The Mediterranean Powder Keg: US Inaction Leaves NATO Exposed
With the US taking a substantial step back as other countries look to enhance their interests in the Mediterranean, the risk of more deadly confrontations is increasing while NATO is left increasingly exposed.
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The Mediterranean is once again a major flashpoint for geopolitical instability. Heavily militarized actors with competing interests operating close to one another make the area a powder keg. Amid the tumult, the US has shifted the bulk of its strategic focus toward Asia, leaving NATO without its chief power and exposed to internal divisions and outside pressure.
Although there are recent signs of re-engagement in the Mediterranean and a more substantial US presence, it is the deficit in US leadership around the region’s key hotspots, rather than in military assets, that leaves NATO in a precarious position.
Just as Washington has embarked on its path of relative disengagement from the Mediterranean, protracted civil and proxy wars along the Mediterranean’s shores in Syria and Libya have paved the way for powers such as Turkey and Russia to more assertively pursue their interests. Meanwhile, conflict, poor governance, and economic hardship have pushed millions to seek refuge and new lives on the Mediterranean’s northern shores.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/10/09/mediterranean-powder-keg/
