Victoria Nuland RESIGNS, Glenn Greenwald EVISCERATES Leading Neocon: Interview
Summary
TLDRThe video transcript discusses the impending resignation of Victoria Nuland from her role as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Journalist Glenn Greenwald is interviewed to analyze Nuland's legacy, describing her as a 'singularly repellent and destructive figure' who embodies the hawkish, neoconservative foreign policy establishment in Washington. Greenwald criticizes Nuland's involvement in the Iraq War, her role in the 2014 Ukraine crisis, and her confrontational stance towards Russia. He argues that Nuland's resignation reflects the failure of her primary project - the Ukraine war against Russia - and her career ambitions being stifled within the Biden administration.
Takeaways
- đź Victoria Nuland, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, is stepping down from her high-ranking diplomatic position known for her hawkish stance towards Russia and actions regarding Ukraine.
- đ„ Nuland has faced criticism for her interventionist views, particularly her involvement in the 2014 coup in Ukraine and her support for confronting Russia.
- đ Nuland's diplomatic career includes serving as a top advisor to Dick Cheney during the Iraq War, and holding positions under multiple administrations from Clinton to Biden (except during Trump's presidency).
- đ€ Nuland's departure is seen as a potential signal of the failure of her key project, the war in Ukraine, to topple Russia, and her career ambitions being stalled after being passed over for the number two spot at the State Department.
- đ Nuland is representative of the continuity in American foreign policy and the influence of neoconservative figures across administrations, regardless of the party in power.
- đđŽ While there is an emerging anti-interventionist faction within the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, as evidenced by the election of Adam Schiff in California, remains largely supportive of interventionist and pro-Israel policies.
- đ„ The interview highlights the ongoing debate and realignment around foreign policy, with growing opposition to interventionism on both the left and right, but also continued support for certain conflicts, such as Israel's actions in Gaza.
- đ„ The interview underscores the long-standing influence of neoconservative figures like Nuland and the Kagan family in shaping American foreign policy across multiple administrations.
- đ€ Nuland's departure raises questions about the future direction of American foreign policy and the potential for a shift away from interventionism, or a continuation of neoconservative influence within the government.
- đ The discussion serves as a reminder of the complexities and debates surrounding American foreign policy, and the ongoing tensions between interventionist and non-interventionist ideologies within both major political parties.
Q & A
Who is Victoria Nuland and what is her position?
-Victoria Nuland is the outgoing Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the third highest-ranking US diplomat position. She was known for her hawkish stance, especially toward Russia and her actions regarding Ukraine.
What did Victoria Nuland do during the Obama Administration?
-During the Obama Administration, Nuland served as Assistant Secretary of State for Europe. She was involved in the 2014 US-supported coup against the then-elected president of Ukraine and was caught on a tape plotting which people the US wanted to take positions in the Ukrainian government after the coup.
What was Victoria Nuland's role during the Iraq War?
-Victoria Nuland was Dick Cheney's top advisor in the White House from 2003 onwards, counseling him on how to implement and maintain the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Why is Victoria Nuland considered a controversial figure?
-Nuland is considered a controversial figure due to her neoconservative and hawkish foreign policy views, her involvement in the Iraq War and the 2014 Ukraine coup, and her close ties to neoconservative figures like her husband Robert Kagan.
What does Glenn Greenwald think of Victoria Nuland's legacy?
-Glenn Greenwald finds Victoria Nuland to be a singularly repellent and destructive figure who represents the continuity of neoconservative and interventionist foreign policies in Washington, regardless of which party is in power.
Why is Victoria Nuland stepping down from her position?
-According to Glenn Greenwald, Nuland is likely stepping down because her main project, the war in Ukraine, is a failure, and she was passed over for the number two spot at the State Department, which was her lifelong ambition.
What does Victoria Nuland's career trajectory represent about US foreign policy?
-Nuland's career, serving in various administrations from Clinton to Biden (except for the Trump years), represents the tremendous continuity in American foreign policy and the influence of neoconservative and interventionist figures, regardless of which party is in power.
Is there a shift in anti-interventionist sentiment within political parties, according to Glenn Greenwald?
-Greenwald acknowledges some emerging anti-interventionist sentiment on both the right and left, particularly regarding the Ukraine war. However, he believes that ultimately, the party machinery will subsume these interests, as evidenced by the recent California Senate race.
How does the Israel-Palestine conflict factor into the anti-interventionist debate?
-Greenwald notes that while there is growing opposition to interventionist wars on both sides, there is still widespread support for aiding Israel and its actions against Palestinians, particularly on the Republican side, showing the limits of the anti-interventionist realignment.
What is the significance of Victoria Nuland's career in understanding how Washington works?
-According to Greenwald, Nuland's career serves as a vivid vessel through which we can understand how Washington really works, where neoconservative and interventionist figures move seamlessly between administrations, regardless of which party is in power, and their foreign policy agendas remain largely unchanged.
Outlines
đŁïž Victoria Nuland's Controversial Diplomatic Career
This paragraph provides an overview of Victoria Nuland's career as a high-ranking diplomat known for her hawkish stance, especially towards Russia and her involvement in the Ukraine crisis. It highlights her roles during various administrations, including her time as Assistant Secretary of State for Europe during the Obama administration, her presence during the 1993 coup against Boris Yeltsin in Russia, and her position as a spokesperson for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The paragraph also mentions her connection to the neoconservative Robert Kagan as his spouse.
âïž Nuland's Neoconservative Legacy and Bipartisan Continuity
This paragraph examines Victoria Nuland's legacy as a representative of the neoconservative ideology and the continuity of interventionist foreign policies across administrations, regardless of party affiliation. It discusses her role as an advisor to Dick Cheney during the Iraq War and her comfortable positions under the Obama and Biden administrations. The paragraph also highlights the shift in the Democratic Party's stance towards neoconservative figures like Nuland, who were once criticized by liberals but have now become integrated into the party's ranks. Additionally, it touches on the bipartisan nature of foreign policy continuity, with figures like Nuland serving multiple administrations.
đ The Future of Anti-Interventionism and Foreign Policy Realignment
This paragraph explores the potential for a shift away from the uniform commitment to neoconservative ideology within the political parties, particularly in light of the growing anti-interventionist faction within the Republican Party and the burgeoning opposition on the left to the war in Gaza. It examines the outcome of the California Senate race as an indicator of the Democratic Party's stance on foreign policy issues. The paragraph also discusses the nuances of the realignment, such as the continued support for Israel's actions in Gaza among Republicans, while acknowledging the limits of this realignment on certain issues.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄNeoconservative
đĄIraq War
đĄUkraine
đĄContinuity
đĄAnti-interventionism
đĄNeocon
đĄCoup
đĄHawkish
đĄLegacy
đĄRealignment
Highlights
Victoria Nuland, known for her hawkish stance toward Russia and her actions regarding Ukraine, is stepping down from her high-ranking position as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
Nuland served as a top advisor to Dick Cheney, counseling him on the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which Glenn Greenwald describes as 'the worst war of the last generation'.
Nuland played a key role in the 2014 US-supported coup against the then-elected president of Ukraine, providing support to the protesters and plotting the composition of the new government.
The leaked tape recording of Nuland discussing the makeup of the new Ukrainian government after the coup demonstrated her direct involvement in shaping the country's leadership.
Greenwald argues that Nuland represents the continuity of neoconservative policies and interventionist foreign policy across administrations, regardless of which party is in power.
Nuland's resignation is seen as a result of the failure of her main project, the war in Ukraine, and her career ambition of becoming Secretary of State being thwarted.
Greenwald highlights the bipartisan continuity in American foreign policy, with Nuland serving under multiple administrations from Clinton to Biden, except for Trump's term.
The election of Adam Schiff in California, a supporter of the Iraq War and endorsed by AIPAC, is seen as indicative of the Democratic Party's continued commitment to interventionist policies.
While there is a growing anti-interventionist faction on the right, especially regarding the war in Ukraine, Greenwald notes the limits of this realignment, as many still support wars against perceived enemies like Arabs and Muslims.
Greenwald observes a reawakening of anti-war sentiment on the left due to the war in Gaza, which he hopes will revitalize the anti-war movement.
Transcripts
[Music]
Victoria nuland will step down from her
post as under Secretary of State for
political Affairs the third highest
ranking US Diplomat position known for
her hawkish stance especially toward
Russia and his actions against Ukraine
nulan has increasingly come under Fire
over her views she was passed over for
the number two spot at the state
department by Biden last year now prior
to joining the Biden Administration
nulan served as assistant Secretary of
State for Europe during the Obama
Administration but retired after Donald
Trump was elected now her diplomatic
career took her to Moscow during the
1993 coup against then Russian president
Boris yelson and an ambassador to Nato
and a spokesperson for the Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton Newlands also
known as the spouse of neocon Robert
Kagan now with us to discuss her Legacy
is journalist Glenn Greenwald Glenn it
is an honor to have you on our show
again always great to be with you guys
thanks for asking so I think our viewers
are probably a little bit more educated
about Victoria Newland than uh the
average of viewers of political news
shows but in case anyone has missed out
on what she has been responsible during
her time advising uh presidents why
don't you fill them
in yeah I mean I find her not just a
singularly repellent and destructive
figure but also a highly representative
one a really Vivid vessel through which
we can understand how Washington really
works because although you mentioned
most of the low lights of her career one
of the things you admitted that actually
was most important in launching her as a
major voice in Washington was that she
was Dick Cheney's top advisor in the
White House in 2003 and for the next
several years for counseling him on how
to implement the invasion of Iraq and
then how to maintain the occupation of
Iraq and we're supposed to regard I
thought the Iraq War as some kind of
grave at Best Mistake if not moral crime
the worst war of the last generation and
yet the people responsible which
certainly includes Victoria nulan it's
almost like we don't even remember
anymore who these people are we don't
even mention it we just elected Adam
Smith the Democrats did rather to the
Senate effectively in California last
night he was a major voice for the Iraq
War of course Joe Biden was it's like
this has all been forgotten and then
from there she just continued to
implement classical neoconservative
policies not just wanting to confront
Russia but most other countries in the
world and she's part of this neocon
circle that liberals just 15 years ago
used to describe as warmongering and
psychotic and yet she served very
comfortably under the Obama
Administration with both John krey and
Hillary Clinton then ran Ukraine for
both Obama and now Biden I mean the
Ukraine piece I think where a lot of us
came to be more knowledgeable about
Victoria nulan with the now Infamous
tape recording that seemed to suggest or
seem to demonstrate her trying to choose
the leadership of Ukraine can you unpack
pack that episode for those who might
not be as
aware yeah so well first of all she has
roots in Ukraine her family uh is in
large part from Ukraine and I think a
lot of people have forgotten this part
of history that during the Obama
Administration Obama was reluctant to
confront Russia he didn't want to send
lethal arms to Ukraine he didn't want to
confront Russia over uh Syria he didn't
think Syria or Ukraine was worth risking
a war with Russia but part of the state
department led by Hillary Clinton was
extremely hawkish and pushing to do more
to confront Russia and Hillary and
Victoria newand were very much part of
that when Hillary wrote her book the one
place she was most critical of Obama was
on his refusal to confront Russia more
and she led the way and what you can
basically trace this current war in
Ukraine to was the 2014 US supported
attempt and you can argue about how much
the US was involved but they were
certainly supportive openly of the coup
against the then elected president of
Ukraine who was elected in 2010 served a
five it was supposed to serve a 5-year
office but he was removed moved in 2014
when the US and the EU perceived him as
being too comfortable with Moscow and
Victoria nulan went there she like gave
cupcakes and donuts to the people
outside the palace trying to remove him
from power and that was a key event in
what led to the war in Ukraine and then
as you say she got caught on a tape
recorded conversation that they claimed
the Russians hacked and released but
whoever it was it was certainly an
authentic H where she was plotting with
the then US ambassador to to Ukraine
over exactly which people the US wanted
to take which positions in the Ukrainian
government once this uh elected
president was removed and then after
that coup was effectuated exactly the
people that she directed be put into
government ended up ruling Ukraine you
know you mentioned earlier that uh uh
not so long ago um liberals many
Democrats were you know horrified by the
decision to invade Iraq which was
supported by many top Democrats but was
an initiative under a Republican
president and now some certainly not all
but some of the most um kind of
neoconservative or more interventionist
hawkish voices uh continue to exist or
have even maybe grown with respect to
Ukraine in particular in the Democratic
party like I if I'm looking on on X I'm
seeing criticism of Victoria nuland from
you know people U responsible
non-interventionist voices on the left
like yourself but also frankly a lot of
people on the right given how Ukraine
has shifted the political veillance a
little bit seeing like Steve for
instance did an episode in his show
condemning her um that sort of thing
what do you think it says about the
trajectory of the political
transformation on foreign policy taking
place in this
country when I started writing about
politics Robbie it was 2005 late 2005 in
the middle of the war on terror at the
beginning of the second term of buen and
a consensus emerged among liberals then
that neocons were the single worst
faction in American political life Bill
Crystal and Paul wolfowitz I I mean all
these people that brought in Guantanamo
and torture and the invasion of Iraq and
you know the attempt to move that to
Iran and she was not only you know
counseling that but she was also the UN
ambassador to Nato that led the way with
condesa Rice under Bush and trying to
expand NATO up to the Russian border to
include Ukraine which was again probably
the initial act that led us to where we
are in Ukraine so if I had said you know
15 or 10 years ago that Victoria newand
who also again is married to like into
the Kagan family probably the largest
and most important dynastic neocon
family in the United States the brother
the father her husband if you had said
Nikki Victoria Nan was this you know
sort of symbol of American evil every
liberal would applaud you because she
was a well-known recognized neocon which
is what liberals thought now 15 years
later you won't see a single mainstream
Democrat or liberal agreeing with you
that Victoria nand is that and that's
because like most neocons she has
aligned herself with the Democratic
party she served again comfortably in
the Obama Administration she wasn't a
civil servant she was a political
appointee and then again in the Biden
Administration where she Rose to the top
highest level of the state department so
these kinds of people who 10 years ago
were considered Evil by American
liberals and the left are now integrated
into the Democratic party along with the
broader neoconservative movement and
that's not because they changed it's
because the politics of each party did
to what do you attribute her stepping
down I think you know it's I mean one
can only speculate you never really know
for sure but I think in part it's two
things one is the fact that the most
important project for her which is the
war in Ukraine to try and topple Russia
is a gigantic gigantic failure Russia is
the only country expanding the territory
that it holds no by no sense is Ukraine
expelling Russia from any land in
Ukraine let alone all of it which was
the goal of the war at the same time
they can't even get another $60 billion
through the Congress so her main project
is a failure but I think it's more just
career ambition that she really wanted
that number two spot her lifelong
ambition everyone knows is to be
Secretary of State and when Wendy
Sherman reti hired as deputy secretary
of state in August she wanted that job
permanently she got passed over by
somebody who and now her replacement is
also somebody who worked for Dick Cheney
in the dict Cheney George Bush White
House to showing this kind of bipartisan
continuity and probably she feels like
she's at the end of her line of her
career maybe in a second B
Administration if there is one she could
return but for now I think she feels
like she's at a career dead end it is a
powerful example of the tremendous
continuity in American foreign policy
regardless of who gets voted into office
even when when the president is voted in
on an explicitly anti-interventionist or
anti-expansion of the Iraq you know Fury
over Iraq in Afghanistan helped Propel
Obama to Victory and to some extent
Trump even uh but but and yet there is
there is a continuity in the in the the
PE the Victorian nuland type people who
actually make these policies uh does
does that seem to to be the
case yeah I mean she went she goes back
to all the way back to Clinton so she
has served in the state department in
every Administration from Clinton to
Biden except for the four years when
Donald Trump was president that was the
only time she was out of government and
again she started as a civil servant but
the more you go up the ranks they become
political appointees you have to be
appointed by the president sometimes
confirmed by the Senate so after the
Clint year she was a real closely held
adviser and official of George Bush of
Barack Obama of Joe Biden of Dick Cheney
these people that were told can't agree
on anything use this same people to
implement their foreign policy why is
that because they have largely the same
foreign policy and that doesn't change
no matter who you vote for and I think
that's what makes Victoria nulan so
illustrative let me ask you this I mean
as Robbie just alluded to there does
seem to be more energy emerging in this
kind of new faction of the Republican
party that is anti-interventionist at
least in some respects I would say
Ukraine but not Israel for the most part
and I I do wonder if you see that as a
shift away from this kind of
uniform commitment to this kind of
neocon ideology within the parties
there's any possibility that there is a
real movement of foot not just on the
right but because of the burgeoning and
growing uh opposition on the left to the
war in Gaza or do you think that
ultimately and perhaps the the outcome
of the California Senate race is
indicative of this that those kinds of
interest will ultimately be subsumed
into the party
Machinery right I think it's actually a
little bit of all of that I mean first
of all you know you have California the
one of the bluest states in the country
and they not only elect Adam shiff who
was support of the Iraq War but he was
also the candidate endorsed by APAC for
good reason he's probably the most
steadfast supporter of Israel in at
least the California delegation so you
know you have an opportunity to pick
whoever you want they're going to win
the general election you have Katy
Porter Barbara Lee and they chose Adam
Schiff so I think that tells you a lot
where the Democratic party is still on
these issues but Israel is an
interesting kind of switch in this
because virtually the entire Republican
party maybe with one or two exceptions
are fanatical supporters of giving Aid
to Israel in this war supporting Israel
in this destruction of Gaza most of the
democratic party is too although they're
rhetorically at least resisting a little
bit more and I do think that kind of
shows the limits on this realignment
namely that there are a lot of people on
the right who still like Wars as long as
they're not about help helping other
countries become democracies or helping
them improve their societies but if it's
about obliterating someone they regard
as enemies like Arabs and Palestinians
and Muslims they still kind of get
behind it that said there is more
opposition on the right you know very
prominent right-wing pundits like
Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson and a
lot of others from that populist realm
who do are who are now saying for the
first time why are we paying for
Israel's Wars how is that in our
interest but there's also a lot of
reawakened anti-war on the left as a
result of this war in Gaza that I hope
will Revitalize that on the left as well
Glenn Greenwald uh excellent points
thank you so much for joining us can't
appreciate enough always good to see you
guys
[Music]
thanks
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