Jul 23, 2016 @ 10:36 PM 22,512 views
The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets
The Flashpoint No One Is Talking About: The Black Sea
Paul Coyer
The recent decision of the international tribunal regarding China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea, and the certainty of continued confrontation in the region, which I wrote about last week, brings to mind another strategic body of water in which tensions are high and great potential exists for military conflict, but to which very few are paying attention – the Black Sea. The Black Sea has long played a key military and economic role for the nations on its periphery, is rich in resources, and has historically been the scene of geopolitical conflict due to its strategic importance, an importance that the confrontation between Russia and the West is once again highlighting. Since Russia has occupied Crimea, it has been working assiduously to strengthen its ability to project power throughout the Black Sea region, with considerable success. Russia’s Black Sea neighbors, in turn, have increasingly been cooperating in naval maneuvers and port visits, and discussions of joint defense production, in an effort to strengthen their ability to resist Russia and to not cede complete control of the Black Sea to Moscow.
Romania is concerned with the security of its energy platforms in the Black Sea, as well as about its ability to ensure freedom of access to the mouth of the Danube River – the ability to control access to the Danube has strategic importance, among other reasons, due to the river’s role as a key transportation and trade route that runs through virtually the whole of central Europe. Georgia, which occupies a strategic position at a historically important geographical and cultural crossroads, needs the Black Sea to be a friendly space because of the access it provides to Europe – Russian control would serve to isolate Georgia from its new Western partners and make it more vulnerable to Russian pressure. As far as Ukraine goes, Russia’s strategic gain in terms of occupation of the Crimea is obviously Ukraine’s loss. Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea is economically and strategically vital, and from Russia’s position in Crimea it has the ability to interdict the major Ukrainian access points to the Black Sea provided by the Dniester and the Dniepr Rivers.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulcoyer/2016/07/23/the-flashpoint-no-one-is-talking-about-the-black-sea/#1ceabdad2470
