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The Ukraine crisis does not lead us back into the Cold War. Rather, it moves us forward into a clear-cut new constellation, defined by different notions of politics and different concepts of state-society relations.

The Cold War was the product of two antagonistic totalitarian ideologies, radicalized by Nazi Germany into a war of annihilation. It ended with the destruction of much of Europe and the occupation and division of Germany.

The surviving totalitarian ideology held hostage countries in Central and Eastern Europe that were forced to join the Soviet Union until its breakup in 1990.

The constellation today is defined by a neo-imperial Russia. Putins Russia considers force the continuation of politics by other means. It considers the rule of law and effective democratic participation as useless ways of weakening state centralism. And finally in Putins Russia, coercion, lies and intimidation are legitimate instruments to exercise state power over its own citizens.

The Ukraine crisis does not include the danger of falling back into the logic of the Cold War. It does, however, include the danger of missing the point about what this new conflict is essentially about.

It is about subtle and overt actions against the Atlantic notion of an open society, of freedom, self-determination and liberty. Instead, it is cast in the language and behavior of geopolitical expansion and of spheres of influence.

The Ukrainian people are torn between their tradition largely Soviet-influenced and their hopes for the future. For the majority, these hopes are linked to joining the West, especially the European Union.

The most important thing the West can do at this point in history is to support the right of self-determination of those parts of Ukraine that still fall under the sovereignty of the government in Kiev.

Therefore, the elections to the new parliament in Ukraine in a few weeks are essential. They will hardly pass without Russia trying to influence them by means of subtle and overt coercion, intimidation and fraud.

The West must be prepared for this. And it must support all those social forces that try to move Ukraine toward an open, pluralistic and corruption-free society aimed at anchoring itself in the Atlantic space.

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Ukraine: Survival as a Human Right