Oh. Oh. The Establishment Pivots Again To Russian Collusion Ahead Of The Mid-Term Election | “Fiona Hill says Musk tweet ‘clearly is a message from Putin'” | The Hill

October 18, 2022

Fiona Hill, a Russia expert who served on the National Security Council under former President Trump, said billionaire Elon Musk was “transmitting a message” for Russian President Vladimir Putin when he tweeted out a proposal to end the war earlier this month.

Hill told Politico in an interview published Monday that before Musk tweeted out his so-called peace proposal earlier this month, he made a similar statement at a September event in Aspen, Colo., suggesting the Crimean Peninsula remain in Russian hands.

Musk also said then that control over the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions should be negotiated because Crimea would need water supplies from those regions, Hill noted.

“The reference to water is so specific that this clearly is a message from Putin,” she said.

Hill served as senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council from 2017 to 2019 and is now a senior fellow at Brookings.

She explained to Politico that Putin “often uses various trusted intermediaries including all kinds of businesspeople.”

“I had intermediaries sent to discuss things with me while I was in government,” she told Politico. “This is a classic Putin play. It’s just fascinating, of course, that it’s Elon Musk in this instance, because obviously Elon Musk has a huge Twitter following.”

Earlier this month, Musk tweeted out a poll asking his more than 100 million followers to weigh in on his peace proposal, which drew the rebuke of Ukrainian officials and U.S. lawmakers after the billionaire suggested Ukraine give up the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

He also suggested new elections be held under United Nations supervision in four recently annexed eastern regions: Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Ukraine has vowed to reclaim all of the illegally annexed territory.

Musk’s poll ended with 59 percent of users against and 40 percent in support with more than 2 million respondents.

Ian Bremmer, the president and founder of political consulting firm Eurasia Group, said last week that Musk told him he had spoken to Putin and knew what Russia’s red lines were. Musk replied that “nobody should trust Bremmer.”

“I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space,” Musk said in another tweet.

Last week, CNN reported that Musk has been floating the peace proposal at conferences for weeks, citing sources familiar with the matter, who also alleged Musk may have been in contact with the Kremlin.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO also drew headlines last week when he threatened to pull his Starlink satellites, which are providing internet service to embattled Ukraine, out of the country because of the high cost. Musk later backed off from the idea and is reportedly discussing ongoing funding with the Pentagon.

Hill argued that Musk is merely a pawn in Putin’s game, noting that the billionaire is extremely popular in Russia.

“He’s got a longstanding reputation in Russia through Tesla, the SpaceX space programs and also through Starlink. He’s one of the most popular men in opinion polls in Russia,” she said.

“Putin plays the egos of big men, gives them a sense that they can play a role. But in reality, they’re just direct transmitters of messages from Vladimir Putin,” she added.

Oh. Oh. The Establishment Pivots Again To Russian Collusion Ahead Of The Mid-Term Election | “Fiona Hill says Musk tweet ‘clearly is a message from Putin'” | The Hill

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Pulitzer winner Seymour Hersh claims US Navy behind Nord Stream 2 pipeline explosion | New York Post

By Great Bloggers | February 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has alleged US Navy divers laid bombs that destroyed the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea last September, drawing a denial from the Pentagon Wednesday.

Hersh, who scooped journalism’s top award more than five decades ago for exposing the My Lai massacre of Vietnamese civilians by US troops in 1968, cited an unnamed source in reporting on Substack that Americans planted remotely triggered explosives that wrecked three of the four pipelines built to carry natural gas from Russia to Europe.

Hersh, 85, went on to claim that the Navy conducted the operation under the cover of a NATO maritime exercise, BALTOPS 22.

In a short statement, Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Lt. Col. Garron J. Garn told The Post “the United States was not involved in the Nord Stream explosion,” reiterating the Defense Department’s response to the same question in October.

Swedish officials suspected the blasts were the result of “gross sabotage,” and some Western officials were quick to blame the attacks on Moscow as it blocked gas supplies to Europe in response to sanctions over last year’s invasion of Ukraine.

“These are deliberate actions, not an accident,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at the time. “The situation is as serious as it gets.”

Pulitzer winner Seymour Hersh claims US Navy behind Nord Stream 2 pipeline explosion | New York Post