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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   35368 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 26, 2022

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This is the most likely explanation.

Both sides of a pipeline want it operating, by definition, or else it would not be operating.

More complex "teaching the other side a lesson about the pipeline possibly closing off" explanations require big assumptions on who exactly is supposed to be learning what, since again both sides want it operating.

My gut instinct is a non-state-actor LARPING or thinking "I AM HELPING."

Is it really larping when you've reached the point of blowing up major international infrastructure? I'd think the difference between larping a war-brazened saboteur and actually being one probably includes actual acts of destruction that require at least some skill and planning.

I think LARPing jumped the shark as a term that means anything when I've heard it applied to both armies actively in the field, and to people on Reddit. Both kind of fail the definition.

People have been sharing around instructions to sabotage pipelines and there's quite a few would be ecoterrorists sharpening their knives these days, so some random group of people is worth considering as an option, but usually you'd get some claim of responsibility in that case.

I think it's worth considering that if this were a Russian operation (likeliness unknown), it could look something like an intentional Crossing the Rubicon moment. It would serve as both an outward proclamation that Putin wishes to punish Germany and other parts of the EU for opposing him, but also burns easy pathways for anyone toppling the regime to return to the previous status quo. I'm reminded of how Cortés burned his ships on reaching Mexico to prevent mutiny.

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