US Involved in Nord Stream Pipeline Explosion Fashion Runways Return to the Mandate of Skinny

eleanor saunders Staff Writer

On Sep. 26, 2022, the United States Navy, in alliance with the Norwegian government, used C4 explosives to detonate part of the Nord Stream Pipelines, according to investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. President Joe Biden saw the pipelines “as a vehicle for Vladmir Putin to weaponize natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions.” For this reason, President Biden ordered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to devise a plan to sabotage Russia’s main source of natural gas. This is an act of international terrorism.

The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, located in the Baltic Sea, run side by side for 750 miles. The pipelines start in Vyborg, Russia and end in Lubmin, Germany. They are able to carry 55 billion cubic meters of gas, an equivalent to about 20 billion tons of gas, in one year.

Once the pipelines were completed in 2012, cheap gas was able to be transported from Russia to Germany and the majority of Western Europe. This gas fueled factories, homes and businesses. Although it caused an economic boom in Germany, the direct route bypassed Ukraine, leaving the country out of the mix.

With the majority of Western Europe depending on Russia for their oil supply, anticommunist countries, like the U.S. and the Kingdom of Norway, sought to destroy the pipelines.

So, what was President Biden’s plan? Biden employed professional divers from The U.S. Navy’s Diving and Salvage Center, located in Panama City, Florida and partnered with Norway. According to Hersh, Biden chose these divers for a “vital bureaucratic reason.” The divers employed were a part of the U.S. Navy, and not of America’s Special Operations Command. Members of this command must report their covert operations to Congress.

Before the plan was put into motion, the U.S. military expanded its presence in Norway. Millions of dollars were used to “upgrade and expand American Navy and Air Force facilities in Norway.” The Norwegian government also took further steps to push their agenda.

According to the U.S. The Department of State, the U.S. and Norway negotiated the Supplementary Defense Cooperation Agreement (SDCA). This agreement “establishes a framework to advance our (U.S.

and Norwegian governments) capabilities… [SDCA] provides the necessary authorities of U.S. forces to access specific Norwegian facilities and conduct activities for our mutual defense.”

In March 2022, “a hand-picked team of CIA and National Security Agency (NSA) operatives flew to the country [Norway] to discuss the operation with the Norwegian Secret Service and the Navy.” At this meeting, the U.S. and the Norwegian Secret Service chose the part of the pipelines where the C4 explosives were to be placed.

The Norwegian government suggested the Nord Stream pipelines that run through the Baltic Sea. In this area, the waters are very shallow and are only a few miles off Denmark’s Bornholm Island. The pipelines were only 260 feet below the water, making it easier for the U.S. Navy divers to reach them.

The next obstacle for the U.S. Navy and Norwegian government was deciding when to specifically place the C4 explosives.

According to the U.S. Naval Forces, the 51st Baltic Operations (BALTOPS22) took place in June of 2022. During this 13-day exercise, 47 ships, 89 aircrafts and 7000 personnel from 16 NATO Ally countries, including the United States and the Kingdom of Norway, were in the Baltic Sea. BALTOPS22 is where these allied countries participated “alongside one another to test the flexibility, adaptability, and capabilities of maritime and amphibious forces.” The U.S. Navy and Norwegian government covered their operation with this exercise.

The original plan was to place the C4 explosives with a 48-hour timer attached to them by the end of BALTOPS22. President Biden then second-guessed himself, worrying that a 2-day window will point directly to the U.S. This resulted in a Norwegian Navy P8 surveillance plane dropping a sonar buoy into the Baltic Sea under the cover of a routine flight in late September 2022. This buoy triggered the C4 explosive devices that were planted in early June of that same year.

According to the U.S. Department of State, this was a “tremendous opportunity to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy and thus to take away from Vladimir Putin the weaponization of energy as a means of advancing his imperial designs.”

Shaere delgiudice Correspondent

In the midst of fashion week, many are left with a particularly worrying theme: the runway once again seems to be lacking in body diversity.

Speaking in regard to Jason Wu’s recent runway show, Chief Fashion Critic at the New York Times, Vannessa Friedman, said in a tweet, “even I am distracted by the extreme skinniness of many of the models.” Further into the tweet thread, Friedman called the discussion of size inclusivity in fashion “more lip-service than actual.”

To those who have not been paying attention, the seeming return to the model look of the ‘90s, when "Heroin Chic" ruled the runways, may not be all that surprising. In a TikTok, model Jourdan Daniels said “I’ve been seeing videos of people saying ‘skinny is back” which she calls “terrifying for all of us.”

So, after what seemed to be a continuous movement towards more body diversity on the runways, why do they seem to be backsliding now?

Depending on who you ask you could get a wide range of answers. However, as Rosalind Jana at Dazed writes, "many lay blame at the feet of the current 00s revival." The return of fashion trends such as low-rise skirts and jeans, ‘whale tails’, crop tops and the ‘ultra mini’ mini skirt, which show off more of a person’s figure, are often made without inclusive sizing.

The high fashion brand Miu Miu’s mini skirt, for example, gained almost instant virality and was seen on the likes of actress Nicole Kidamn for Vanity Fair’s 28th annual Hollywood Issue, actress Zendaya for the cover of Interview Magazine and model Emily Ratajkowski. While plus-size model Paloma Elsesser was seen on the cover of i-D in the skirt as well, as Yahoo notes, her skirt was a custom one, and the brand doesn’t actually make the set in her size.

Additionally, while curves, Brazilian Butt Lifts (BBL) and the aim for a 'perfect hourglass' figure were seemingly all the rage in recent years, they seem to be out once again with the resurgence of all things 2000s.

While the look of many runways this season seemed to reflect these shifts, with noticeably fewer plus-sized or curvy models, not all of the Fashion Week runways have been missing the mark in terms of body diversity. Sinead O’Dwyer’s show had multiple plus-size models, in addition to a model in a wheelchair, another kind of body diversity we rarely see featured or discussed in the fashion industry, and even featured a visibly pregnant model.

In addition, O’Dwyer’s show was very diverse in terms of model’s race and complexions. Designer Di Pesta’s show featured many curvier models as well, and designer Karoline Vitto "built her collection with bigger bodies in mind.”

This is all important because the fashion industry, its trends and what it presents as ‘in’ and ‘stylish’ trickles down, impacting everyday consumers. As Mikayala Rooney at Daily Collegian states, “the runway provides a starting point for what retail clothing will look like.” If runways cast plus-size models aside again with non inclusive sizing or designs, this could very well affect the clothing and clothing options that we all see in stores. With the average American woman being between a size 16 and 18, having sizes that they can actually wear in styles that are comfortable for them is crucial.

The ideals and cyclical body trends, perpetuated in part by the fashion industry, may negatively impact the young women the industry so heavily aims at. It could cause them to think their bodies are not fashionable or that they need to change to fit into other standards. Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of “The Body Project” a book that explores the experience over time of life in a young woman's body, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, discusses this idea. She says “with store-bought clothes, the body had to fit instantaneously into standard sizes that were constructed from a pattern representing a norm. When clothing failed to fit… young women were apt to perceive that there was something wrong with their bodies.”

Going forward, hopefully more designers will realize as O’Dwyer, Pesta and Vitto do, that aesthetics and fashion trends should be and are for everyone, regardless of their bodies, and therefore should be accessible for, and shown on all.