One would think that the claimed retirement of Victoria Nuland, the so-called “beacon of democracy” would be a cause for relief and celebration. Unfortunately, her replacement does not give much hope for any change in the policy of the US. Initially, there was much rejoicing when the news came in that arch neocon, Russophobe, organizer of coups, and mass murderer Victoria Nuland was departing as the US Undersecretary of State.
Some of the media describe it as if the “rats are escaping a sinking ship”, however, it might be that a BIGGER rat, John BASS, is coming in to pick up where she and her kind left off, especially in dealing with Ukraine— but the question is: What for, is it a mopping up or ramping up operation?
Quick Review-CV and Sordid track record
Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State, is the personification of “the deep state”, having served 6 Presidents, both Democrat and Republican, and made sure that the violently anti-Russian, régime change policy, which includes an anti-Orthodox Christian component, stays on course. Some could go as far to claim she is anti-Human, and that the policies of the proverbial swamp are never drained, i.e., they are perpetuated regardless of who is elected to the Oval Office.
Nuland’s litany of crimes against humanity started under the Clinton campaign when she was a cheerleader for the destruction of Yugoslavia, and the bombing of Serbia, with her support for separatists in Kosovo being particularly vocal. She was also a cheerleader for the Iraq war, being variously the Foreign Policy advisor to Dick Cheney, and US Ambassador to NATO where she was responsible for bludgeoning NATO allies into assisting US operations in Afghanistan. Both wars have resulted in untold dead and the destruction of the nations the US was “helping”
Her claims in late 2013 that the US had spent US$5 billion on “democracy building” programs in Ukraine rang alarm bells in the Kremlin that another “color revolution” was likely, while her machinations under the Obama administration in orchestrating the Maidan revolution of 2014, as well as her hand selection of a bunch of Russophobic neo-Nazis and oligarchs to replace the admittedly corrupt, Yanukovich.
Her time servicing American policy also forced Russia to show its hand in support of the disaffected population of Donbass when they protested the removal of Yanukovich, the president of Ukraine, who had been the overwhelming choice of the population of the Russian-speaking east and south of the country. Her wholehearted support and provision of diplomatic cover for the Ukrainian government’s “Anti-Terrorist-Operation”, which started with the killing of civilians by Ukrainian shelling of residential areas, and her support for “de Russification” of Ukraine was especially vocal.
Nuland poured additional gasoline on the already flaming fire, and it led to an ever-increasing cycle of violence in the east of the country, which culminated in the Russian decision in 2022 to fully intervene with the Special Military Operation that began on 2nd February, and which has resulted in the destruction through attrition of the NATO trained (and many would say led). But we already know all of that and more.
She was instrumental in preparing the ground for the Ukrainian army that had been trained to crush the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, which are now safely joined to the Russian Federation.
Upon learning of her resignation, the formidable Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, says Nuland “has played a colossal role in eroding good relations between Russia and the United States”, and [effectively] that she is anything but a diplomat,
“They won’t tell you the reason. But it is simple: the failure of the anti-Russian policies of the Biden administration. Russophobia, which was proposed by Victoria Nuland as the main US foreign policy concept, is making the Democrats sink like a stone. Well, with them already being at the bottom, it’s not letting them go up,” Zakharova wrote.
She also commented, remembering Nuland’s photo op lighting a candle in an Odessa Church in 2014 that “By the way, remembering candles in Orthodox churches, if there is a sudden desire to go to a monastery to pray for forgiveness of sins, we will put in a good word,”
John Bass, BIGGER Fish to Fry
Enter John Bass, about whom there is plenty to say, little of it good.
The fact that he worked under both Democratic and Republican administrations, and for him to have been so quickly nominated for such a high position under JoeBiden, and his so-called Sec of State, Antony Blinken, clearly-demonstrates that the same neocon game is in play and there will be no backing down now. Bass is far more experienced and professional and has a track record that few can compete with, not even “tricky Vicky” Victoria Nuland can match his results.
John R. Bass, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, currently is a Senior Advisor at the Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. He has served as Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey, and Ambassador to the Republic of Georgia.
Previously, Bass focused, among other things, on supporting U.S. government efforts to mobilize allies and marshal resources to …[purportedly] combat terrorism and instability in Iraq, Syria and Southwest Asia. He served at seven U.S. Missions overseas, including as Team Leader of the Provincial Reconstruction Team – Baghdad, at the American Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
In addition, he was the Executive Secretary of the State Department and held other senior leadership positions at the US Department of State.
If he takes over from Victoria Nuland, then there will be big problems, as when he was in Georgia, Iraq and Afghanistan, and he is basically the person who goes and cleans up messes and makes new ones. But in the process, covertly he is better known for organizing shipments of weapons, including those suspected to be for alleged poison gas false flags in Syria, as well transporting Chechens to Syria, Georgian snipers to Ukraine in 2014, and to other hotspots to fight against what the US considers “Problematic Leaders” such as Assad.
The former US ambassador to Afghanistan and career diplomat John Bass was in the middle of teaching future US diplomats when he was called to return to the country and help lead America’s chaotic withdrawal as Taliban forces swarmed Kabul, according to a recent book:
The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future. Bass, according to the book, was pressed to return because acting Ambassador Ross Wilson, Bass’ successor in Kabul, was not “able to function at the level that was necessary” in order to do the job alone.
He was instrumental in closing down operations in Iraq, and Afghanistan, however, only after much of the money and weapons disappeared or were strategically handed over to ISIS. He has a reputation of being parachuted in when all goes to hell, at the last minute.
That is definitely the case now, in Ukraine, and especially in a US election year when the deck is already stacked against Joe Biden and his Dream Team.
Is history repeating itself in Ukraine, as was the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, and to a lesser degree, in Georgia? Regardless, one thing is certain, there are few that can match his track record, and if that is good or bad, you can only judge for yourself. In the end, only time will tell.
A story within this story is why John Bass was first appointed as the US Ambassador to Georgia. That may explain why he is now selected to take over for Victoria Nuland, where she officially left off. He has more institutional memory of the unofficial US policy in the region, as well as the wherewithal to do whatever he thinks is necessary, and is willing to take a no-holds-barred approach as may be needed.
As I communicated with one of my sources in Georgia, “What do you remember about John Bass, his time in Georgia, and who he really is, as he is really a person on the level of another former US Ambassador Richard Miles, and who was a real regime change expert, even before arriving to Georgia?”
Seth Ferris, investigative journalist and political scientist, expert on Middle Eastern affairs, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
