By Jeet Heer. The United States is heavily invested in the Ukraine-Russia conflict—not just in financial terms but also in shared risk. Washington has given more than $75 billion in aid to Ukraine, a serious chunk of change, yet far less than the possible consequences for the world if the war were to spiral out of control. After all, Russia might be a decrepit superpower, but it still possesses a massive nuclear arsenal and the ability to inflict damage well beyond Ukraine. In its public rhetoric, the Biden administration has walked a tightrope, insisting that it is balancing the moral necessity of helping Ukraine defend itself against external aggression with caution in making sure the war doesn’t ramp up into a broader conflict. Yet the administration’s claim of working to forestall escalation has a major loophole: Will the United States be able to stop Ukraine (or elements of the Ukrainian government) from escalating?

Recent reporting about the September 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipeline suggests a worrying possibility: that elements of the Ukrainian government have effectively gone rogue, carrying out risky operations in defiance of the superpower that funds their war. If that’s so, then it’s entirely possible that the United States and its NATO allies have lost the ability to apply the brakes in order to stop the war from spreading.

The Nord Stream bombing remains unsolved, and there have been multiple conflicting narratives. In the immediate aftermath of the bombing, some members of the Biden administration suggested that Russia was the culprit. This was always an implausible claim. Vladimir Putin is a criminal dictator who invades neighboring countries for gain, so why would he blow up infrastructure that profits his own country? In February 2023, legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh published an article claiming that the Biden administration itself planned and executed the explosion. Hersh’s article was based on anonymous sources and it was adamantly denied by the government. Yet, even as Hersh’s reporting was lambasted, it did have the positive effect of forcing mainstream media outlets to reinvestigate the bombing. Writing in The Nation in May, James Bamford noted the limits of Hersh’s reporting—and also pointed to evidence suggesting that American intelligence had information about the bombing prior to its happening. Bamford’s article was prescient in noticing the implication of evidence indicating American foreknowledge. . .

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported, “The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency warned the Ukrainian government not to attack the Nord Stream gas pipelines last summer after it obtained detailed information about a Ukrainian plot to destroy a main energy connection between Russia and Europe.” One detail of this report is worth dwelling on: “The plan was to stage the attack after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s exercise called Baltic Ops that took place in the area above the pipelines and ended on June 17.” This suggests that the alleged Ukrainian plan included a desire to frame NATO for the attack—which could have easily led to a wider conflict if the Russian government took the bait.

The new revised CIA narrative, if one pieces together various newspaper accounts, goes something like this: In June 2022, intelligence agencies in the Netherlands got wind of an alleged Ukrainian plot against the Nord Stream pipeline. The CIA then asked the Ukrainians to stop the bombing. The Ukrainians promised to shut down the operation—but in reality just reorganized it with a new leader. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was reportedly left out of the loop so he wouldn’t be implicated. (Read more from “CIA Suggests Ukraine Has Gone Rogue, Could Trigger WWIII” HERE)

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Biden Warns the Threat of Putin’s Using Tactical Nuclear Weapons Is ‘Real’

By Yuliya Talmazan. President Joe Biden has warned that the threat that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons is “real.”

Putin made the comments Monday as Ukraine pressed on with its counteroffensive to reclaim occupied territories, just days after the Kremlin began deploying the weapons to Belarus. . .

“When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado River drying up, everybody looked at me like I was crazy,” Biden told a group of donors in California on Monday, Reuters reported.

“They looked at me like when I said I worry about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons. It’s real,” Biden said, according to the news agency. (Read more from “Biden Warns the Threat of Putin’s Using Tactical Nuclear Weapons Is ‘Real’” HERE)

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