A euphemism that is, to quote Brookings Institution President Strobe Talbott on National Public Radio, “a word we use here in Washington to mean stupid.”
It’s often used in a diplomatic context. As an example, here’s New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, normally an Obama administration ally, responding in 2010 to what he saw as the administration’s one-sided approach to reviving Israel-Palestinian peace talks: “I told the president … and others in the administration that I thought the policy they took to try to bring about negotiations is counterproductive, because when you give the Palestinians hope that the United States will do its negotiating for them, they are not going to sit down and talk," Schumer said.