For over 2,500 years, ships traveling from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea have had to traverse the Bosporus. This chokepoint has been fought over by Greeks, Romans, Persians, Byzantines, Turks and Czarist Russians. In the wake of the ‘war to end all wars’ (World War 1), the Montreux Convention was drawn up to control the entry of non-Black Sea nations’ warships. That is one reason why Washington sent the US Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton into the Black in April. International lawyers argue that a Coast Guard ship does not come under Montreux rules. With the new Istanbul Canal, the US conceivably could send in the entire Sixth Fleet. Equally upsetting to Moscow, LNG tankers from Qatar and Dubai could sail to Odesa and unload their cargos. It’s going to be interesting to watch Russian diplomacy work on this one. With Best Regards, Jim Brooke