Turkish games in the Straits

Turkey is seeking to pack as much as it can into the agenda of the crucial NATO Summit in Vilnius in July. It is not just the trade-offs Ankara hopes to get for agreeing to Sweden's induction into the Alliance or its claims concerning the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus.

According to the usually well-informed AI-Monitor, Ankara is also planning to demand that the Straits - as foreseen under the 1936 Montreaux Convention - which connect the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, be renamed the "Turkish Straits." You don't need to be a geopolitics expert to understand that Ankara is seeking control over the entry and exit points of the Bosporus and Black Sea, with everything this entails for maritime trade and military movements in the area.

The allies will not be eager to hand over the keys to Turkey when the situation in the Black Sea is as stormy as it is due to the war in...