"Much like the international manhunt for a 29-year-old hacker, a year ago no one would have predicted that an American saying a dirty word in a YouTube video would affect U.S.-Russian relations. This week an anonymous YouTube user posted a video of what appears a phone conversation between two U.S. diplomats in which one says "you know, fuck the E.U." The official has apologized to her E.U. counterparts, but aside from the shocking revelation that people sometimes curse when dealing with frustrating diplomatic situations, the video raised a bigger question: Who tapped the diplomats' phones and posted their private conversation online? On Thursday State Department officials pointed at Moscow, calling it "a new low in Russian tradecraft." In the audio recording, Victoria Nuland, the top U.S. diplomat for Europe, and Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, discuss efforts to resolve the ongoing standoff there between the government and protesters by forming a new transitional government. They also mention that Russia will probably "try to torpedo it." The video has Russian subtitles and prominently features photos of Sylvester Stallone for some reason. The "expletive in a reference to the European Union," as the New York Times puts it, comes around 2:30."
The actual NYT reference is even less articulate:
“And you know,” she said, and then used an expletive to say what could be done to “the E.U.”As for the story itself, there are too many layers of rich irony to count.
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