Jeffrey Sachs Hits at U.S. Likely Sabotage of Nord Stream Pipelines
Oct. 4, 2022 (EIRNS)—Jeffrey Sachs, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, said in an Oct. 3 interview with Bloomberg Surveillance’s Tom Keene, which is circulating widely on social media, that the U.S. had likely sabotaged Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines. Speaking from Vienna, he said: “Europe is in a very, very sharp economic downturn. ... the main fact is the European economy is getting hammered by the sudden cutoff of energy. And now to make it definitive, the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline (which I would bet was a U.S. action, perhaps U.S. and Poland). That is speculation,” before he was interrupted by an incredulous Keene, who demanded he produce evidence.
Sachs replied: “First of all, there is direct radar evidence that U.S. helicopters, military helicopters that are normally based in Gdansk, were circling over this area. We also had the threats from the United States earlier in this year that one way or another, we are going to end Nord Stream,” he said, referring to the infamous remark by Joe Biden in a Feb. 7 joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “We also had the remarkable statement by Secretary Blinken last Friday in a press conference—he says this is also ‘a tremendous opportunity.’ It’s a strange way to talk ... if you’re worried about piracy on international infrastructure of vital significance,” Sachs went on, pointing to Antony Blinken’s Sept. 30 press conference with Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.
“I know it runs counter to our narrative, you're not allowed to say these things in the West, but the fact of the matter is all over the world when I talk to people, they think the U.S. did it,” he continued.
Sachs responded to co-host Lisa Abramowicz about whether it were possible to work together “when there are such ... feelings of distrust?” with a strong discussion of U.S. provocation: “So we're entering the most unstable geopolitical era in many decades. We're entering the first hyperinflation in more than 40 years. And we're entering the first escalation to the nuclear precipice in 60 years, 60 years ago exactly this month was the Cuban Missile Crisis. This is the most dangerous moment since the Cuban missile crisis. It is an extraordinary overload and we see no attempt to tamp this down or to quiet it down. Every day is about escalation, we're going to defeat the other side.... We have Speaker Pelosi flying to Taiwan. We have so many provocations in the midst of huge instability!” he said, at which point Keene cut him off, ending the interview.
