« right in the face » — It's mainly Germany that's hit right in the face and where the Stockholm syndrome applies most closely. If we look at our dear neighbours, then we can see that some of them stand to profit from the Nord Stream bombings. Poland, of course, but also the honorable Norway (have a lot of gas) or the Netherlands (have the most important port). These two also happen to be more closely allied and aligned with the (F)UK/US complex, not directly “Five Eyes” (Anglo only), but “Nine Eyes” (plus France and Denmark). The war had been actively prepared since at least 2014 (military “#TrainToWin” etc), so there was enough time for scheming and dealing.
Guilt with a corollary of subservience to “Western values” having become the predominant ideology in Germany, strategic shortsightedness and failure to properly “relaunch” after 1990, also the occasional murder of more “promising” members of the political spectrum (sans doute at the hands of our dear “friends”), brain drain to the U.S., catastrophic “investments” like Chrysler or U.S. telcom, and barely anything of it ever raised to the threshold of public debate and intelligent reflection : a lot of things combine to explain the dismal state of affairs in modern Germany.
It cannot be ruled out that the German gov was complicit in the bombings; not wilfully, but passively, like someone too weak to resist for lack of self-esteem. Like chancellor Scholz on Feb 7, 2022, at the White House press conference where Biden threatened the pipeline:
▪ “If Russia invades, that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again, then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2, we will bring an end to it.”
▫ “But how will you do that, exactly, since the project is within Germany’s control?”
▪ “We will… I promise you we will be able to do it.”
There was no reaction from Scholz. Just nothing. By the way, could be I'm wrong, but that part of the press conference seemed scripted/scheduled to me. Not the exact words, but the contents.