meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Lawfare Podcast

Shane Harris on the Nord Stream 2 Bombing

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

International Law, Law, Government, Foreign Policy, News, Politics, Rule Of Law, International Relations, Current Events, Military, Constitutional Law, Intelligence, National Security, History, Terrorism, Diplomacy

4.76.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2023

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It was a few months ago that something went boom under the sea and the Nord Stream 2 pipelines were severely damaged. Everyone assumed the perpetrator was the Russian Federation because of the Russian Federation’s war in Ukraine, and because the pipeline carried natural gas from Russia to Europe. But, months have gone by and evidence that Russia was behind the Nord Stream attacks has not surfaced. 

This was the subject of a lengthy article in the Washington Post, the lead author of which was Shane Harris. Lawfare editor-in-chief Benjamin Wittes sat down with Shane to discuss the article, what we know about the Nord Stream attacks, and what we know about who could be behind them.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The following podcast contains advertising.

0:04.0

To access an ad-free version of the LawFair podcast,

0:08.0

become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair.

0:14.0

That's patreon.com slash law fair.

0:18.0

Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings,

0:22.0

rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath.

0:29.0

The US intelligence community has managed to penetrate and suck up a ton of communications.

0:39.0

And what our sources were saying to us is, well, there's nothing basically in the tapes that we have of Russians saying,

0:47.0

hey, great job with the pipeline or wow, can you believe it, but with the pipeline or, oh crap,

0:51.0

what's going to happen now that we blow up the pipeline?

0:54.0

I'm Benjamin Wittis and this is the LawFair podcast January 5, 2023.

1:02.0

It was a few months ago that something went boom under the sea and the Nord Stream 2 pipelines were severely damaged.

1:12.0

Everyone assumed the perpetrator was the Russian Federation because you know,

1:17.0

the Russian Federation, war in Ukraine, really bad guys, and it was their pipeline and the Germans relied on that pipeline for natural gas.

1:29.0

And you know, Vladimir Putin could deprive them of natural gas.

1:33.0

But months have gone by and evidence that Russia was behind the Nord Stream attacks has not surfaced.

1:41.0

This was the subject of a lengthy article in the Washington Post, the lead author of which was Shane Harris.

1:52.0

Shane, of course, is well known to rational security and chatter listeners.

1:58.0

A great friend of LawFair, he joined me in the virtual jungle studio to discuss the article.

2:06.0

What do we know about who is behind the Nord Stream attacks?

2:11.0

What do we know about whether it was really the Russians?

2:15.0

Could it have been the Ukrainians? Could it have been us?

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.