Kiev Junta Makes Sham of OSCE Talks. Expect More of the Same.

Based on its reporting of the last few days, a shift appears to be underway at the New York Times. No longer is there complete unquestioned fealty to the Obama administration line that everything bad currently happening in Ukraine is due to Russian aggression against a peaceful democratic people yearning to be free of that evil Rasputin Putin.

Take this morning's story by David Herszenhorn, "Talks on Ukraine Crisis Open in Kiev Without Representation for Separatists." Herszenhorn makes clear that the Kiev junta is not bargaining in good faith:

Senior Ukrainian officials and leading public figures opened talks here on Wednesday that they portrayed as an effort to end the country’s six-month-old political crisis, but the provisional Ukrainian government offered little compromise and there was no one present directly representing the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. 

Officials said the negotiating effort would continue with a session on Saturday in the embattled eastern city of Donetsk. 

Pro-Russian leaders in the east reacted dismissively, saying they were not invited to participate in the so-called round-table talks, while officials connected to the region who did attend urged the government to develop concrete proposals that could be presented at the next meeting. 

Oleksandr Yefremov, a member of Parliament from Luhansk, urged the provisional government to put forward solid initiatives. “I really would like to see all the officials who are now represented by the acting president and prime minister come to the round table, come with some proposals and not just slogans,” Mr. Yefremov said. “We have to give answers.” 

While some officials from the east, like Mr. Yefremov, attended the talks, the provisional government in Kiev had vowed not to negotiate with the leaders of the masked gunmen, whom they refer to as “terrorists” and “killers.” As a result there were no representatives of the separatist factions, who are crucial to reaching an accord that might resolve the crisis. 

Mr. Yefremov, in his opening remarks, said he expected more of a presence from his region, and he complained that the talks had opened with sharp words by a leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Filaret, blaming Russia for the crisis. 

“I am surprised that nobody is here from Luhansk,” he said, “and I also don’t understand why we start our dialogue with morality.” He added, “We have people who think differently, who have different culture, and we have a responsibility to create a state that corresponds to the needs of our people.”

Herszenhorn quotes Donetsk's junta-appointed governor, oligarch Sergei Taruta, saying the obvious: there is no support for the coup government in the east. The billionaire knows which way the wind blows. He wants to maintain the size of his fortune, something not possible if the junta sticks with its absolutist position:

Sergei A. Taruta, the billionaire governor of Donetsk, another embattled eastern region, also attended the talks, which were held in the Parliament building and featured two former presidents of Ukraine as well as religious leaders. While the negotiations were billed as round-table talks, the table itself was oblong in shape. 

Mr. Taruta warned that there was genuine opposition in the east, known collectively as Donbass. “The majority of Donbass population is for Ukraine’s unity, but at the same time against the current authorities in Kiev,” he said. 

The acting prime minister, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, was among the first to speak on Wednesday, and he reiterated a promise to fight graft and urged unity. But he made no particular outreach to the besieged eastern regions where separatist leaders on Sunday held referendums that they said showed broad public support for seceding from Ukraine. 

“To fight corruption and provide people with jobs is our main task,” Mr. Yatsenyuk said. “And that will unite our country.”

Yatsenyuk does nothing without consultation with his U.S. masters. And the U.S. position apparently is -- no surprise here -- to stage-manage a display of "good faith" talks under the auspices of the OSCE, floating phony federalization-lite proposals (what the junta labels "decentralization") that go no further than offering more regional control of tax receipts, all the while terrorizing the civilian population of Donbass with a mercenary-directed Ukrainian national guard and lining up the rubber-stamp acceptance by Europe of the May 25 presidential election.

The United States is not looking for a reasonable solution to the impasse. It wants control of east by Kiev, and short of that it wants war. There is no indication so far of anything else. We'll see how the next round of talks goes. I would assume, based on a turn to more reality-based reporting by the Gray Lady, that the junta will be under pressure to be more inclusive in its public relations, particularly since opinion in Europe is growing more estranged from the putschists. But the U.S. is still running the show. And there is a great deal of arrogance in its conduct. So expect no substantive changes.