The Chinese news agency, Xinhua, asked me to comment – in text and video form – on Seymour Hersh’s analysis of how the Nordstream pipelines were destroyed. You’ll find this analysis on Substack, which means that no American mainstream media has been willing to publish it. After five days, this bombshell report goes virtually unmentioned in the Western mainstream press. Imagine if he had documented that Russia did it…
Pulitzer Prize awarded Hersh has a series of now classical investigations behind him. He is seen by many as the finest living investigative reporter. Read about this man who every decent media should be proud of publishing.
Seymour Hersh’s fine analysis tells how the destruction was planned and done, but the conclusion is unsurprising if you apply an interest analysis: The US, with very important Norwegian assistance, committed the crime against a friendly, allied country, Germany and other Europe.
Chancellor Scholz knew it since his famous press conference with Biden, who said the US would blow it up. But he won’t criticise the US.
Together with ill-considered, never-ending economic sanctions, the blow-up of Nordstream has already caused enormous, accumulating harm to European citizens’ economies.
•
The intellectual fallacy is that since Russia’s invasion was wrong, then NATO-EU countries’ policies before it and their reaction to it are automatically right and just.
The entire handling of Russia’s invasion – including the Nordstream destruction – is an example of why, as I have maintained for years, the present situation is extremely dangerous: We live in times fundamentally characterised by intellectual and ethical disarmament coupled with immense military armament, with militarism as the only one answer no matter the problem: Use weapons, threats, secret operations and media manipulation; never talk, mediate, engage the UN or OSCE, abandon diplomacy and play tough.
Militarism has become the religion that keeps the declining West together, NATO its church. That’s why – also – the Western mainstream media won’t give Hersh’s sensational analysis the attention it deserves. This confirms my other argument that fake news is rampant, but omission is much more critical when you want/need to deceive your citizens.
•
Seymour Hersh
One must wonder when the Europeans will wake up and finally understand that they no longer share interests with the US but are objects of a military, economic and political war – as if Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, etc. – were not already enough to maintain and expand the US’ MIMAC – Military-Industrial-Media-Academic Complex – paradoxically, the single biggest reason that Western leadership is rapidly declining.
On the bottom of the sea outside the Danish Bornholm island, the US has now destroyed and buried yet another bit of its decency and global leadership.
The comment has had a good distribution throughout Xinhua and, thus, in other media in China (Chinese and English News):
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...
Jan ObergPhD, director, The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFFLund, Sweden October 2, 2026 This is my full original manuscript. The Chinese Academy of Social Science, CASS, makes two publications out if it. 1. China’s Five-year plan emphasized the capabilities of basic research and original innovation. It is regarded as the goal of the future social development, which, as required, should be significantly enhanced. Can you comment on the importance of original innovation in research and academic study? I believe it is easier to define “original innovation” in the natural sciences than in social sciences. The breaking points of what constitutes something new, or innovative, are not quite as sharp in the latter. But in both fields it is about opening up something that was closed, unseen, unexplored before – making manifest what was earlier latent. Innovations come in many forms and shapes – naming something that was not...
The agreement is catastrophic both because of what it says and what it doesn’t mention. It reduces further the major asset of security policies: Freedom of action. Jan Oberg TFF director September 25, 2026 A couple of hours before the agreement was signed on September 22, 2026, I published the following 13 hypotheses about what it would most likely contain on TFF Substack (in English). I was wrong on only the first point. Contrary to what Trump had written on his Truth Social platform, it does not appear to come into force immediately. In fact, it turned out to be worse than even I had anticipated. After these hypotheses now come a number of reflections in light of what the agreement actually contains, and does not contain, as well as the way in which it has generally been presented by major media outlets and by the public-service broadcaster DR. My...
Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...
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Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...
Tony Robinson October 4, 2026 Violence is easy to recognise when someone is being beaten, shot or killed. It becomes more difficult when nobody is holding a weapon. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation and repression can restrict a human life just as effectively, although they do so in very different ways and with very different consequences. Simply adding more categories to an ever-growing list of forms of violence does not really solve the problem. The more interesting question is what all these different situations have in common and why it makes sense to describe them using the same word. Human beings do not simply react to what happens around them. They remember the past, imagine things that do not yet exist, make plans and undertake projects. Workers organise because they imagine different working conditions; people migrate because they imagine another life somewhere else; social movements emerge because people refuse to accept the...
It’s a matter of principles, courage, vision and pulling together – while the militarist world is falling apart… Peter Langille October 3, 2026 “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”The Bertrand Russell—Albert Einstein Manifesto, July 9, 1955 ⁕ The forecast for what’s ahead is worrisome. The sharp rise in armed conflicts over the past three years is adding to what was already the highest level in over seventy years. Genocides, which should be prevented are supported. A shared climate emergency that jeopardises survival is ignored. Diverse polls now suggest that people are war-weary, worried and interested in a more effective United Nations. And, there are viable policy options for a more secure world! Yet governments are doubling-down, betting on more war and investing heavily. If current trends persist,...
Johan Galtung 1930-2024October 2015 Published here on October 3, 2026 Let us focus on Civilization for conflict analysis and remedies. Major forms of disorder use violence; war is state organized violence. The most belligerent states are the United States of America and Israel, both with civilization roots. National Evangelism, the US Protestant Christian civilization– more national than evangelical–justifies US warfare as exceptionalism of a people chosen by God, with a manifest destiny to run the world. Orthodox Judaism justifies Israeli warfare to conquer and expand from Nile to Euphrates as a religious right and duty to the Eternal One. The third most belligerent country, the UK, no longer believes it is God-chosen but chosen by the USA; not quite the same but something. But the root cause of global disorder lies in the Occident–with Islam–seeing itself as the single, universal civilization valid for all at all times, all others being...
Jan ObergPhD, director, The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFFLund, Sweden October 2, 2026 This is my full original manuscript. The Chinese Academy of Social Science, CASS, makes two publications out if it. 1. China’s Five-year plan emphasized the capabilities of basic research and original innovation. It is regarded as the goal of the future social development, which, as required, should be significantly enhanced. Can you comment on the importance of original innovation in research and academic study? I believe it is easier to define “original innovation” in the natural sciences than in social sciences. The breaking points of what constitutes something new, or innovative, are not quite as sharp in the latter. But in both fields it is about opening up something that was closed, unseen, unexplored before – making manifest what was earlier latent. Innovations come in many forms and shapes – naming something that was not...
The agreement is catastrophic both because of what it says and what it doesn’t mention. It reduces further the major asset of security policies: Freedom of action. Jan Oberg TFF director September 25, 2026 A couple of hours before the agreement was signed on September 22, 2026, I published the following 13 hypotheses about what it would most likely contain on TFF Substack (in English). I was wrong on only the first point. Contrary to what Trump had written on his Truth Social platform, it does not appear to come into force immediately. In fact, it turned out to be worse than even I had anticipated. After these hypotheses now come a number of reflections in light of what the agreement actually contains, and does not contain, as well as the way in which it has generally been presented by major media outlets and by the public-service broadcaster DR. My...
Below are TFF-related media mentions, comments, videos and social media posts published elsewhere but not on this homepage. We happen to catch and list only a fraction. Regarding video comments and debates, we recommend that you go to the TFF Video Channel on Substack where many of them are reproduced. Jan Oberg is a contributor to China Daily – 52 million daily clicks – and Global Times, CGTN and CCTV (the national television), China Investment, Xinhua News Agency and several others. Articles and videos on these media very often multiply into countless Chinese (and Western media) that re-post them from these main media. Thanks to The China Academy, his analyses, interviews and comments are frequently posted on YouTube channels such as Thinkers Forum and Wave Media. These videos are often re-posted on Bilibili (China’s YouTube), the China Content Center on TikTok, and on the Chinese edition of TikTok, Douyin.com. This means reaching hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide over a year. While there are too many to catch on all these...
Of course, Nordstream was blown up by the US and NATO allies: A US economic war on submissive allies.
Cover of Seymour Hersh’s article on Substack
Jan Oberg
February 12, 2023
The Chinese news agency, Xinhua, asked me to comment – in text and video form – on Seymour Hersh’s analysis of how the Nordstream pipelines were destroyed. You’ll find this analysis on Substack, which means that no American mainstream media has been willing to publish it. After five days, this bombshell report goes virtually unmentioned in the Western mainstream press. Imagine if he had documented that Russia did it…
Pulitzer Prize awarded Hersh has a series of now classical investigations behind him. He is seen by many as the finest living investigative reporter. Read about this man who every decent media should be proud of publishing.
Seymour Hersh’s fine analysis tells how the destruction was planned and done, but the conclusion is unsurprising if you apply an interest analysis: The US, with very important Norwegian assistance, committed the crime against a friendly, allied country, Germany and other Europe.
Chancellor Scholz knew it since his famous press conference with Biden, who said the US would blow it up. But he won’t criticise the US.
Together with ill-considered, never-ending economic sanctions, the blow-up of Nordstream has already caused enormous, accumulating harm to European citizens’ economies.
•
The intellectual fallacy is that since Russia’s invasion was wrong, then NATO-EU countries’ policies before it and their reaction to it are automatically right and just.
The entire handling of Russia’s invasion – including the Nordstream destruction – is an example of why, as I have maintained for years, the present situation is extremely dangerous: We live in times fundamentally characterised by intellectual and ethical disarmament coupled with immense military armament, with militarism as the only one answer no matter the problem: Use weapons, threats, secret operations and media manipulation; never talk, mediate, engage the UN or OSCE, abandon diplomacy and play tough.
Militarism has become the religion that keeps the declining West together, NATO its church. That’s why – also – the Western mainstream media won’t give Hersh’s sensational analysis the attention it deserves. This confirms my other argument that fake news is rampant, but omission is much more critical when you want/need to deceive your citizens.
•
One must wonder when the Europeans will wake up and finally understand that they no longer share interests with the US but are objects of a military, economic and political war – as if Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, etc. – were not already enough to maintain and expand the US’ MIMAC – Military-Industrial-Media-Academic Complex – paradoxically, the single biggest reason that Western leadership is rapidly declining.
On the bottom of the sea outside the Danish Bornholm island, the US has now destroyed and buried yet another bit of its decency and global leadership.
The comment has had a good distribution throughout Xinhua and, thus, in other media in China (Chinese and English News):
The Xinhua article with my comment, shortened, in Chinese.
U.S. blowing up Nord Stream pipelines “economic war” against European allies: Swedish expert
Roughly the same but with my video and under GlobaLink
Two mobile versions on “Window on China and The World” – here and here.
Peace & future researcher + Art Photographer
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