I really had no intention of commenting, even obliquely, on the Russia/Ukraine war. The only things I know about geopolitics come from watching clips of Ian Bremmer, and the only reason I follow Bremmer is because he co-wrote a book with a guy I once coached in basketball. In other words, I know nothing.
But then came the March 8 live stream of Marco Rubio questioning Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I was really hoping there was nothing to the Russia and China blather about U.S.-backed biolabs in Ukraine. Russia lies about everything, and China, God bless them, rarely tells the truth, so I was hunkered down amidst the 24/7 carnage reports from Ukraine, hoping that the U.S. hadn't really contributed to the Putin bullseye on Ukrainians' backs.
Rubio: "Does Ukraine have chemical or biological weapons?"
Nuland: "Uh, Ukraine has, uh, bio (pause) logical research facilities which in fact are now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces, may be seeking to, uh, gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach."
Upon hearing that, I just shook my head. I seriously doubt that the U.S. is worried that the Russians will steal a couple of patents, so I guess that the old propaganda lens needs to come out of my pocket once again. Here we go.
The Honorable Victoria Nuland, as her placard said, is neocon royalty semi-famous for accidentally exposing that the U.S. was managing Ukrainian politics to a larger-than-expected extent back in 2014. I'm just rehashing Wikipedia here; I was familiar with Nuland only because she resigned from the State Department with the arrival of Trump, and then she commented quite a bit about it.
While Nuland was giving her response to Rubio, she started twirling her pen in her hands in an amazingly nervous manner. I can't believe that a career diplomat displayed that much nervousness on television. I thought maybe we'd have some writing-implement violence a la La Femme Nikita or the Joker in The Dark Knight. But no, Rubio was too far away for anyone but Daredevil's Bullseye.
Rubio/Nuland Line by Line
Well, what am I to surmise from Nuland's response? Let's go through the obvious.
1) First, if the answer to Rubio's query was a clear "no," she could simply have said "no." No, some say, means no. She didn't say no.
2) She studiously avoided a definitionally symmetric response. By that I mean that she fielded a question about chemical and biological weapons and then provided an answer about "bio (pause) logical research facilities." So what does transforming one phrase into another phrase tell you?
3) It tells you that she's sensitive to legal responsibility here. She's worried about perjury or some such, so she responds with an answer that isn't a lie but isn't transparent.
4) Because she used the word "facilities" -- plural -- it's clear to me that there is more than one such biolab. If there were one, she would have stated a singular.
The fact that Ukraine has multiple bioweapons labs slapped me in the face. I knew nothing about it. I wonder what percent of Americans knew about it. I've seen figures strewn about the internet saying there are 26 such labs. I have no idea if that's true.
Why Did Nuland Tell the Truth?
Well, if it's legal exposure she's worried about, that must mean there's some kind of reasonable evidentiary trail for these "research facilities" having produced and stored lethal toxins. Whether these toxins are in a weaponized state is largely irrelevant, as things like anthrax can be weaponized at a moment's notice. The anthrax killer from Maryland had no problem weaponizing "research facility" materials.
My speculation is that there must be some serious evidence for these biolabs and what they were storing. Otherwise, Nuland would simply have lied.
Since Nuland said the interesting part out loud, responses have been wide-ranging and interesting. Part Two will feature a survey of the reactions to this Rubio/Nuland interaction. We'll learn more based on who says what, and even Ukrainian President Zelensky had something to say.
Bob Dietz
March 12, 2022
