'Sabotage' to Blame for German Rail Disruption

Facts

• A train communications system in Germany was sabotaged on Saturday, according to authorities, forcing passenger and cargo trains to halt for around three hours across the northwest of the country.
• A security source said there are a few possible causes, ranging from the more common event of cable theft to a targeted attack, with Germany's Transport Minister saying he believed it was "targeted and malicious."
• The specific target of the sabotage was the GSM-R, a radio system used for communication on the railway, which would reportedly require "certain knowledge" of the rail system to damage.
• Countless people were stranded on railways across the north of the country, as queues rapidly backed up at mainline stations, including Berlin and Hanover, where services were delayed or cancelled.
• News of the disruption caused alarm after the apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, with NATO and the European Union subsequently stressing the importance of protecting critical infrastructure.

Sources: FOX News, Reuters, France24, and Al Jazeera.

Narratives

• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by IAmExpat. Though no direct evidence has been uncovered so far, this attack comes as tensions between Russia and the West are escalating, and Putin is known to have already used infrastructure and energy warfare. After the Nord Stream pipeline was likely sabotaged, this could very well be Putin's next move.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by BreitBart. Infrastructure cyberattacks like these have occurred many times in recent years, many of which were at the hands of far-left groups, not the Russian government. Countries like Germany and the US are quick to blame Putin, however many of these terrorist attacks have proven beneficial to the West, not the other way around.