This question disturbs Iran and especially its neighbors for several months already. The magnitude of the issue at some point even eclipsed the crackdown in Syria. Now, whether the attack on Iran is inevitable is a mater of harsh debate. If attacked, will Iran survive or not, is a matter of an even harsher debate. Indeed, given the fact that Iran is far more powerful than Libya or Iraq were before their ruling regimes were toppled, and that Iran apparently has been developing its military industrial complex ever since to counter such a scenario, it represents quite a "tough cookie." As a matter of fact, a far tougher one than it may seem from the first glance. Thus, it remains to be seen whether the situation deteriorates to the point of war.

The Black Sea Region runs anticlockwise around the Black Sea from Greece, Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria, through Russia and The Ukraine, onto Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the east, and Turkey in the south. Though Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Greece are not littoral states, history, proximity and close ties make them natural regional actors. 

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has been undergoing a considerable transformation process after the demise of the Soviet Union. The military alliance decided to shift its focus in security policy by continuously reaching out to new partner countries. Primarily, the Caucasus region and Central Asian countries were considered to be new areas of strategic importance.

Lately, an entire noise has been raised after on October 3, 2011 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in his interview to the Izvestia news media declared about the intention to create a Eurasian Union (EAU) together with the former Soviet Republics of Belarus and Kazakhstan (izvestia.ru).