Crimea crisis offers glimpse of future, not past

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.de/crimea-crisis-offers-glimpse-of-future-not-past/a-17492425

Russia’s stealth occupation of Crimea invites easy comparison to the Cold War. This analogy, however, ignores several variables that are substantially different from the Cold War, writes Michael John Williams.

Crimea crisis offers glimpse of future, not past
Michael John Williams

Russia and the 'West' are headed again into an era characterized by tension and hostility, but the structural environment of the world in 2014 is different than in the Cold War.

The Cold War was a struggle between antagonistic political ideologies embodied in two superpower blocs. The communist ideology of the Soviet Union advocated a global revolution threatening to up-end the liberal democratic and free-market traditions of Europe and the United States.

~snip~

More complicated

At first glance this might lead one to believe that the current situation is simpler than the Cold War, in reality it is much more complex.

Russia seeks to preserve a Russo-sphere in Eastern Europe and Central Asia - Ukraine is critical to achieving this objective. The Kremlin worked assiduously to isolate Kiev from the West, first through bribes and rigged elections, and now through an engineered military stand off designed to make Ukraine an allergen for the EU.