Russia Would Benefit The Most From US Break-Up With The EU - by Rob Sharp

Unflattering remarks by a top US diplomat to the European Union have come to light over the past week. Victoria Nuland, the State Department’s Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, is reported to have said “Fuck the EU” in a private conversation with our ambassador to the Ukraine, Mr. Geoffrey Pyatt.

The exchange was allegedly bugged by Russian agents, a fact emphasized by the White House and State Department to deflect attention from the remark itself. If the Russians are indeed behind the bugging, declared the State Department, it would constitute “a new low in Russian tradecraft.”

The issue speaks to the frustrations that the United States and other nations, including EU member nations, have experienced while interacting with the supranational organization. While Baroness Catherine Ashton has been widely regarded as successful in her role as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, including her handling of the Ukrainian issue, she has been the lone bright star in what is otherwise a typically slow, indecisive (when not contentious), and overly bureaucratic organization.

The point remains that Nuland is a trained diplomat and her tone with the our ambassadors and other State Department employees sets the timbre for the nature of the relationship between the US and the EU.

Regardless of whether or not she should have considered the possibility that someone might overhear her conversation with Ambassador Pyatt (and given the recent history of intelligence bugging brought to light by Edward Snowden, there is no reason not to suspect clandestine eavesdropping), her language reveals that the United States does not respect her European allies and would rather not collaborate with them. Not exactly what you might call ‘diplomatic.’

Ms. Nuland has since apologized to various European heads of state for her comments and stated that she “will not comment on a private diplomatic conversation.” Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was herself recently an alleged victim of NSA phone-tapping, called Nuland’s remarks “totally unacceptable.” The context of the remarks, however, demonstrates that the U.S. is attempting to stem the influence of Moscow in the governance of the Ukraine as we work with Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to address the pro-EU demonstrations that have been held constantly across the past few months in Kiev.

In order to build stronger ties between Ukraine and the “West,” the U.S. must suppress Russian interests in the region, thus adding another dimension to the re-emerging cold war developing between our two countries.

With Russia seeking to project its might throughout the Winter Olympic Games, expanding its realpolitik via Syria, opposing same-sex equality, and countering the United States’ position as a global hegemon, the prospect of an allied state the size of the Ukraine defect from the EU membership process and realign itself with Russia raises the specter of the Iron Curtain for many older European and American observers.

By destabilizing our relations with the EU, Moscow could very well scoop up allies looking for leadership, loyalty, and decisiveness in uncertain times. Perhaps that possibility should be the focus of our State Department’s grandiloquence.

Read more: Russia Would Benefit The Most From Our Break-Up With The EU | Article 3