The conflict in Ukraine has turned out to be a proxy war, which Washington has firmly and consistently denied. It is a deadly struggle for power and influence between the east and west of the country: The east is pro-Russia and the west wants to be part of Europe. Both are proxies of foreign powers. The fight has just intensified, with Russian troops in Crimea. But more of this later.

Pro-Russia supporters participate in a pro-Russia rally in Simferopol, capital of Ukraine's Crimea Republic, on March 2, 2014.[Jia Yuchen/Xinhua]

Politically, the opposition has the upper hand for now. After some delay, it has named an interim cabinet, which is less than "revolutionary." Russia has called it an "armed mutiny." The United States and EU have called it a "revolution" instead of a coup. (They have not called the actions of the Egyptian junta a coup either.)

How could they not reward the group that was infamous but instrumental in accomplishing the coup? So Svoboda, the neo-fascist party, received several key positions in the government, including Oleksandr Sych as deputy prime minister, who wants to ban all abortions even for pregnancies resulting from rape. This is on top of the general prosecutor's office which Svoboda already oversees. Oleh Tyahnybok, leader of Svoboda, who recently met with U.S. Senator John McCain, was described by Victoria Nuland, America's top diplomat for Europe, as one of the "big three" within the opposition leadership. Yuriy Mykhalchyshyn, a top Svoboda member, a deputy in Parliament, often quotes Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebels.

The 21-member new cabinet is dominated by Yulia Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna Party.

Arseniy Yatseniuk, the new prime minister, a 39-year-old career politician, is known to be notoriously difficult to get along with and has alienated many party members. But we know from a leaked telephone conversation that he is favored by both Victoria Nuland and the American ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt. The United States is playing the role of kingmaker.

Vitali Klitsko's Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform is not represented, after turning down offers. Nuland did not think he was mature enough to be in the government anyway.