# US Nuland caught on tape: \*\*CK the EU! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 7, 2014, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nuland-caught-on-tape-ck-the-eu/680744 "2014-02-07T09:12:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bouncer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@Bouncer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bouncer)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nuland-caught-on-tape-ck-the-eu/680744/61 "2014-02-08T10:21:32Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > The tape seems pretty unobjectionable. She’s dismissive of the EU helping to work with Ukranian opposition leaders, but listening to the recording, there isn’t really any context as to why she is dismissive to them, so I’m not sure there’s really anything for the Europeans to get upset about (unless they get the vapors about someone using a bad work regarding them in private conversation). > > Seems kind of silly for the Russians to waste this gimick on such a benign conversation. I get the US doesn’t have much place to complain about the eavesdropping itself, but if you’re going to reveal you have the embassy phone tapped, it seems like you’d want to do so on something other then causing extremely mild embarrassment to a diplomat no ones ever heard of. Thank you, for making a reasonable, thoughtful post. Here’s my take. The clear effort is to divide the EU and US over the Ukraine. That’s the point of making the tape public. She now has to give the pro forma apologies that neither she nor anyone really cares about, and from the Russkie perspective hopefully it drives one more wedge into a crack somewhere. Probably won’t, but feh, who knows. Thing is, if they’re pulling these kind of public stunts (and that’s all it is really), then they are pretty concerned about the Ukraine and the direction things are heading. They’ve had some pretty dramatic reversals in the last month, so are feeling the pressure to do anything they can to keep the Ukraine from falling farther under the influence of the EU versus Moscow. They’re revealing how weak their hand is. Regards, -Bouncer- ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nuland-caught-on-tape-ck-the-eu/680744/62 "2014-02-08T15:58:26Z")
Of course it’s intended to cause difficulties between the US and the EU. It’s also Putin having a jolly on the opening day of the Russian Olympics. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nuland-caught-on-tape-ck-the-eu/680744/63 "2014-02-08T16:07:10Z")
The EU is better than what they had a hundred years ago … just saying … ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nuland-caught-on-tape-ck-the-eu/680744/64 "2014-02-08T17:44:47Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Well, it looks like the only person who’s upset about this is Angela Merkel. If only Bush were still president, he could give her a shoulder massage and she’d forget all about it. Or Sarkozy, but only if Bush gave him a happy ending. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nuland-caught-on-tape-ck-the-eu/680744/65 "2014-02-08T23:20:49Z")
“Fuck the EU!” I tend to agree with those who have pointed out that seems to be the feelings of a not-insignificant part of the population of the EU itself anyway, so pretty much the only people who’d be expected to act butthurt would be those with jobs involving EU leadership. The USA cares about its interests above anybody else’s? Ya think? … but I will agree also with those who wonder what person working in this field still believes the content of this sort of communications is either materially or morally secure. Besides, you do not have to say _“Fuck the EU”_, you can say: _“The EU? Let’s not waste our time trying to go along with them”_ and it’s the same meaning, less crass but still very blunt. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nuland-caught-on-tape-ck-the-eu/680744/66 "2014-02-12T15:16:37Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > I thoguht it was a Cee Lo Green song. If UKIP weren’t utterly stupid, they would totally make this a thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nuland-caught-on-tape-ck-the-eu/680744.md?page=3)