The Institute Of World Politics

About the Lecture: From the Black Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean, war and counterterrorism operations define this century. The stakes in this vast, interconnected region are high and growing, and the U.S. needs a better policy and set of statecraft strategies. Russia, joined by help from Iran, wages war against Ukraine. Russian troops occupy part of Georgia. They now have naval, air, and ground bases in Syria. Iran has mounted attacks against U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq since at least 2005 and against U.S. and coalition personnel in Syria since at least 2015. Tehran has amped up funding, equipping, and training Hizballah, Hamas, and Houthi militants since the Arab Spring. Turkey, responsible for protecting NATO’s southeastern flank, now deeply mistrusts the U.S. alliance with the YPG and Peshmerga, blames the U.S. for shielding Fethullah Gülen in Pennsylvania, and rejects U.S./NATO sanctions against its decision to buy Russian S-400s and Russian and Iranian energy. This highly volitile region is on