cues from both the EU and the United States, the Crimean conflict spelling potential dangerous fall-outs in the Middle East with both Iran and Syria observing the West’s watered down strategic reaction.

The EU needs to own-up to its civilising mission



The Black Sea Region has become one of the epicenters of EU and US security and stability focus interest. The region is crucial to the European Union principally because of its location at the juncture of Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East and the transit route for oil and gas. This region is facing challenges that range from “frozen” conflicts, armament trafficking, drugs, insufficient border patrol problems, human beings traficking, political and financial corruption, to authoritarian-oriented regimes. One of the most stressing strategic issues that the US andhave the political will and legitimacy to construct a higher level of public support for transition to democracy and solvability of these conflicts, the cases of Poland or Turkey as potential regional contenders being of note.

The EU needs a more unified voice when dealing with Russia at its periphery and a double-folded engagement, both capacity-building and conflict management in the case of Ukraine, with the Crimean conflict as a clear security threat at its eastern borders. It remains to be seen how much bargaining power the EU has in the BSR so as to promote a peaceful resolution of the Crimean conflict and the promotion of stability and democracy in its periphery. Especially when geostrategic realities become more important and the old games of the Cold War become