Retired lieutenant general Ben Hodges, the former commander of the United States Army Europe, stated on Tuesday that Romania is the center of gravity in the Black Sea region, told Agerpres.
He participated in the "Romanian Military Thinking" International Conference.
Hodges showed that Romania has an essential role within NATO, but also for the United States of America, adding that Romania is the center of gravity in the Black Sea region for the US, that's why there are thousands of US soldiers here, that's why NATO military aircraft do air policing missions, from the Mihail Kogalniceanu base.
He said that the Black Sea region is an area that the US and most of Europe have ignored in the past ten years, and as a result, Russia has used it as a base to launch aggression against other European states, but also to export this aggression to the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Lieutenant general Hodges also talked about the prospects of the war in Ukraine.
He stated that if the West loses here, by supporting Ukraine to defeat Russia, long term problems are to emerge. He mentioned that it's not just about Ukraine, but about the respect for the international law, for sovereignty, for international order, and added that there will be serious problems if it turns out that someone can kill tens of thousand of innocent people and break all the existing laws and if that someone is allowed to win.