On August 28, 2008 Russia’s General of Staff stated that “Despite the apparent strength, the NATO naval group in the Black Sea is not battle-worthy,” adding that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is capable of destroying NATO’s fleet “within 20 minutes”. Rising tensions between the US and Russia have diverted most of our attention to the Georgia/Russia conflict despite the fact that tensions are still incredibly high in the oil-rich Black Sea. For some time, US ally Turkey has been conducting extensive research with BP to explore the possibility of investing great sums of money within the region in its pursuit for greater energy independence. Security within the region is obviously a high priority.