In the latest debacle for the US State Department and the Obama Administration, US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was caught on tape micro-managing Ukraine opposition party strategies with US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt. That the Ukraine regime-change operation is to some degree being directed from Washington can no longer be denied.
The tape (listen below) was released today, on the eve of Nuland’s second trip to meet with Ukrainian protestors and opposition leaders in the past two months — last time she passed out cookies to protestors.
The taped conversation demonstrates in clear detail that while Secretary of State John Kerry decries any foreign meddling in Ukraine’s internal affairs, his State Department is virtually managing the entire process. The “F**k the EU” part is her expressing anger that the EU is not moving fast enough with regime change in Ukraine and her plan is to get the UN involved in the process.
As the Kyiv Post reports:
In a conversation leaked online and posted to YouTube on Feb. 6, voices closely resembling those of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland discuss loosely the roles of Ukrainian opposition leaders and the United Nations, and frustration over inaction and indecision by the European Union in solving Ukraine’s political crisis.
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The voice allegedly of Nuland adds that [Ukrainian opposition leader Vitali] Klitschko should not be given a role in government.“I don’t think it’s necessary, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she says.
“Yeah… I guess… in terms of him not going into the government, just let him sort of stay out and do his political homework and stuff,” Pyatt says.
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Before the call ends, Nuland tells Pyatt she has “one more wrinkle” for him.Commenting on European pressure put on Yanukovych – or lack thereof – she explains that she has spoken to the United Nations and has gotten an official there who said that Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, agreed to send someone to Ukraine to “help glue this thing and to have the UN glue it.”
She adds: “And you know, fuck the EU.”
“Exactly,” Pyatt replies. “And I think we got to do something to make it stick together, because you can be sure that if it does start to gain altitude the Russians will be working behind the scenes to torpedo it. Let me work on Klitschko, and I think we should get a Western personality to come out here (to Ukraine) and midwife this thing,’’ he adds.
The call is concrete confirmation of what we have been writing here at RPI for some time. This is a cruder and more violent version of the US-sponsored Orange Revolution.
Particularly interesting from the recording is the treatment of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as some sort of junior errand boy for Washington. That explains his cowardly move to rescind Iran’s invitation to participate in the Geneva II talks as soon as Secretary Kerry demanded it.
One can only wonder why the government of Ukraine does not rescind Nuland’s visa and send her packing back to Washington, along with the US ambassador. No normal country on earth would allow foreign officials to actively plot inside the country with those seeking to overthrow the government.
A final bit of irony in the US government reaction to the bombshell tape is State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki directly accusing the Russian government of being behind the tape and expressing shock — shock! — that a foreign government might be spying on the US. “A new low,” she called it. It’s only OK if we do it!
