FROM SYRIA TO THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ: RUSSIA'S GROWING FOOTPRINT IN MODERN MIDDLE EAST CRISES
If you look at a map of the Middle East, you will see a region defined by chokepoints: the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, the Bab el-Mandeb, the Strait of Gibraltar. These narrow passages control the flow of oil, gas, and trade goods between continents. Whoever controls these chokepoints — or even influences them — wields enormous power over the global economy. For decades, that power belonged almost exclusively to the United States and its allies. The US Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, patrolled the Persian Gulf. The US Sixth Fleet, based in Italy, dominated the Mediterranean. American warships guarded the Bab el-Mandeb against pirates and hostile actors. But that era is ending. Not because the US Navy has disappeared — it remains the world's most powerful maritime force. But because Russia has quietly established its own presence at nearly every major Middle Eastern chokepoint, often without firing a shot or announcing a grand strategy. This is the eighth article in ...