Blowing up its own pipeline that cost billions and years to build, effectively weakening its strategic position and limiting bargain options with Europe?
> You really haven't paid attention to anything Russia's done for the last 20 years, have you?
> They love letting the west know they can "touch" us while maintaining plausible deniability...
This is just a feeling of self-importance having a crossover with years of typical boogeyman narratives.
Reality doesn't function that way, nobody will be losing sleep and precious resources just for the kicks and to stick it to the westerners, without any substantial gain - let's keep it sane and reasonable.
> Also, it's not the only pipeline to Europe...
And? Please be specific, it's impossible to guess what someone is imagining and implying.
> And the US could have pressured EU allies into not purchasing Russian gas regardless of what Russia did.
Not sure what you mean. They tried and failed. Not that they tried too hard - it would have been impossible anyway. NordStream pipelines weren't even the biggest carriers of Russian gas to Europe.
By destroying the pipeline the US ensures that their “allies” (some may call them vassals) will toe the line. After all, those who were dependent on Russia are now dependent on the US.
Those with independent minds won’t suspend reason just because “Mikeb85” said it twice on hackernews.
Blowing up its own pipeline that cost billions and years to build, effectively weakening its strategic position and limiting bargain options with Europe?
Yeah, sure.