When Victoria Nuland, the neoconservative éminence grise of the Obama administration, uttered her now infamous "F—k the EU!" in a phone call with US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, it was a supremely embarrassing moment for Washington. Aside from the scandal of a top US official in referring to our European allies in such vulgar terms, not to mention the ease with which Russian intelligence tapped into presumably secure phone lines, the revelation of growing hostility between the US and the EU was akin to having the ugly domestic disputes of a supposedly happily married couple made public.

Uncle Sam – a wife-abuser? Could this formerly private dispute wind up in Divorce Court?

The behind-closed-doors arguments are out of the closet now that a bipartisan group of the usual suspects in Washington is advocating sending arms to Ukraine to crush a popular rebellion in the eastern part of the country.