The Black Sea: The Key to Eurasian Stability?
What happens in this region matters to the rest of the world.
Halford Mackinder, one of the founding fathers of geopolitics, said that if the Heartland was unstable, the world was unstable. And since the Heartland encompasses virtually all of Eurasia, it’s safe to say that what happens in the Black Sea matters to the entire world. In times of peace, the Black Sea is largely stable, a region that fosters movement, trade and general prosperity among the lands it abuts, including Russia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. In times of uncertainty, it’s the key to stabilizing the region. (click to enlarge) A New Era In 2008, the Black Sea region entered into a new era. Interestingly, this was only partly because of the 2008 financial crisis, which took some time to reach a region as poorly integrated into capital markets as the Black Sea. More consequential was the Russo-Georgian War, which showed that Moscow was ready and able to defend its buffer zones. For Black Sea countries that were also members of NATO and the EU, these events hit home the need to reconsider the utility of the systems they were a part of. For countries that were part of neither, the choice between Russia and the West […]