It has become one of the critical fault lines in the geopolitical clash between Russia and the West. The Black Sea region — which encompasses NATO allies Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey; Western partners Ukraine and Georgia; and of course, an increasingly aggressive and revanchist Russia — was a tense and contested area even before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since the invasion, this competition and the potential for conflict have only escalated.
So what is the future of this vital region? And what can the United States and its allies do to help secure it in the face of a revisionist and increasingly dangerous regime in the Kremlin.
On The Power Vertical Podcast this week, host Brian Whitmore speaks with Jeff Mankoff and Lisa Aronsson of the National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies and co-authors of the recently published report “The Inhospitable Sea: Toward a New U.S. Strategy for the Black Sea Region.”
SHOW NOTES
The report discussed on the podcast, “The Inhospitable Sea: Toward a New U.S. Strategy for the Black Sea Region,” can be accessed here.
Jeff Mankoff’s book Empires of Eurasia: How Imperial Legacies Shape International Security, can be purchased here and his other work can be accessed here.
Lisa Aronsson‘s work can be accessed here.