On the Retirement of Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland
PRESS STATEMENT

ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE

MARCH 5, 2024

Victoria Nuland has let me know that she intends to step down in the coming weeks as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs – a role in which she has personified President Biden’s commitment to put diplomacy back at the center of our foreign policy and revitalize America’s global leadership at a crucial time for our nation and the world.

Toria’s tenure caps three and a half decades of remarkable public service under six Presidents and ten Secretaries of State. Starting with her very first posting as a consular officer in Guangzhou, China, Toria’s had most of the jobs in this Department. Political officer and economic officer. Spokesperson and chief of staff. Deputy Assistant Secretary and Assistant Secretary. Special Envoy and Ambassador.

These experiences have armed Toria with an encyclopedic knowledge of a wide range of issues and regions, and an unmatched capacity to wield the full toolkit of American diplomacy to advance our interests and values.

What makes Toria truly exceptional is the fierce passion she brings to fighting for what she believes in most: freedom, democracy, human rights, and America’s enduring capacity to inspire and promote those values around the world. These were the principles that drove Toria when we first met more than 30 years ago. They are the same principles she has brought to her work as Under Secretary, and as Acting Deputy Secretary of State – a role she filled seamlessly for seven months.

Over the past three years, Toria has led this Department on everything from addressing complex crises in the Sahel, Haiti, and the Middle East, to broadening and strengthening America’s alliances and partnerships across Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

But it’s Toria’s leadership on Ukraine that diplomats and students of foreign policy will study for years to come. Her efforts have been indispensable to confronting Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, marshaling a global coalition to ensure his strategic failure, and helping Ukraine work toward the day when it will be able to stand strongly on its own feet – democratically, economically, and militarily.

There is so much to admire about Toria beyond her diplomatic skill. She always speaks her mind – to my benefit and to the benefit of our foreign policy. She always stands up for and invests in America’s diplomats – mentoring them, lifting them up, and ensuring they and their families have what they deserve, and what our mission demands. She finds light in the darkest moments, makes you laugh when you need it most, and always has your back.

President Biden and I have asked our Under Secretary for Management John Bass to serve as Acting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs until Toria’s replacement is confirmed.

We are so grateful for Toria’s service, and for the lasting mark she’s made on this institution and the world.

https://www.state.gov/on-the-retirement-of-under-secretary-of-state-for-political-affairs-victoria-nuland/

AFRAID THAT JOHN BASS IS MADE OF THE SAME STUPID CLOTH AS "TORIA"... WE SHALL SEE....

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Sergey Strokan: Is this the real reason why Victoria Nuland quit?
Biden and Blinken chose a China hater over their chief Russophobe. This may have pushed her over the edge.

The forthcoming resignation of US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has given rise to various theories as to the reason for her unexpected departure from the State Department. Moscow believes it’s due to the failure of the “anti-Russian course” and of the overall American”Ukrainian project.” In turn, eyes in Washington are turning to the nomination of Kurt Campbell, currently responsible for Indo-Pacific policy, to the role of the second-ranking official in the State Department. The media and analysts interpret this as evidence that Asia is becoming Washington’s top priority against the backdrop of declining US interest in Ukraine.

Nuland’s announcement came as a surprise to many. The veteran US diplomat, who played an active part in the 2014 Maidan events in Ukraine, is remembered not only for handing out cookies in Kiev, but also for her involvement in major international crises and conflicts in recent decades.

Her record of more than 35 years at the US State Department under various administrations looks more impressive than the CV of the current secretary of state, Mr Blinken. On Tuesday, he himself rushed to pay tribute to Nuland’s achievements and solemnly escorted her out of the State Department and straight into the history and diplomacy books. Recalling that she had served under six presidents and ten secretaries of state, Blinken argued that in her last post in the Joe Biden administration she had embodied the desire to restore “America’s global leadership.”

The head of the State Department paid special attention to the role played by Nuland in the formation of the anti-Russia coalition after the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, calling her efforts indispensable, and saying they will be studied by future diplomats and students.

The main task that Nuland has been working on in recent years, he said, was the “strategic defeat” of Russia and helping Ukraine “to stand on its own feet democratically, economically and militarily.” But despite all her experience and influence, it seems Blinken didn’t try to dissuade her from resigning.

The news triggered an avalanche of reactions from leading Russian politicians, diplomats, experts and the media.

According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Nuland was forced to resign because of the failure of Biden’s course on Russia.

This is a failure of the policy associated with Nuland, because she was the central figure who pursued a Russophobic policy towards our country, the whole story was tied to Nuland,” Zakharova said. According to her, the outgoing US deputy secretary of state was “not just a high-ranking representative of the State Department, but a key figure in US interagency cooperation.”

“She was a coordinator of anti-Russian sentiment and anti-Russian policy by the United States, especially in the context of Ukraine. I can’t say that she was an ideologue. There are people out there who hate us more, but she really was a coordinator, she is associated with that policy. And that is how they said goodbye to her,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, a theory has emerged in Washington that Nuland’s resignation was the result of a power struggle in which she lost the race for the post of first deputy foreign policy chief.

Some pundits see a battle of narratives, with behind-the-scenes jockeying of personalities. All part of a dispute over the long-term shape of US foreign policy and its priorities.

It should be recalled that after Wendy Sherman resigned last summer as US deputy secretary of state, her duties were carried out for six months by Nuland. At the end of last year, however, the White House made the unexpected decision to nominate Campbell, another veteran of American diplomacy, for the second post in the diplomatic service. Campbell, who does not have as big a name in the diplomatic world as Nuland, has made his career not in the Euro-Atlantic but in the Indo-Pacific region.

“Ms. Nuland was considered the natural candidate to replace Ms. Sherman on a permanent basis. But Mr Blinken nominated Kurt Campbell, the former National Security Council representative for Asia,” the New York Times commented on the reshuffle. James Carden, a former US State Department official, told RIA Novosti: “I was actually surprised that she lasted as long as she did. I realised her time was up when Kurt Campbell got the second-ranked job at the department.” In a Senate vote on 6 February, his nomination received broad bipartisan support: 92 senators voted in favour, with five voting against.

“President Biden’s choice of Kurt Campbell signals a desire to continue the efforts begun by his predecessors decades ago to shift the focus of US foreign policy to China as the major challenge facing America in the future,” AP commented on the reshuffle.

“Kurt Campbell played a key role in developing President Barack Obama’s ‘pivot to Asia’ into President Biden’s Indo-Pacific strategy,” Yuri Tavrovsky, chairman of the expert council of the Russian-Chinese Friendship, Peace and Development Committee, told Kommersant.

“In practical terms, he was particularly active in the creation of the anti-Chinese military bloc AUKUS (Australia, the UK and the US) and in strengthening the military component of the QUAD group (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue - Australia, India, the US and Japan,” Tavrovsky said. “The appointment of Campbell to the second-highest post in the State Department demonstrates the White House’s long-term course of containing China, despite words and gestures that look like a desire for reconciliation.”

Thus, according to Mr Tavrovsky, “the second place in the State Department went not to the greatest hater of Russia, but to the greatest hater of China.”

This article was first published by Kommersant, translated and edited by the RT team

https://www.rt.com/news/593959-why-victoria-nuland-quit/

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw_wap0sqDk

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

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NULAND'S NEW JOB:

Ambassador Victoria Nuland, a US diplomat for more than three decades who served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs for the last three years, and as Acting Deputy Secretary of State from July 2023 to February 2024, will join SIPA as the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor in the Practice of International Diplomacy effective July 1.

Nuland will also direct SIPA’s International Fellows Program, which provides an interdisciplinary forum for Columbia University graduate students to study international problems. Lastly, she will be a member of the Institute of Global Politics’ affiliated faculty, which comprises selected scholars and practitioners who work on research projects to advance IGP’s mission.

As Under Secretary, Nuland managed overall regional and bilateral policy issues and oversaw the department’s multiple geographic bureaus, which, among other responsibilities, guide US diplomatic missions around the world.

Before she became Under Secretary in April 2021, Nuland was a Senior Counselor at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a private consulting firm. She also held positions at the Brookings Institution, Yale University, and the National Endowment for Democracy.

“I’m incredibly honored to welcome Ambassador Victoria Nuland to our faculty,” said Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo. “Her diverse, hard-won expertise that reflects experiences in Washington and abroad will enhance her contributions as an instructor in our classrooms and a leader in our policy work. As a veteran of both Democratic and Republican administrations, Toria has demonstrated an ability to transcend partisan divisions that makes her a model for our students, given our too-often divided society. I speak on behalf of the entire SIPA community when I say we’re just thrilled to have her.”

Nuland, whose departure from the State Department was announced March 5 by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, previously served during the Obama administration as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs (September 2013–January 2017) and as Spokesperson (May 2011–April 2013). In the latter position she worked directly for then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who today chairs the IGP Faculty Advisory Board at SIPA.

Nuland also served as US ambassador to NATO under President George W. Bush from June 2005 to May 2008.

A speaker of Russian and French, Nuland earned a BA from Brown University.

https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/news/ambassador-victoria-nuland-will-join-sipa-faculty

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_s7UZgr4lE

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In recent days, the architect of Ukraine’s misery, Victoria Nuland, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, kind dispenser of cookies and terminal advice to the EU, and a woman (yes, I assumed her gender) with a visceral, some would say psychotic, hatred of all things Russian, has, it seems, opened her mouth and accidentally spoken the truth about the military conflict in Ukraine.

In a disturbing, even for her, interview, the arch neocon, and hammer of the Slavs, made a number of interesting comments. While trying to put pressure on Republican lawmakers to approve another massive aid package for Ukraine, one that is currently firmly blocked in Congress, she trotted out the tired old trope that “If we don’t stop Putin in Ukraine, he will keep going” she also complained that “this isn’t the Russia we wanted” accusing Russia of not wanting to cooperate with the west after the collapse of the USSR.

Birds of Feather 

This is a statement which flies in the face of the ample historical evidence that Russia’s many efforts to integrate with the west, including NATO, were firmly rebuffed by Nuland and various administrations, especially her colleagues, e.g., “birds of feather” in a number of western foreign ministries, and their efforts and intent to break up Russia into “smaller, more manageable and controllable pieces”.

The icing on the cake, however, and one that speaks to the true evil of both neocons and the military conflict in Ukraine that they planned, seeded, and poured gasoline on the flames of, was her statement that she had strong confidence that the aid bill would pass as it addresses America’s interests,

“We have to remember that the bulk of this money is going right back into the US economy, to make weapons, including good-paying jobs in some forty states across the US,”

This ties in with her boss Blinken’s recent comment as follows:

“Our support hasn’t just helped Ukrainians.  Ninety percent of the security assistance that we provided to Ukraine has been spent here in the United States, benefiting American businesses, workers, communities, strengthening our nation’s defense industrial base.”

If this is true, then combined with the lack of oversight on weapons or cash deliveries to the corrupt neo-Nazis in Kyiv, we are seeing that the US elites are using the military conflict in Ukraine not only to “weaken Russia” but to fleece the US taxpayer, line the pockets of defense contractors, and enjoy kickbacks from both the military industrial complex, but also their Ukrainian puppets.

Pro-Russian Groups: OR Pro-Georgian Groups?

We, as reported earlier, are seeing the same thing occurring with the French-born president of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, who claims that Russia is funding “pro-Russian” groups in Georgia to interfere in the upcoming elections.

“We are directly there, we have 20% of our territory which is currently occupied by Russia, and we are concerned because we are going to have elections by October, and we know the experience of many other countries much stronger than we are, how Russia can interfere with elections,” she said.

Zurabishvili is, like her evil twin Nuland, a hater of all things Russian, painting Georgia’s time in both the Russian Empire and USSR as “a time of oppression”, which is not unexpected for the scion of a family that fled to France in the early 20th century. If you listened to her, you would think that Russian rule had reduced Georgia from a super state to an impoverished vassal, and that only the west can return Georgia to its glory. Obviously, anyone who disagrees must be a “traitor on the payroll of Russia”

As a Georgian friend recently said to me “Salome Zurabishvili and her western backers need to look at their own actions, it is the behavior of the US and EU in attacking Georgian culture and traditions, particularly their promotion of LGBTQ+ agendas, the unveiled attacks on the Church in general, and the Patriarch in particular, along with the growing public realization that the West used Georgia as a stick to poke Russia in 2008, that have resulted in a significant part of the Georgian public seeing that a country that has occupied 20% of their territory is actually not as much of an evil as their supposed ‘friends and backers’ in the west.

This is further reinforced by Western and Ukrainian attempts to pressure Georgia into opening a ‘second front’ against Russia, and the ongoing US inspired schism in the Ukrainian Church, something many Georgian faithful fear happening here when the elderly, and widely loved, Patriarch Ilia II finally passes”

Contrary to the impression you may get when walking through the richer parts of Tbilisi, such as Vake and Ortachala, where the inheritors of the Communist elites dream of untold riches upon joining the EU and where anti-Russian attitudes are the most common, and the only Churches are ancient historical structures, just 30 minutes’ drive away in areas like Saburtalo and Dighomi, new Churches are springing up, paid for by donations from the local public. One of my friends lives in an area where there are 7 new Churches within 2 kilometers of his apartment, 5 built in the last 8 years, and all within the last 20.

Many Georgians have a more nuanced view of history than their foreign born (and Western appointed) president. It is well known that Georgia was fractured and exhausted after centuries of invasions by the Islamic world, particularly the Persians and Ottomans, and severely depopulated.

For all their faults, Russian protection in the 19th century ushered in a massive increase in population, from an estimated 400,000 to over 4,000,000 by the end of the last century. Russian protection also saw a revival in culture and sciences in Georgia, and Georgians were promoted to high positions in the military and government throughout the Empire, and the USSR.

It should be noted that great Georgians of the period were in favor of more autonomy, but not independence, such as the great St. Ilia Chavchavadze, a writer, educator and political activist, who was murdered by Georgian socialists, aka, Georgian Mensheviks, for his belief that Georgia’s future was as an autonomous region within the Russian Empire.

The Mensheviks on their way out, not putting up much of a fight to Bolsheviks, then proceeded to loot the national treasury on their quick departure. Many of the foreign born Georgians who now claim pride in having dual citizenships, and who like to give interviews condemning the entire Russian race, had tainted roots that were nourished by stolen Georgian wealth and the unabated greed of those who ran like rats from Georgia in the face of the Bolshevik invasion, leaving ordinary Georgians to “face the music” alongside Bolshevism’s Russian victims.

Today, there is a growing realization amongst Georgians that the promises of the west are an illusion, as so is much of its short-lived Socialist past. Despite so-called “free trade” agreements with the EU, the vast majority of national income comes from trade with the Russian Federation, and from Russian tourists and businesspersons working with Georgia.

Georgia and Georgians also understand the need to be pragmatic in their foreign relations, and not be the next sacrificial lamb on the altar of Western Hegemony, which stains the ground of so many fledgling democracies throughout the world with the blood of its victims.

Seth Ferris, investigative journalist and political scientist, expert on Middle Eastern affairs, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

https://journal-neo.su/2024/03/21/v-nuland-and-s-zurabishvili-evil-twin-ladies-who-let-the-truth-slip-out-from-their-forked-tongues-flimsy-masks/

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Ukraine has never been in a position to get a favorable settlement to end the enduring conflict with Russia and so Washington has never actually encouraged Kiev to negotiate with Moscow, former US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and former acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has claimed.

The ex-official and one of the key proponents of supporting Ukraine through military means made the remark in an interview with Politico published on Saturday. A vast part of the interview revolved around the Ukrainian conflict, with Nuland producing a typical mainstream American assessment of it.

“Let’s start with the fact that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has already failed in his objective. He wanted to flatten Ukraine. He wanted to ensure that they had no sovereignty, independence, agency, no democratic future – because a democratic Ukraine, a European Ukraine, is a threat to his model for Russia, among other things, and because it’s the first building block for his larger territorial ambitions,” Nuland asserted, without providing any supporting evidence.

The official insisted that Kiev can still “succeed” in the conflict, though she dodged the question of whether she believes Ukraine could seize its former territories from Russia, including the Crimean Peninsula, which broke away from Kiev in the aftermath of the 2014 Maidan coup and joined Moscow after a referendum. 

“It can definitely get to a place where it’s strong enough, I believe, and where Putin is stymied enough to go to the negotiating table from a position of strength. It’ll be up to the Ukrainian people what their territorial ambitions should be,” she said, adding that “whatever is decided on Crimea, it can’t be remilitarized such that it’s a dagger at the heart of the center of Ukraine.”

The former official revealed Washington has never actually pressed Kiev into negotiations with Moscow, claiming its “negotiating position” was never actually strong enough, including in late 2022.

“They were not in a strong enough position then. They’re not in a strong enough position now. The only deal Putin would have cut then, the only deal that he would cut today, at least before he sees what happens in our election, is a deal in which he says, ‘What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is negotiable.’ And that’s not sustainable,” she claimed.

Victoria Nuland has been widely perceived as one of the key figures behind the whole Ukrainian crisis that started with the Maidan events, which ultimately brought down Ukraine’s democratically-elected president, Viktor Yanukovich, in 2014.

The diplomat, who at the time was Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, infamously showed up among Maidan activists, handing out pastries. The affair became widely known as “Nuland’s cookies,” serving as a textbook example of direct US involvement in the coup.

https://www.rt.com/news/597403-nuland-us-ukraine-negotiations/

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

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