 2022 |

Satellite monitors discovered two vessels with their trackers turned off in the area of the pipeline prior to the suspected sabotage in September.

The first gas leaks on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea were detected in the early hours of September 26, pouring up to 400,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere.

Officials immediately suspected sabotage of the international pipeline.

New analysis seen by WIRED shows that two large ships, with their trackers off, appeared around the leak sites in the days immediately before the explosions and leaks were detected.

"Die Welt": Analiza zdjęć satelitarnych wskazuje prawdopodobnego sprawcę wybuchów gazociągu Nord Stream | Nov. 18, 2022 |

Italics

Two pixelated yellow spots on a green and purple background are all that can be seen in the images taken on September 24 by ESA's "Sentinel 1" radar satellite. What looks like bacteria in a petri dish are two ships in the Baltic on that cloudy day. And they are right where three of the four pipes of the Nord Stream gas pipeline will be blown two days later.

Whodunnit? - Facts Related to The Sabotage Attack On The Nord Stream Pipelines | Sept. 28, 2022 |

A quote by Exxon Tanker Condi Rice of the GBW/Cheney legend and the NATO Bucharest provocation in 2008. ...

US plan was always to stop EU buying Russia's gas

2014
Rice:"You want to change the structure of energy dependence. You want to depend more on the North America energy platform ... to have pipelines that don't go through Ukraine & Russia"[_link] #NordStream2 pic.twitter.com/iDJb17eBSn

— the Lemniscat (@theLemniscat) September 27, 2022

h/t Cat --  Nord Stream Whodunnit ! Oct 31st, 2022 |

Related reading ...

• Pipeline gas leaks in Baltic Sea due to `deliberate acts', say Nordic leaders | The Local DK - Sept. 30, 2022 |
• Two explosions with 500Kg TNT force each hit Nord Stream gas pipelines | AFP - Sept. 30, 2022 |

"We know who is responsible for blowing up the pipeline but cannot disclose it for national security reasons"

twitter @henning rosenbush

24 Stunden nach Hershs Artikel berichten sie nicht mal vom Dementi der USA:

Tagesschau: ⛔️. ZDF Heute: ⛔️
BILD: ⛔️. FAZ: ⛔️. SPIEGEL: ⛔️
SZ: ⛔️. DIE ZEIT: ⛔️

Was denkt ihr wieviele Deutsche wissen nicht, dass heute weltweit über ihre eigene kritische Infrastruktur gesprochen wird?

Earlier this was conspiracy allegation in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

Warum wir (noch) nichts wissen ...

Nord Stream: Die Stille nach der Explosion | ZDF |

Many Western states quickly made up their minds that this was an act of sabotage , most likely by a state actor. Blame was pointed at Moscow, but many governments remained very reticent on this issue.

Investigations into Nord Stream are top secret

One reason why so little is known about the acts of sabotage lies in the nature of the investigations: Western countries don't want to be given a glimpse of the surveillance technology they use in the Baltic Sea, says Johannes Peters, from the Institute for Security Policy at the university keel.

The investigations are made with capabilities in the field of sensors and military reconnaissance. This is rarely talked about publicly. You don't want to give out what you have so you don't have to say where you got the information from.
Johannes Peters, Institute for Security Policy

In addition to the secrecy requirements, there is also another reason for the silence: If evidence were presented, consequences would have to be derived from it, says security expert Niklas Rossbach from the Swedish Defense Research Agency in an interview with ZDFheute:

The West doesn't want to appear weak when they name a culprit and then have no options for punishment.
Niklas Rossbach, Swedish Defense Research Agency

In addition, the evidence must be so solid that there is no room for doubt and conspiracy theories. That was a lesson learned from the investigation into the downing of the MH-17 aircraft over eastern Ukraine.

Russia expert Gerhard Mangott said that Hersh had taken very controversial positions in the ORF in the past, for example the assassination of Osama bin Laden was staged.

HERSH HAS LOST SOME CREDIBILITY.
Gerhard Mangott, University of Innsbruck

No answers "for reasons of public interest"

The clarification of the acts of sabotage was also a topic in the government survey on Wednesday. However, there were no answers there either: The investigation into the explosions on the gas pipelines was classified by the secret service, said Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens). In this respect, "this is not a topic for this question time," said the minister. Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD) was no more talkative either.

In July 2014 the United States refused to release and share satellite imagery with Dutch investigators using the argument of national security and top secret intelligence gathering.

'Sapere aude'

'Wings for freedom' - why one of Zelenksy's closest allies is not convinced of the case for jets [_link] - more later #bbclaurak

— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) February 11, 2023

The Polish Sikorsky Affair with Anne Applebaum - Income

In the absence of an explanation of where so much money has suddenly come from, Polish sources say they suspect that in 2012 the US Government restarted the financing of think-tanks, academics, books and journalism to produce anti-Russian material [pure propaganda], which was once a feature of psychological warfare campaigns during the Cold War. That history, including the names and records of the Anglo-American literary establishment which was on the take, can be found in the London publication, Who Paid the Piper?: CIA and the Cultural Cold War by Frances Stonor Saunders.

An example of these efforts is a publishing conduit in Amsterdam which was funded by the CIA for thirty years, called the Alexander Herzen Foundation. Its task was to assist in the smuggling out of the Soviet Union of manuscripts from dissidents, and to publish and promote them in both Russian and English. The foundation started in 1969, and reportedly closed down in 1998. Fifteen years later, a foundation of the same name has begun handing out fresh money for the same regime-change purpose. According to The Interpreter, a website launched in New York by Michael Weiss in 2013, it "aspires to dismantle the language barrier that separates journalists, Russia analysts, policymakers, diplomats and interested laymen in the English-speaking world from the debates, scandals, intrigues and political developments taking place in the Russian Federation."

Weiss (photo right) reveals that his operation was "made possible by a seed grant from the London-based Herzen Foundation and a grant from the New York-based Institute of Modern Russia, of which the journal is a special project. The Institute of Modern Russia continues to fund the project. The Institute of Modern Russia is a registered 501 (c) (3) non-profit in the United States, dedicated to the advancement of democratic values and institutions in the Russian Federation."

The Herzen foundation, which closed in Amsterdam, may not be quite the same entity that has now reopened in London to give money to anti-Russian publications and reporters. The Institute of Modern Russia has its own money, and according to the Russian corporate practice, the man in charge signals where the money comes from. This is Mikhail Khodorkovsky's son Pavel. The institute says it has tax-exempt status in the US because it is a "nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization--a think tank based in New York. IMR's mission is to foster democratic and economic development in Russia through research, advocacy, public events, and grant-making. We are committed to strengthening respect for human rights, the rule of law, and civil society in Russia. Our goal is to promote a principles-based approach to US-Russia relations and Russia's integration into the community of democracies."

Pavel Khodorkovsky (below left) is president and chief executive. He is also on the institute's board of trustees, which includes Margery Kraus (right), founder of a Washington public relations and regime promotion company, APCO Global.

From the diaries ...

• Khodorkovsky - The Interpreter - Henry Jackson Society (UK) | Jan 23, 2018 |
• Counterinsurgency Cyberwarfare NATO vs. Russia - Part 3 | Jan. 30, 2018 |
• Legatum: the Brexiteers' favourite think tank. Who is behind them? | Open Democracy - Nov. 17, 2017 |

Topic Seymour Hersh NS revelations and U.S. Culpability -- Interview Larry Johnson

The interview with Emerald focused on Sy Hersh's latest bombshell report. Many critics are insisting that Sy was duped by one lone source. Simply not true. In my experience with Sy, which spans a period of 42 years, Sy never goes with a story based on just one source. I have personal experience with one story that Sy was working on that was pure dynamite but came from only one source. Sy decided not to pursue it. Without multiple sources, he does not launch.

One of the reasons that Sy has had so much success in breaking these stories that the Washington establishment loathes is that he is fiercely protective of his sources. He does not reveal them. Period. If you want to get some real insight into Sy's life as a renegade muckraker I encourage you to buy his book, Reporter: A Memoir by Seymour Hersh.

The FBI's Most Controversial Surveillance Tool Is Under Threat | WIRED |

A review of the FBI's access to foreign intelligence reveals troubling misuse of powerful surveillance tech.

AN EXISTENTIAL FIGHT over the US government's ability to spy on its own citizens is brewing in Congress. And as this fight unfolds, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's biggest foes on Capitol Hill are no longer reformers merely interested in reining in its authority. Many lawmakers, elevated to new heights of power by the recent election, are working to dramatically curtail the methods by which the FBI investigates crime.

New details about the FBI's failures to comply with restrictions on the use of foreign intelligence for domestic crimes have emerged at a perilous time for the US intelligence community. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the so-called crown jewel of US intelligence, grants the government the ability to intercept the electronic communications of overseas targets who are unprotected by the Fourth Amendment.

That authority is set to expire at the end of the year. But errors in the FBI's secondary use of the data--the investigation of crimes on US soil--are likely to inflame an already fierce debate over whether law enforcement agents can be trusted with such an invasive tool. 

Spying on US citizens through foreign intelligence beyond GCHQ ...

• The Hague district court: `exchange of telecommunications data between Dutch intel/security services and NSA is permissible' | July 23, 2014 | -- one week after MH17 disaster above the Donbas.
• Some details on Dutch govt seeking bulk cable-interception for intelligence and security services AIVD and MIVD | Nov. 22, 2014 |

The Dutch are leading in hybrid warfare, hacking contra Russian trolls factory ...

Dutch intelligence  shared data on "Cozy Bear" with US after Moscow intrusion  - Dec. 2014

'Sapere aude'