Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on March 5 that Victoria Nuland, a US official known for her ardent support to the Kiev regime, decided to step down in coming weeks.
US career diplomat John R. Bass was picked as her temporary replacement, while the American media believes that Team Biden is likely to tap current US ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith to fill Nuland's shoes in the near future.
"Given what a staunch anti-Putinist Nuland was and how fervently she wanted to continue to utilize Ukraine as a platform in which to continue to weaken and/or slight Russia on the global stage — and perhaps even up the ante in that conflict with her support of sending ballistic missiles into Ukraine," Dr. Matthew Crosston, professor of national security and director of academic transformation at Bowie State University, told Sputnik.
The academic said it was likely Nuland had become frustrated with the loss of support for her pet project in the US Congress, which has blocked the White House's request for more than $60 billion in additional military aid to the Kiev regime.
"She undoubtedly understood that if American support lessons or wanes, Ukraine loses, period," Crosston pointed out. "Perhaps she did not want to be in the Administration that would be responsible for that outcome."
Nuland's decision to step down was a surprise, as CIA veteran Larry Johnson told Sputnik this week.
Her temporary replacement, John R. Bass, is little-known internationally. The US career diplomat served as an American ambassador in post-war Georgia and during a botched coup in Turkiye. In both countries he came under heavy criticism for meddling in those nations' domestic affairs.
Bass was also a hot-swap replacement for then acting Ambassador in Afghanistan during Team Biden's botched withdrawal from the region in August 2021. Now he is expected to oversee the Ukraine crisis.
"Everyone seems to be emphasizing his 'acting' role, which in America always implies a temporary status where he will eventually be replaced by someone else more permanently," stressed Crosston. "So I am not entirely sure that Bass is going to be the holder of any great responsibility in terms of formulating new policy in the role."
In light his role in the chaotic and bloody evacuation of Kabul, Bass' new assignment is a hint that the US was about to abandon Ukraine as well.
"It creates some new speculation beyond the standard 'send more weapons to Ukraine. mantra that has existed so intensely for the last year," the professor argued.
While Crosston did not think Bass' appointment automatically means that US is going to throw Ukraine down the drain, but Nuland's resignation means the Kiev regime has definitely lost a very influential supporter.
"One thing is certain: as long as Nuland remained in that chair, there was literally no chance such talk could even be theorized. Now it can," the professor said.
Crosston does not believe White House climate change envoy John Kerry's reported decision to step down has anything to do with either Biden's poor election polling or Nuland's departure.
"It is nothing more than just a very aged, long-lived, politician who wishes to step down and move on to life outside of formal political service," the professor said. "Unlike Nuland, where there were certainly other important policy evolutions in play powering her decision, I would be shocked to learn Kerry's decision was anything more than wanting to end his long run on the DC hamster wheel."