Chicken Kiev

I have no idea what the hell is going on in the Ukraine, beyond the vague notion that Ukrainians are generally fearful and resentful of Russia and her past aggressions and that there is no doubt a sizable bloc of Russian-ethnic Ukrainians who feel otherwise, and that President Yanukovych is somewhat caught in the middle, trying to forge a profitable relationship with the west while maintaining a non-threatening bond with Russia.

And another vague notion I have is that those in charge of the U.S. Government don't have any better idea of what's going on there than I do.

But boy we sure do feel confident enough to just start calling the shots over there. Here's a report from NPR veteran Cory Flintoff on the situation on the ground. So mass protests have formed in the streets (while some have taken over government buildings) demanding the current government's ouster and the government has pretty much let the protesters alone...until the other night, when a large show of force moved in to try to force push them out while avoiding any kind of deadly force. It failed, and so the protests continue.

Despite these very tame responses from the government (how do you suppose our government would react if thousands of Tea-Partiers took over streets and government offices in D.C.?), the State Department has responded harshly. Cory Flintoff breathlessly reports on Washington's involvement:

One of the reasons I think the U.S. was so angry about this was that it happened under the nose of the top American diplomat who'd come here to try and establish a dialogue between the government and the opposition. And that's Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. She was here. She immediately expressed support for the protesters this morning by going to the square and meeting with the opposition. And then, Nuland had a two-hour meeting with President Yanukovych, during which she apparently had very sharp words for him. She described it as a difficult meeting. But she came out saying, and I'm quoting her, "I made it absolutely clear to him that what happened last night is absolutely impermissible in a European state, in a democratic state." [EA]

So who is the Victoria Nuland who is bullying the Ukrainian president into seeing things our way?

That's what Wikipedia is for. She got into the State Department during the Bush Administration, so she's probably not some wide-eyed liberal nut. In fact she's married to Robert Kagan - that's a familiar name, isn't it. Robert and brother Fred seem to have strategically implanted themselves in key policy-making positions within the Democratic and Republican party apparatus. Robert is embedded at Brookings, while Fred is ensconsed at AEI. It's a beautiful thing, America 2.0 (or is it 3.0 - can't keep track).