Russian President Vladimir Putin has two goals in mind behind the Kremlin's alleged sabotage of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, including undermining Western resolve and shipments of weapons to Ukraine and dividing the West, as well as winning the propaganda war around the world, top intelligence expert John Jordan tells Newsmax.
Jordan also hit Fox News' Tucker Carlson for claiming Joe Biden ordered the U.S. military to blow up the pipelines.
European officials said the rupture of major gas pipelines from Russia to Germany appeared to be a deliberate attack, with top Polish and Ukrainian leaders blaming Moscow.
NATO said sabotage was behind the destruction of the pipelines.
"This is what they're trying to do: Raise the temperature, increase the fear level in Europe — both in terms of escalation in the nuclear domain — as well as threaten widening the war into the Baltic and threatening to undermine or negate Europe's efforts to mitigate the loss of Russian natural gas," Jordan said on Newsmax's "John Bachman Now."
"Because they can't win on the battlefield, they have to win in these other spheres; and that's what they're trying to do."
Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday suggested that President Joe Biden was responsible for damage to the gas pipelines, claiming he vowed to "blow up" the pipelines earlier this year.
Despite Carlson’s claim, Biden never said he would “blow up” the pipelines, but warned that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would be “stopped” if Russia invaded Ukraine. Nord Stream 2 had not been completed and had been opposed by the Trump administration.
"If you are Vladimir Putin, you would have to be a suicidal moron to blow up your own energy pipeline. That's one thing you would never do," Carlson said. "Natural gas pipelines are the main source of your power and wealth — and, most critically, your leverage over other countries."
"Blowing up Nord Stream does not help Vladimir Putin," he added. "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."
Jordan slammed the claim as Carlson doing another "shark-jumping exercise," noting Carlson's pro-Russia views.
"The best way to understand this is the Russians' natural passion for chess," said Jordan. "In chess, oftentimes you sacrifice a pawn as part of a greater plan. In the case of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, the Russians understand in the intermediate to perhaps long term, those are of no value to them.
"They're not pumping gas into Europe. They're not selling gas to them. In fact, the Trump administration had sanctioned Nord Stream 2, and the Biden administration had released the sanctions. That said, the Russians know they don't need them, but they want to send a message — but do so in this classic, Russian, gray zone, warfare way."
Jordan said it was no coincidence that the Nord Stream pipelines were attacked the same day Poland and Norway opened a new Baltic pipeline that would provide gas to continental Europe.
Jordan said Putin was sending a message with the attacks that he could also sabotage the new Baltic pipeline.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.