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Ryan Olson is a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute’s Frontier Europe Initiative where he focuses on macroeconomics, trade and investment in the Black Sea Region.
Before joining MEI, Ryan led export market development activities for the North American grain industry, including participation and promotion of industry priorities related to negotiations of the USMCA, TPP and TTIP agreements. He also worked as a Research Associate at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Trade and Economics where he researched and wrote on issues including international political economy, economic development and trade. He has contributed to research that was cited by The Wall Street Journal, and his articles were published by The Financial Times and Real Clear Politics. Ryan began his career in Washington, D.C. working on Capitol Hill.
Ryan has been following the Black Sea region since 2010 when he spent a year living in Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti Region and working as an English teacher in a village school. Ryan holds a master’s degree in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from James Madison University.
Cost of Conflict: An Analysis of the Costs of Russia’s Ongoing Hostilities in the Black Sea Region
Conflicts are enormously destructive. They destroy lives and property, uproot communities, and reduce the economic potential for all involved. This devastation often has an unaccounted cost, both in terms of the obvious direct destruction of lives and assets, as well as the indirect costs that weigh on economies, often for years to come. This is true of all conflicts, and has certainly been true, and visible, during Russia’s unjustified and illegal invasions of its neighbors, Georgia and Ukraine.
U.S. Economic Engagement with the Black Sea Region Must Be a Priority for 2021
The Black Sea region is home to some of America’s strongest allies and most vocal advocates of continued Euro-Atlantic cooperation and integration. The Trump Administration’s commitment to the region has led with U.S. support for regional security. It is in America’s national interest to double down on the successes of the Trump Administration’s regional economic engagement strategy, and establish trade and investment initiatives as the forefront of U.S. policy toward the Black Sea region.
Pompeo’s visit to Tbilisi is a both a victory lap and an opportunity
Pompeo’s visit to the small post-Soviet democracy Georgia reflects U.S. efforts to reassure Georgia of its support as a strategic partner. As possibilities for Western engagement in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus are increasingly diminished by Russia’s rising force projection, the visit is an opportunity to consolidate President Donald Trump’s regional focus on great power competition with China and Russia.
