Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage
Just recently the Nord Stream I pipeline was deliberately sabotaged by an unknown group or country. Many theories suggest that it could have been the United States or Russia. While solving the mystery of who actually blew up the pipeline would be fun to solve, it is beyond the scope of this post. This blog could be pages long giving context about the political landscape of Europe and the role the United States plays in their interactions, but that would seem more appropriate for a foreign affairs class. This blog will focus on the power dynamic between Russia, the United States, and Germany. In other words, the bargaining and exchange in networks and the relative power of each node in this very simplified three-node path.
For the sake of argument, we will assume that the United States did in fact sabotage the Nord Stream pipeline, preventing Russia from selling precious natural gas to Germany. Before this exchange, Germany and Russia were defined by a two-node path, with Russia being more powerful. However, the United States’s involvement in this exchange puts them between Russia and Germany. Reason they would want to suffocate Russia is for many reasons, but preventing Russia from supplying Germany with gas effectively shrinks the power of Russia in this simplified three-node path. The United States controlling the pipeline makes them the most powerful node, followed by Russia, and then Germany as they are consumers of Russia. It is interesting to see the power structure of each edge between nodes mimic real life. In class examples with nodes, from left to right, A B C, B is the most powerful node. With the United States directly getting in the middle of Russia and Germany in their trade, they reduce the power of Russia.
Willy Swenson (wzs6); October 4th, 2022
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-has-much-gain-nord-stream-damage-russia-says-un-2022-09-30/