If we're going with that speculation then we could also speculate there is a small likelihood someone doesn't want someone else get cold feet and Kapitulieren in the middle of a bitter cold winter.

No options now to turn on the pipeline.

I recall USA sabotaged a USSR pipeline way back in 1980s. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/02/27/r...

The way the article reads it's not clear if the US sabotaged software that was ultimately stolen by the Russians and used on pipelines or if the US intentionally and covertly transferred the flawed technology through more legitimate channels.

I recall it as USA found out from a spy the shopping list, and created sabotaged items that would be stolen. Supposedly the explosion shockwaves were expected by a few USA insiders. I have yet to read the referenced book, though it looks like a fascinating (though white-washed) read.

> Now, this is the internet, so surely there will be plenty of people in this topic willing to disbelieve their governments.

Can you even imagine? Degenerates who don’t trust their own governments? Verräter.

Being mildly skeptical of one government is... fine... but two who are allies? Eight who are allies? The official Nato position? Surely, at some point they all become infallible.

Don’t discredit your own fatherland, mensch.

You don't have to believe that every government in the West is lying about it. You just have to believe that one government (the one who did it) is lying, and the rest don't know because they weren't told.

You don't even need one government to lie; you only need a small portion thereof.

And if you did it right, you could have setup this whole procedure ages ago and then have complete deniability.

You don't even need a small portion to lie, you can just take them at their word: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-german-chancellor-nord-st...

> You just have to believe that one government (the one who did it) is lying, and the rest don't know because they weren't told.

Or the rest figure it out and independently conclude that siding with NATO is still their best choice, so they better keep up the lie and avoid the drama of calling out their ally.