Why the Mediterranean Sea is so damn Important

The Mediterranean is one of the world’s most strategic seas, as important as the South China Sea. This region is now seeing a Geopolitics resurgence in conflicts and tension over its waters. The shift of America’s foreign policy to the Indo-Pacific and China; the increasing tension between Greece and Turkey; the expansion of the Dubai and Ankara strategy over the Middle East and North Africa; and the increasing interests of Russia and China in the region are all determining factors in the degradation of the Mediterranean security environment.

The conflict in Libya is an example of the Mediterranean strategic relevance. In this video we will analyze the main actors and resons behing this major conflict.

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Many thanks to:
Script editing: Edward and @Hoog
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Table of content:

00:00 Mediterrenean Geopolitics Importance
01:03 Intro
01:36 1. Gas and Oil fields
02:39 2. Trade
03:47 Strategic Weaknesses
04:38 3. Chokepoints
06:59 US's presence in the Mediterranean
07:52 Russia's presence in the Mediterranean
08:16 China's presence in the Mediterranean
08:54 Libya's Importance
10:09 1. Energy
12:57 2. Libya's Strategic Geography
14:50 3. Immigration Flows
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Music: Premiumbeats
Warrios, Spacetime, The Usual Suspect and Full Elysion.
Inspiration: Drive (2011) and Stranger Things

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Check my previous videos:

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Bibliography

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[jurgen-kapp-linde]

Really like your style overall - very distinct and memorable. Metaphors and real stats are extremely well balanced, visuals of maps and neon lines are absolutely stunning yet minimalist, and your narration is top notch! And I feel like this is something that should be common practice, but I really appreciate that you put your sources in the description. This channel is gonna go far :)

[A.Severan]

Great production! I was looking forward to this a lot since I’m Libyan. It would be interesting to see how things develop now given that the Libyan civil war has been effectively over for two years. Most of the issues now have to do with election delays and rules, so it’s pretty much legal squabbling and internal politics. I think the main international spoilers are now Russia (for obvious reasons) and Turkey (to prevent Russia from taking over).

[Adiyasa]

Great video! Just wanna point out that you said Ghaddafi was killed in 2021, I think you meant 2011

9:05

[KinokoCardano]

The map usage of showing us routes, zoom ins and outs of land areas, and highlights is really MDMAzing and informative, thanks Kamome!

[RatejL]

Great video! I do have to point out you made some mistakes and ambiguous statements in the "Libya's Importance" chapter. Started with Gaddafis ousting in 2021, which was actually in 2011. Government of National Accord was renamed to Government of National Unity over a year ago. There are many groups currently active in the Libyan crisis (maybe you tried to point that out with "clusters focused around.."?), which brings me to the most ambiguous part. "Energy is perhaps the most.." which you continue with "Libya alone holds 3% of the worlds and 39% of the Africa's reserves.". You seem to refer to energy, but later refer the percentage to "these" natural resources. Perhaps you could have generalized with "energy rich resources" or pointed out which resources and in which areas. The latter would build foundation and disperse some of the ambiguity. It would also create a "foreshadow" for the "Toyota war". Overall I enjoyed the video, just found it kinda hard to follow in the above mentioned parts. Keep up the good work!

[Alejojojo]

Saying that the UK controls the straight of Gibraltar is BS, I mean... most of it is in hands of Spain and Morocco, the fact that it is called "Strait of Gibraltar" well, doesnt make Gibraltar the most important location in the strait.

[bkc]

Another excellent video! I loved the visuals used in this iteration. The blurring at the start, the line animations used to animate the major shipping routes, and the clean borders on individual countries (plus with different colors to represent different alignments) were all fantastic! Aside from the couple errors that Luka Ratej pointed out in their comment about the “Libya’s Importance” section, the video’s nearly perfect!

[Bobbyjonesyrrr]

Excellent work as usual. It's good to see some of the machinations in this part of the world since our focus has been so heavily on the Indo-Pacific.

[Alexrocksdude_]

Some high quality content, looking forward to binging your other videos!

[selleneus]

Hey Kanome, my comment for some reason must've gotten removed.

I wanted to say, a fantastic video as always. This truly covered all the grappling topics regarding the middle east and North Africa.

Great video, as always you have my support.

- Kind Regards to you

[hakanmf]

What an amazing production, I really liked your vid and the topics you talk about are mostly accurate. One thing I would like to mention is in regards to the last point about using migrants. The 'massive cash inflows' are massively overstated. The given example of Turkey in 2015 is that of 6 Billion Dollars(Euros? can't recall which) of which 3 Billion was actually paid out iirc. Meanwhile the cost of that deal to Turkey has exceeded 50 Billion Dollars according to a pre-covid statement, I can't recall the exact year, might be 2018, but the number of migrants was also way lower at the time than it is now(Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia are still burning after all and we all still remember Afghanistan). Not to discount the leverage these migrants give to the host nations, but the compensation for these deals are peanuts compared to the associated costs. So I think that point is overstated and overblown in media.

[tooeasyy]

Love the quality of these videos, commenting to hopefully help boost your channel to more people

[chomihai]

Another great video and interesting topic!

[Killersanchez]

Best animations Ive seen from all educational channels. Like I seriously think you should sell your skills to other channels because you artwork deserves to be seen by more people.

[surelyschuler]

Another brilliant episode, thank you for continually releasing quality content 🙏🏻

[blendix]

Excellent quality sir! Surprised this channel hasnt more subscribers.

[felineboy]

I have been here since your first two videos bro your video quality had come such a long way ❤️❤️

[SeriousTopics]

The Mediterranean waters are among the most military-loaded in the World. Its position connecting the oil-rich Persian Gulf with big energy consumers, the fact that it is home to the three monotheistic religions, and the recent discovery of hydrocarbon reserves in the Oriental basin, make it so.

[singular]

I like how "anti-terrorism" essentially means "defending my billions of dirty dollars".

[ahfa]

This sea is literally the cradle of humanity. Almost every civilization started either bordering it or nearing it