Under Secretary of State of Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, the number three person in the State Department hierarchy and supervillain of the anti-American left and pro-Russian right, announced her retirement Tuesday after a tumultuous career serving six presidents,

Nuland had expected to be named as the successor to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who retired in July and in which position she had been serving in an "acting" capacity, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken decided to appoint Biden's National Security Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell. 

If Nuland didn't exist, the supporters of Russia's annexation of Crimea and the current invasion of Ukraine would have been forced to create her.

In their mythology, it was Nuland, acting as principal deputy foreign policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, who was key to getting the Bush administration to invade Iraq. It was Nuland, as Bush's ambassador to NATO, who dangled the possibility of NATO membership in front of Georgia, thereby justifying Russia's invasion. As Obama's assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, she played a highly visible role in the popular revolt that resulted in the ousting of pro-Russian stooge Viktor Yanukovych by the popularly elected Ukrainian parliament. This has led to the bizarre assertion popularized by such notables as Vladimir Putin that the Maidan Revolution was concocted by Nuland and imposed on a nation that was perfectly happy being a Russian satellite state.

This popular revolt against Russian domination led to Russia violating at least two diplomatic agreements in which it pledged to respect Ukraine's independence and territory and undertake the illegal annexation of Crimea and the equally illegal invasion of Donbas.

Along the way, Nuland inadvertently burnished her supervillain image. 

As the Maidan Revolution gathered momentum, a phone call between Nuland and US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt was intercepted and made public. In it, there is a discussion of Yanukovych's offer to include two opposition members in his government if it would save his skin. This discussion was quickly portrayed as Nuland setting up a puppet government. She also favored the UN over the EU as a partner in resolving the unrest, opining, "F*** the EU" (Who among us can claim not to have said the same thing?) in response to an EU proposal that would have supported Yanukovych. 

Indeed, if Nuland had the superpowers attributed to her, I'd be first in line demanding that she be lodged in a luxury apartment somewhere in Foggy Bottom and kept in constant readiness to unleash on our enemies. Sadly, that is not the case.

Putin's invasion of Ukraine has let her come into her own as a one-person wrecking ball, creating controversy where none need exist. In Senate testimony, she went a long way toward creating a conspiracy theory out of whole cloth that Ukraine was developing biological weapons for the US.

BACKGROUND: The Liar's Paradox and Why We Should Not Trust the US Government's Word About Biological Weapons Labs in Ukraine

Her statement on the Nord Stream pipeline has been used to claim that the US was behind the explosions that wrecked Nord Stream 1 and 2.

.@UnderSecStateP Victoria Nuland: “If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.” pic.twitter.com/hEGBrx6HJj

— Department of State (@StateDept) January 27, 2022

Tying this unthinking glibness to the Maidan Revolution has been a blessing to Russia as it has spun a web of conspiracy theories to defend its criminality.

Nuland's departure is a good thing. In a post, I describe her as "a retread from multiple administrations who has the bureaucratic survival skills of a cockroach and epitomizes the phrase “f*** up and move up." 

While Russian media and pro-Russian social media accounts are doing a little happy dance over her departure, they are missing some key points. While Nuland failed to convince the Obama administration to give Ukraine anti-tank missiles, something that Trump did, she has also been intimately involved in the strategy of slow-walking arms needed by Ukraine for its defense. She is also a major player in the failed idea that Putin deserves an "off-ramp" to this adventure. The appointment of new leadership may not cut in the direction that Moscow and its allies seem sure will happen.