The West is using the wrong analogy for Russia's invasion—and worsening the outcome, writes Anatol Lieven.

It often seems as if the hawkish elements of the U.S. establishment have only ever heard of one war: World War II in Europe. This is because whatever else they forget or get wrong about that war, they are right that it was planned and initiated by a deeply evil and megalomaniac force which posed a threat to the entire world, which had to be completely defeated, and with which no morally acceptable compromise was possible.

The perennial and exclusive references to that war allow U.S. hawks to portray every conflict in which they wish to involve America as an existential struggle against evil, which if not engaged in will lead to catastrophic consequences for America and the world. This has been true of their approach to Vietnam through Iraq to the present war in Ukraine, with disastrous results for America and the world.This, however, is precisely what makes World War II so exceptional.

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The Swedish National Seismic Network service (SNSN) has reported that it had detected two underwater explosions on 26th September. These occurred near to where two leaks were later discovered in Swedish territorial waters of the Baltic Sea. The two explosions were detected near to or at the seabed. SNSN has since said it was investigating whether the second explosion was in fact made up of two explosions only a mere 8 seconds apart from each other. This would mean there were in fact 3 explosions in Swedish waters.

Germany's security services have concluded that each pipe was damaged by a blast with the explosive yield equivalent to 500kg of TNT. Norway's Institute of Seismology also detected blasts with an equivalent explosive yield of 700kg of TNT. So on the assumption of quo bono, how might Russia have sabotaged Nordstream, asks Mr Gey?

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