What's the End Game in Kiev?

After removing barricades around Kiev's Independence Square in the wee hours of Wednesday, riot police and Interior Ministry troops dispersed, but not before Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland was able to snatch a photo opportunity, as the BBC noted, "handing out bread, biscuits and buns, and talking to protesters." It would have been nice to see a Russian emissary handing out donuts at Zuccotti Park on the early morning of November 15, 2011. But American hypocrisy and buffoonery is tough to match.

Nuland then met with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and the protesters re-erected their barricades. David Herszenhorn and Andrew Kramer have the story, "Ukraine Forces Retreat, Ceding Square to Protests."

In the prestige press not a lot of column inches are devoted to the terms of the International Monetary Fund's bailout that Yanukovich has stated are the reason he suspended talks with the European Union on Ukraine signing an Association Agreement. Lost in the coverage of the protests and the baleful influence of Vlad Putin are cuts in fuel subsidies and a wage freeze for public employees. No one can deny that austerity is the default demand made by the IMF. From the outset I have wondered why Ukrainians would man the barricades for a lower standard of living. They obviously don't see it that way.

Nuland and Yanukovich are no doubt bargaining over the terms of the bailout and the price to be paid for Ukraine to align itself with the EU as opposed to the Russian-led trading bloc. I don't think it is off point to mention that Assistant Secretary of State is married to the bellicose Robert Kagan, cheerleader for American full-spectrum dominance and a co-founder of the Project for the New American Century. The now-defunct PNAC was an attempt to justify Cold-War levels of militarization once the Cold War had ended and Russia had embraced capitalism. Surrounding Russia and fracturing it has always been a neocon priority.

The end game? It looks like Yanukovich will broker some sort of deal with the West. The likes of Nuland and Catherine Ashton will then look the other way as the occupants of Independence Square are cleared by truncheon.