Why Do Right-Wing Extremists Target Power Stations in the USA?
The vandalism of four power substations in Washington state over the weekend raised fears of a campaign by right-wing extremists to sow chaos nationwide.
On December 27, local police did not provide any information on who they suspected was responsible for the vandalism that left some 14,000 people without power over Christmas in Tacoma, a coastal area south of Seattle.
The Tacoma Utilities Company, which owns two of the targeted stations, said Sunday in a statement that the FBI had warned it in early December about threats to its electrical grid.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday it was investigating the incident, adding in a statement that he was aware of similar incidents elsewhere in Washington, Oregon, and North Carolina.
Attacking Electricity Infrastructure
The actions follow warnings by US officials that neo-Nazis threatening to ignite a race war may be behind the targeting of electricity infrastructure.
According to media outlets, the Department of Homeland Security reported in an intelligence memo issued in January that extremists have developed real and specific plans to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020.
In early December, 45,000 homes and businesses in Moore County, North Carolina, were without power after someone used a gun to sabotage two power substations.
In February, three men with neo-Nazi ties pleaded guilty in Ohio to planning to use guns and explosives to destroy electrical infrastructure at various locations.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said at the time that they planned, in the context of promoting white supremacy, to attack energy facilities had caused harm to the economy and fuel division in our country.
The Washington Post stated that the authorities are investigating after Moore’s incident in eight similar incidents in four states.
Sergeant Darren Moss Jr., a spokesperson for the Pierce County sheriff’s department, told The Washington Post on Monday, “If it was a message, who is it for? Or is it just some people pulling a prank?”
Great Resentment
The Politico newspaper said that physical and computerized assaults on the equipment that delivers electricity are at their highest level since at least 2012. 101 cases were reported this year through the end of August, according to federal records examined by POLITICO. The previous peak was the 97 incidents recorded for all of 2021.
The newspaper stressed, “This year’s tally doesn’t even include 2022’s most visible attack—the shootings of two Duke Energy substations that knocked out power to 45,000 people in Moore County, N.C.”
The Washington Post pointed out that the break-ins and resulting power outages were as frustrating for local residents as they were disturbing for local law enforcement. The latter pointed out that they are aware of “similar incidents occurring across the country.” The vandals did not take anything from the facilities, and the motive is unclear.
Moss of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that the acts of vandalism share similarities with the incidents in other parts of the country.
He emphasized that: Whatever the suspects’ motivation, tampering with a public utility means is unacceptable. “It’s not going to be just a burglary or vandalism charge when we catch them.”
In an interview with Al-Estiklal, Somaya Rahali, a researcher at the University of Sabahattin Zaim, said: “After nearly two decades of Western countries focusing almost exclusively on the threat posed by Salafi-jihadi groups, it is now impossible to ignore the challenge posed by a growing far-right extremist movement, especially because of the rise of the cruel fatal attacks. These groups have become more prominent due to their overt and resentful violence. The Republicans’ political decline is a direct result of these actions.”
An investigation published by Newsweek magazine on December 20, 2021, monitored the presence of tens of millions of heavily armed Americans who believe that Trump was the winner in the past elections and that Biden “stole” it.
The magazine’s investigation warned that gun owners are overwhelmingly white, urban Southern Republicans who are supporters of Donald Trump.
There are fears of groups that include former military personnel and right-wing gangs loyal to Trump and Republicans, most notably the heavily armed extremist Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys group.
Fueling Division
These were ordered by Trump to “get ready” during the only televised debate that brought him together with Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 presidential elections.
Verdicts were issued against the leaders of the far-right Oath Keepers group in the events of the storming of Congress on charges of leading “a plot planned at length and using paramilitary formations aimed at overthrowing the country’s regime.”
Observers believe that talking about a second civil war may be nothing more than a political debate in the relationship between the Republican and Democratic parties.
While others believe that the matter has more dangerous dimensions related to the skepticism of Trump and his supporters in all American institutions, which increases the possibilities of a “civil war,” not just a political debate.
The National Interest website, on December 3, 2022, confirmed that, based on the violence in America, one could argue that the second civil war has already begun.
In a report written by Harvard graduate researcher Niko Emack, he explained that these acts of violence perpetrated by individual militants and far-right groups are part of a larger movement of domestic terrorism and have the ingredients of a full-fledged civil war.
He said that research by Dartmouth College politics professor Benjamin Valentino on Cambodia, Nazi Germany, and Rwanda shows that a small minority—well-armed and organized—can generate enormous bloodshed when unleashed on unarmed and disorganized victims.
American politics expert John Mueller estimated that during the Rwandan genocide only 2 percent of the Hutu population was responsible for the vast majority of killings.
