Did Tucker Carlson and the Kremlin just happen to come up with the same anti-American talking points when they blamed the Nord Stream sabotage on President Biden? Or did one crib from the other?
#TraitorTucker Carlson pretends he's "just asking" if Biden sabotaged Nord Stream
#TraitorTucker Carlson opened his September 27 show with a commentary about the leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which appear to have been caused by a deliberate act of sabotage.
He began by sneering and jeering at the U.S. and its allies:
CARLSON: We can clearly see, [Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki] said, this was an act of sabotage, an act of terrorism. Well, yes, we can see that. So, the question is, who did it? And of course, the prime suspect is obvious. It would be the same man who caused domestic inflation here in the US and stole the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton. That be Vladimir V. Putin. "The Washington Post" got right to it. "Putin," they declared, "is now weaponizing the Nord Stream pipelines."
According to the Canadian Ambassador to the UN, Vladimir Putin has decided to use "pollution as an act of war." Progressive Twitter strongly endorsed this conclusion. "Putin did it."
And that makes sense until you thought about it for just a moment. Vladimir Putin may be evil. They tell us that he is evil, but is he stupid? He probably isn't stupid, and yet and, here's the strange part, if you are Vladimir Putin, you would have to be a suicidal moron to blow up your own energy pipeline. That's the one thing you would never do.
Natural gas pipelines are the main source of your power and your wealth and most critically, your leverage over other countries. Europe needs your energy now more than ever with winter approaching. If you can't deliver that energy, then countries like Germany have no need to pay attention to what you want. You're in the middle of a war, an all hands-on deck war, so you need all the leverage you can get. Under these circumstances, there is no chance you would blow up Nord Stream 1 or 2. Not now, obviously.
In fact, it's so obvious that even as our famously dim Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, seemed to acknowledge it. Sabotaging Nord Stream, he said today is "clearly in no one's interest." Right, but really only half right.
Next, Carlson, whose support for Russia over the U.S. and NATO was so obvious he was featured in an SNL skit last year, began to overtly blame Biden:
CARLSON: It is true that blowing up Nord Stream does not help Vladimir Putin. He would not do that. Why would he? But that doesn't mean that other countries wouldn't consider doing it. They would consider it and we know they have considered it because at least one of them has said so in public.
In early February, less than three weeks before the war in Ukraine began, Joe Biden suggested on camera that he might take out these pipelines.
Carlson played a clip of President Joe Biden saying that if Russia invaded Ukraine, “we will bring an end to” Nord Stream 2. Of course, we have no idea what Biden exactly meant but it seems unlikely that if he were planning sabotage, he would have telegraphed it in public.
But Carlson, who accuses Biden of being senile and “unable to speak with precision,” now suggested this was quite a diabolically clever and deliberate maneuver:
CARLSON: Notice how he phrased that and he is the president. He doesn't phrase things by accident, particularly when he is reading off cards. He didn't say, I will pause the delivery of gas from Russia to Germany. He said, there won't be a Nord Stream 2. We'll put an end to it. We will take it out. We will blow it up.
How will you do this? He was asked. "I promise you, we will be able to do it." They thought this through and yet those watching, very much including us, didn't take Biden seriously when he said it.
This is the president who has declared climate change the most pressing emergency in the history of the world. This is the man who lectures you about using a woodstove or driving an SUV because of its emissions. This is the guy who spent billions trying to mitigate cow flatulence because methane. Would that guy really blow up a methane pipeline in the middle of the Baltic Sea? It was hard to imagine.
That would be an unimaginably reckless act. That would be the kind of thing you would do if you wanted to start a nuclear war. It would be insane.
And yet in retrospect, it is obvious, they were thinking about this because Joe Biden wasn't the only person to suggest it.
Toria Nuland at the State Department said pretty much the very same thing. Nuland is a lifelong war cheerleader. She worked to bring about the Iraq invasion, never apologized, kept going. She helped engineer the coup that overthrew the Ukrainian government some years back. So capable -- clearly, she is capable of anything -- but environmental terrorism? Even for Toria Nuland, that seemed too much, too extreme, and yet here she is in January.
Carlson and the Kremlin have matching, anti-American rhetoric
It just so happens that the Kremlin blamed the U.S. with the same rhetoric. From a September 28, 2022 article in The New York Times:
Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that accusing Russia was “predictably stupid and absurd.” He said American natural gas suppliers were reaping “huge profits” from increased sales to Europe, suggesting that the United States was to blame.
…
Russian news outlets picked up on the Kremlin’s allegation, playing clips of Mr. Biden’s vow on Feb. 7 that if Russian invaded, “then there will be no longer Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” U.S. officials said he meant diplomatic and economic action, and noted that Mr. Biden had been proved correct when Germany halted the project.
As usual, Carlson immediately cowered away from his hideous suggestion, pretending to be too responsible to make the accusation, despite spending more than seven minutes suggesting otherwise.
CARLSON: So, you have to ask, could the Biden administration really do something like this? We can't say for sure. We don't know for sure.
…
So once again, did the Biden administration really do this? It's hard to believe. Given that it's an atrocity, it is effectively an act of terrorism, we don't want to make that accusation, but we should tell you that maybe not coincidentally, today, a brand-new pipeline was unveiled, the pipeline that carries non-Russian natural gas in roughly the same areas, Nord Streams 1 and 2. This is called the Baltic Pipe. It was inaugurated in Poland. It will carry natural gas from Norway through Denmark to Poland and other countries nearby, and it is likely to do very well, since now it has less competition.
Making sense? What does the White House say about this? How are they accounting for what happened today?
Well, they're not exactly enthusiastically denying responsibility for it.
Carlson’s grand finale was a rousing chorus of anti-American viciousness coupled with further Biden blaming - from the guy pretending he was doing no such thing:
CARLSON: The people lecturing you about your SUV may have blown up a natural gas pipeline and created one of the great catastrophes of our time in its effect on the environment.
If they did this, this will be one of the craziest, most destructive things any American administration has ever done. But it would also be totally consistent with what they do. What do they do? They destroy.
These people build nothing, not one thing. Instead, they tear down and they desecrate from historic statues to the Constitution to energy infrastructure and no one in Congress is trying to stop any of it. They're just preparing for the inevitable fallout.
For an extra dose of pro-Kremlin treason, Carlson followed up by bringing on suspected Russian asset Tulsi Gabbard, who responds to accusations she took money from Russia by attacking Hillary Clinton.
Gabbard didn’t take up Carlson’s suggestion but she didn't seem to have any problem with his reckless rhetoric, either:
GABBARD: We're reminded once again, Tucker, that we are unfortunately being led by leaders who are selfish and short sighted and don't care about the American people. They are leading us further and further into war without understanding one of the most basic tenets and characteristics of war, which is, it is unpredictable.
Carlson prodded her to regurgitate his talking point. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about #TraitorTucker, it’s that he can't stand anyone disagreeing with him - just like Putin. But, in this case, blaming Biden was a bridge too far for Gabbard.
CARLSON: If it turns out that the Biden administration actually blew up a natural gas pipeline or okayed someone else's sabotage of that pipeline, shouldn't there be a Federal law that prevents them from lecturing the rest of us about climate change ever again.
GABBARD: I don't have the evidence of who was responsible for this. There will be consequences if that is ever found out, but we have the reality of what we're dealing with right before us today, which is if we continue down this path, we may end up with a nuclear holocaust.
Carlson ended the discussion soon thereafter.
I have no problem with criticizing the U.S. efforts toward Ukraine but Carlson is not pushing for peace, he's pushing malice, dissension and division - in a "just asking" charade that couldn't have made the Kremlin happier.
You can see why the Kremlin loves Carlson below, from the September 27, 2022 Tucker Carlson Tonight. And don’t forget that every word that comes out of #TraitorTucker’s mouth is bankrolled by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch.
Better governor too.
During the late ’50s, developers started building large condominiums and new towns on the barrier islands that protected the coastline from storm surges. The risks of building on the barrier islands had already been predicted by observers during the early ’60s. Any rebuilding on those islands is doomed, sooner or later, and I doubt that insurance companies will charge affordable prices for coverage. Some may simply refuse to underwrite that risk.
I’m also sick and tired of hearing about this or that fool who decided to “ride out” the storm and wound up being rescued. If an evacuation is recommended, any fools needing rescue should be charged for that help. Grrrrr. (rant off)
Pleased you managed to get through Ian without too much damage. My boy and his wife are in St Augustine and they too got through pretty much unscathed.
Lots of rain, water in our bedroom and bath that seeped up from under the foundation but nothing really damaging. Even if the aquifers did fill up, the way the land developers are building to take advantage of the space developers launching, they’ll be sucked dry in no time.
I fear for the aqua life in the Indian River Lagoon with all the influx of fresh water and road and land pollutants. It’s so polluted now manatees by the hundreds have starved to death this year from lack of sea grass because of fertilizers and leaking septic tanks causing algae growth that blocks the sunlight. Dolphins are sick and I wouldn’t eat a fish or oyster out of that water to save my life. It’s so sad.
My brother and his family dodged the bullet this time, again, but your area seems to have gotten a whole lot of rain. On the bright side, it may recharge the aquifers.