Faced with a ‘mini-Chernobyl’ in Ohio and bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines, the Chinese balloon was a distraction White House needed.
A stray Chinese spy balloon, a train wreck involving deadly chemicals, and an act of state-sponsored sabotage or terrorism – which events do you think have a greater impact on the actual safety of American citizens and their relations with the rest of the world?
Your answer is as good as mine. So well, naturally, major American media groups have focused exclusively on the giant “airship” with 24/7 saturation coverage. Meanwhile, they have all downplayed the dangers from the Ohio train derailment that has been described by locals as “a mini-Chernobyl”. And most simply ignored an explosive report by famed investigative journalist Seymour Hersh on the undersea bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines, which he claimed was ordered by the White House itself.
Was the balloon justifiably the focus of US national security or just one big distraction from what actually threatens American lives and their future?
Distracting as ever, The New York Times ran a story on Thursday complaining that “for many influencers across the political spectrum, claims about the environmental effects of the train derailment have gone far beyond known facts”.
Jeez, it’s not like the Times and many of its media peers have not routinely run stories that depart “far beyond known facts” when it comes to other countries. The story reinforces the authorities’ claims that amount to saying – “move on now, nothing to see here”.
It did acknowledge that some fish were found dead in nearby creeks and domesticated animals had fallen sick. But it immediately quoted an unnamed official who said the chemicals “were lethal to fish, not humans, and that the waterways were already repopulating with fish”.
Oh really? If I were a resident there, I would have invited the official to take a swim in the creeks with his children. The chemicals spilled, whose scientific names I can neither spell nor pronounce, are known cancer-causing agents. YouTubers have interviewed residents who have reported widespread and serious respiratory problems and eye irritation. It has been reported that foxes, chickens and other animals have died. That’s probably fact, rather than going “far beyond known facts”. Is the biology of those animals so different from that of humans?
Edward Snowden could have said the same about the train derailment. But instead, he tweeted about the Hersh story and the Chinese balloon. “It’s just the old engineered panic,” he wrote, to “get [reporters] assigned to investigate balloon nonsense rather than budgets or bombings (à la Nord Stream).”
The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC and The Guardian hardly bothered with the story. As I have written previously, Hersh didn’t deliver the proverbial smoking gun. But he did weave together a coherent and plausible story that could be the basis of further journalistic investigation.
It’s quite intriguing that the entire Western mainstream media, which by and large have been committed editorially or ideologically to supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia, have been utterly incurious about the remote bombing, in late September, of the Nord Stream pipelines that were the main route of supply of natural gas to Europe. Fingers have been pointed at the Russians who thereby shot themselves in the foot and lost all the energy leverage over the European Union. You would think if it was really the Russians, the Western media would have devoted all resources to prove their culpability, as their journalists have dug everywhere for the slightest Russian transgression and misdeed since the war started.
The Nord Stream pipelines are not just any energy facility. They are majority owned by Russian Gazprom, while the German, Dutch and French all have significant stakes in the pipelines which at one time supplied 35 per cent of the energy imports of the EU.
You would think every serious journalist would be doing what Hersh did – investigate! Of course, if Hersh was right, the consequences would be explosive. The sabotage would amount to an act of war against Russia, and terrorism against America’s own allies. The whole united Western front against Russia could collapse. They don’t want that.
Other articles on this topic include:
Cailtin Johnstone
My sources corroborate Hersh’s Nord Stream Report: notes from The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Jake Johnson
Pulitzer prize-winning Hersh: evidence US behind Nord Stream Pipeline sabotage
Alex Lo has been a Post columnist since 2012, covering major issues affecting Hong Kong and the rest of China. A journalist for 25 years, he has worked for various publications in Hong Kong and Toronto as a news reporter and editor. He has also lectured in journalism at the University of Hong Kong.
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