With a Biden administration, there would or will be a unique opportunity for EU-Europe to find new ways to deal with instability in its neighborhood, putting European and US weight behind joint strategies. A thread.

The number of conflicts or contested spaces in EU-Europe's has grown in the last years. Russia has moved from being a challenge in Europe’s eastern neighborhood to becoming a challenge in the Southern neighborhood as well.

Russia has been the first power to spot the opportunity that a partly disengaging US has provided. It clearly intents to fill the vacuum. The key battleground has been Syria where Putin has become a patron and protector for Assad.

Turkey has come to similar conclusions, after the failure of its „policy of zero problems with neighbors“. Its Syria experience and its frustration with the west have led it to follow the Russian path and to become a robust military power building zones of influence.

At the same time, Russia has increasing difficulties to keep its grip on its direct neighborhood. In Ukraine and Belarus, people have stood up against the Kremlin’s proxies. And currently Russia is unable to stop the fighting between two allies, Armenia and Azerbaijan.