Tim Kirby
The United States consciously sent someone who is a living embodiment of Russophobic Soft Power to Moscow to somehow "improve" relations, Tim Kirby writes.
"This time, it's going to happen, they've amassed their forces like never before, if Biden wins they're going to launch the big attack." These apocalyptic words were uttered to me (in Russian) on the eve of the last presidential elections in the United States. The Russian Media both mainstream and alternative were sure that with the rise of Biden "it would finally happen". "It" being a major offensive by Kiev's forces backed either covertly or overtly by NATO. All of the "insider" types I know in the Donbass were willing to bet everything they had that an invasion was imminent. After all, it is the Democrats who have a visceral instinctive hatred of the Russians, whereas only half of the Republicans are just passively stuck in Cold War mode. But none of these dire prophecies came to pass with the "victory" of Biden over #45. The signal never came, Kiev never sent their men in, and WWIII (or a soul crushing defeat for the Russians if they were to blink and not respond) was avoided. It is in this most recent context and Biden's bafflingly Trump-like foreign policy that we should look at the big visit of Victoria Nuland to Moscow.
The real big issue that never gets discussed in the Western-centric Mainstream Media is that Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland is a baffling choice to send to Moscow if the desired goal is to make better relations with the Russians. The U.S. government is huge, and even within America, let alone Russia, only a handful of political figures stand out enough in any particular way to give themselves serious notoriety. Meaning there are loads of seemingly anonymous human-suits that could have been sent to Moscow, or some "B-listers" that don't particularly resonate with Russia in a negative way. But instead, they chose to pick Nuland, who although qualified and occupies a position that would justify such an assignment, is a symbol of the "evils" of the U.S. State Department within Russia's sphere of influence.
Image: Nuland earning her infamy among Russian speakers.
Although many American and EU politicans flew out to show their support for the Liberal Neo-Nazi Maidan freakshow, it was Nuland with her symbolic cookies, that she passed out to protestors, that has granted her infamy within Russia for multiple generations. In both Russia and the West she also became notable for the " F#&! the EU" phone call in which she blatantly worked out the future political structure of the now fully colonized Ukraine.
Meaning, the United States consciously sent someone who is a living embodiment of Russophobic Soft Power to Moscow to somehow "improve" relations. Nuland represents the greatest failure of post-Communist Russia (losing the Ukraine without a shot being fired) and the depths the State Department is willing to go (promoting Neo-Nazis, Apartheid, and the murder of Russian speakers) to get the job done. This would be like sending Bill Clinton to negotiate in Serbia. In fact, in order to allow this meeting to happen, Nuland had to be removed off of Russia's sanctions blacklist to enter the country.
Could the State Department be that egotistical to not see that Nuland was a dubious choice? Or perhaps they wanted to send a message to Moscow that "we will break you" or something to that effect. In a way I can respect that type of assertion of pure dominance and it is refreshingly honest, but it also means that very little will change.
Image: For Russian speaking people the war in the Donbass is as serious as a heart attack.
Nuland and the Biden regime supposedly do not like the terms of the Minsk Agreement, because they essentially guarantee that there are now two entities on the territory of today's Ukraine meaning Russia will get some of not a juicy piece of pork fat. However Russia would never back down from this position so there really is no room to negotiate even if they sent some less heinous individual to Russia's capital.
The Undersecretary of State described her visit and negotiations with the usual meaningless pleasantries that one would expect. She said it was "productive" which in political double-speak means that nothing happened of any consequence. She also called it "frank" meaning that the Russians actually stuck to their guns about their view of events and said things she did not like.
The overall purpose of such a trip that could only have a negative impact due to Nuland's reputation is again baffling. In the past the U.S. has employed the tactic of "offering an olive branch" to the other side only to then go forward and stab them in the back. Hillary Clinton's big red "reset button" is a perfect example of this - publicly talk peace while preparing for war so they look open minded and on the side of what is right. This rotten olive branch strategy is not the case this time, the motivation is something other. There are few possible reasons:
- Although the Ukraine is vastly cheaper than Afghanistan, perhaps holding European Zimbabwe above water is getting too tedious and pricey. The global grind down of the post Cold War American Empire seems to be happening and the hegemon has to tighten his belt. The Ukraine being on the periphery of U.S. interests and of vital importance to Russia may mean that it is on the chopping block for geopolitical reasons - too far, too Eastern, too corrupt, too expensive, too hazardous.
- The Russian-speaking parts of the Ukraine's territory would be a massive bargaining chip to get Moscow to sign off on pretty much anything. Perhaps sending this living symbol of the victory at the Maidan was used to sell the Russians on some sort of idea, the payment for which would be getting their lost territory back. What the Holy Land means for Israelis and Palestinians is what the Ukraine means for Russians.
- Biden has jumped on Trump's ego train and wants to quietly keep all scandals linking him and his son to Ukraine out of the spotlight. Some think that Kiev now puts a rotten taste in Biden's mouth that he wants to wash out.
- This was all just pure routine for Washington using the old Russian logic of "we pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us". This is just an example of a very low effort autopilot rotten olive branch tactic described above. Sometimes negotiating can happen just to click a bureaucratic check box.
The actual meaning of these meetings will surely reveal itself in the next few months, but the key issue is that getting Biden into the White House, by hook or by crook, did not plant the seed for Armageddon in Ukraine. This was already evident during his first 100 days. And although nothing massive was put on the table by Nuland it would seem that passionate support for Kiev is not going to be a part of the next 4 years. It looks like we are most likely to see more messy and resultless negotiation rooted in the Minsk agreement's terms over the next few years.