‘Fuck the EU’ Is Not the Problem

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http://watchingamerica.com/News/232239/fuck-the-eu-is-not-the-problem/



High-ranking U.S. diplomat Victoria Nuland badmouthed the EU, and it became public. Yet beyond rude sayings, it illustrates the problems with the West’s Ukrainian policy.

‘Fuck the EU’ Is Not the Problem
die Zeit, Germany
By Carsten Luther
Translated By Erica Wilfong Boxheimer
7 February 2014
Edited by Amanda Dunker

To always say the right thing, to keep composure in every situation — that is utopian. If a secretary of state at the U.S. Department of State says something vulgar in the supposed intimacy of a telephone call, it means, for a start, a little astonishingly: Diplomats are people. “Fuck the EU” slipped out of Victoria Nuland’s mouth in a discussion with the American ambassador in Ukraine, Geoffery Pyatt. The recording of her conversation was made public and everyone got upset — predictable, but basically ridiculous.

Americans might be certified with a culturally conditioned aversion to that evil F-word in public. At the same time, they love it. In this situation, it primarily proves how emotionally the diplomat represents her position. That’s what everyone wants in politics: passion and clarity.

Another finding from the conversation: Phones were bugged — because of Edward Snowden, nobody wonders about that anymore. The Americans should be the last to be genuinely upset over it. And the others? Please don’t also get upset. Rather, the U.S. asked how this could have happened. Were the diplomats careless and speaking over an unsecure connection? Or did someone hack the encryption? They should be worried about that.

And who was so bold — or so clever — not only to listen to, but also release the conversation? The Russians, say the Americans. And in fact, they don’t risk a lot with this assumption.