THE GREATER BLACK SEA REGION— A GATEWAY TO EURASIA
Abstract
At all times the Black Sea Region has played an important role in the life of the Eurasian people; it was on the shores of the Black Sea those great empires flourished and disappeared.
Today, it is the source of the worst threats of the 21st century that still linger in the larger part of the post-Soviet expanse; it is also a seat of “frozen conflicts” largely associated with instability in the Greater Middle East. The present political and ideological contradictions in the region interfere with the eastward progress of liberal and democratic values.
Despite all sorts of external and internal threats, the Greater Black Sea Region (a triangle formed by Russia, Europe, and the Islamic world) so far remains a relatively calm area, most of the states of which are distinguished by a European foreign policy vector.
When looking at part of the Black Sea Region and the Caucasus (together with Central and part of South Asia) as a geopolitical segment of the Persian Gulf states and the Middle East, Brzezinski called it the “Eurasian Balkans” and believed that the term “power vacuum” described the situation to a tee.1 The Black Sea Region and its unique natural and man-made strategic facilities occupy a highly advantageous geopolitical place on the globe. The Crimean Peninsula, which in the late 1980s and early 1990s was a target of fierce contention, should be mentioned in particular. The region’s geopolitical potential and the dynamics of global evolution have turned it into a subject for scientific scrutiny, largely prompted by the novelty of the problems created by the processes unfolding before our eyes.
Downloads
References
Z. Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard. American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, Basic Books,New York, 1997, p. 123.
See: V.V. Zaborskiy, “Kuda plyvet VMF Rossii?,” available at [http://zpolk.ucoz.org/news/kuda_plyvet_vmf_rossii/009-11-03-23], 20 March, 2011.
See: I. Kramnik, “Chernomorskiy flot. Tsena sily,” KorrespondenT.net, 12 May, 2010, available at [http://
orrespondent.net/worldabus/1075441-ria-novosti-chernomorskij-flot-cena-sily], 19 March, 2011.
See: Ibidem.
See: K. Zheleznov, R. Korsovetskiy, “Podvodnaya lodka ‘Alrosa’ vernulas v Sevastopol,” Komsomolskaya prav-da (v Ukraine), 2 November, 2009, available at [http://kp.ua/daily/211109/203234/], 21 March, 2011.
See: V. Voronov, “Kak umiraet Chernomorskiy flot,” Part 1, available at [http://flot.com/nowadays/structure/black/sfisdying.htm], 12 March, 2011.
[http://turkishnavy.blogspot.com/2010/12/wikileaks-and-turkish-navy.html].
The Caucasus and Caspian Region: Understanding U.S. Interests and Policy, Hearing before the Subcommittee on Europe of the Committee on International Relations House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, First Session, 10 October 2001, p. 1, available at [http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa75632.000/hfa75632_0f.htm],22 March, 2011. 9 Remarks of President George Bush to the Capital City Partnership, St. Paul, Minnesota, 17 May 2001, available at [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/05/20010517-2.html], 18 March, 2011.
T. Flint, “Karmanny tigr Chernogo morya,” available at [http://www.from-ua.com/politics/415036e46b590/
, 29 March, 2011.
See: “Deputatskie fraktsii Verkhovnogo Soveta ARK,” available at [http://www.rada.crimea.ua/structure/factions/
], 22 March, 2011.
See: D. Smirnov, “Ruka Moskvy’ usokhla. Russkiy kulturny tsentr v Simferopole zakryvaetsya,” Sobytia, No. 4 (254),2011, available at [http://www.sobytiya.com.ua/public/9075], 27 March, 2011.
N. Machiavelli, Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius, Transl. from the Italian by Ninian Hill Thomson,M.A., Public Domain Books, 1883, Book I, Chapters 17 and 18.
A. Toynbee, A Study of History, Abridgement of Volumes VII-X by D.C. Somervell, Oxford University Press, New York, 1957, p. 4.
N. Machiavelli, op. cit., Book II, Chapter 8.
See: “Forty-nine Percent of Young People in Western Ukraine Want to Emigrate,” Ternopol Internet-newspaper
Poglyad, 11 March, 2011, available at [http://poglyad.te.ua/2011/03/49-molodi-zahidnoji-ukrajiny-hochut-vyjihaty-z-kra-jiny-na-postijno/], 22 March, 2011 (in Ukrainian). 10 B. Shaffer, U.S. Policy toward the Caspian Region: Recommendations for the Bush Administration, available at [http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/brenda_shaffer_policy_recommendations.doc], 27 March, 2011.
See: The Caucasus and Caspian Region: Understanding U.S. Interests and Policy.
A. Cohen, I. Conway, “U.S. Strategy in the Black Sea Region,” Backgrounder, No. 1990, 13 December, 2006. Pub-lished by The Heritage Foundation, available at [www.heritage.org/research/RussiaandEurasia/bg1990.cfm], 14 March, 2011.
S. Konoplev, “Dlya Prichernomorskogo regiona glavnym yavlyaetsya sokhranenie mira, reshenie sushchestvuy-ushchikh confliktov i ukreplenie ekonomicheskikh svyazey. Interview Kavkazskomu uzlu,” 26 January, 2011, available at [http://www.kavkazuzel.ru/articles/180157/], 26 March, 2011
See: H. Fiona, T. Omer, “Turkey and Russia: Axis of the Excluded?” Survival, Vol. 48, No. 1, Spring 2006, available at [www.brookings.edu/views/articles/fhill/2006_survival.pdf], 20 March, 2011.
The Caucasus and Caspian Region: Understanding U.S. Interests and Policy.
Ibidem.
A “universal state” is perceived here, according to Toynbee, roughly as an empire that has outlived itself and lost
its ability to develop. Such states “arise after, and not before, the breakdown of civilizations… They are not summers but ‘Indian summers,’ masking autumn and presaging winter” (A. Toynbee, op. cit., p. 2).
See: Kleptocracy from ancient Greek êëÝðôåéí—steal and êñÜôïò—power; literally, power of thieves—an ideolog-ical tag attached to a rogue-controlled government.
See: N. Machiavelli, op. cit., Book I, Chapter 2.
O.A. Vorkunova, “Sredizemnomorye-Chernomorye-Kaspiy—‘pogranichie’ v mirovoy politike,” in: Sredizemnomo-rye-Chernomorye-Kaspiy: mezhdu Bolshoy Evropoy i Bolshim Blizhnim Vostokom, Institute of European Studies, RAS;Grantitsa Publishing House, Moscow, 2006, p. 46.
“Putin snova raskritikoval voennuyu operatsiyu v Livii,” Segodnya.Ua, 24 March, 2011, available at [http://www.
egodnya.ua/news/14235042.html], 29 March, 2011.
E. Ponomareva, “Strategiya unichtozheniya Livii,” available at [http://www.mgimo.ru/news/experts/
ocument183886.phtml], 4 April, 2011.
Ch.A. Kupchan, Renewing the Atlantic Partnership, Report of an Independent Task Force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, U.S.A., 2004.
G. Bursov, “Krakh ‘russkogo mira’: krizis, gnienie, raspad,” UNIAN Ukraina, available at [http://www.inosmi.ru/politic/20110207/166314712.html], 25 March, 2011.
Vystumplenie G.A. Zyuganova na vstreche s Prezidentom RF D.A. Medvedevym, 17 yanvarya 2011, available at [http://www.kprf.org/showthread.php?t=9757], 27 March, 2011.
Farewell Parade, As Delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, The Pentagon, Washington, DC, Friday, 15 December 2006, U.S. Department, available at [http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1073].
N. Machiavelli, op. cit., Book I, Chapter 2.
Ibidem.
See: A. Toynbee, Postizhenie istorii, Moscow: Airis-Press, 2006, p. 513.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2011 AUTHOR
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
