re: Moneywerx data assessment of the U.S. sabotaging Nord Stream 2 Pipeline

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I am not dismissing the Russians entirely, but I find it far more plausible that it was performed by the west, since Russia fully loses that bargaining chip come wintertime.

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But that bargaining chip had yet to moderate European actions at all. Those nations knew the threat too, as this isn't the first time that Russia has dangled its O&G capacity to compel something from Europe. In this case, it did not work as a deterrent or moderating influence. I'm skeptical that the pipeline is beyond repair, so Russia could be 'initiating a irreversible moderate risk' which ties the welfare of Europe as a whole to the welfare of Russia. It's a threat made manifest. Rather than merely speaking about 'Rocking the Boat,' I'm going to do something to show you that I am rocking the boat, an action that could possibly put both of us in jeopardy in case the other party does not change course. In this situation, it is sort of a prisoner's dilemma.

The fact that the action is counter-intuitive actually aids the Russians, as they retain plausible deniability and place the focus on their enemy excessively. Such an action, if done in such a way to suggest that the US acted alone, would potentially fracture the Western alliance. That fact alone also should undermine the notion that the US did this without the knowledge of Europe. There are only two possibilities, and one of them runs the risk of undermining support in the West for any action in Ukraine at all.