The geo-strategic and geo-political situation of the Caucasus and the Black Sea region at the beginning of XXI century

Historians’ opinion is unanimous in considering that the Cold War was a war between the two dominant political and social systems: capitalism and socialism. In fact, this war ended with the collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union. With the USSR a crucial geopolitical pole disappeared from the Pontic area and more than ten independent states occurred - Ukraine, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc. - involved in regional and international structures different in interests, orientations and forces, and some still dependent on Moscow, to a lesser or greater extent. Naturally, the effects of this phenomenon have been passed on the Pontic basin. The Cold War at the beginning of the last decade of the last century, turned the Black Sea into a sum of states, of threats and interests, a phenomenon that profoundly altered the geopolitical reality of this space. In the Black Sea region, with a vast economic and purchasing potential, live over 325 million inhabitants, which makes it become a huge market, still unsaturated, attractive for investments in various areas of cooperation, such as: transport, communications energy, tourism, etc. This region is endowed with all energy sources: oil, natural gas, coal, minerals, wood, etc., representing, in economic terms, a significant economic force. The Black Sea region has considerable potential deriving from geographical location and common history. Reform and structural adjustment processes, geographical proximity and transport facilities along the Black Sea coast bring it in the heart of Europe and give it incomparable advantages over other regions. The Black Sea basin has a high potential for the expansion of trade from the Urals to the Danube. Due to the favorable location, regional markets can be relatively easily integrated in the large markets in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East