In chapter 5, ‘The Eurasian Balkans’, of ‘The Grand Chessboard’ (1997) by Zbigniew Brzezinski, it covers the histories of Central Asia that was part of the former USSR. The three states of the Caucasus – Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan – can be said to be based on truly historic nations. But the frontiers of five new Central Asian states were drawn arbitrarily by Soviet cartographers in the 1920s and 1930s. They are rich in resource but of relatively weak power. It invites Russia, Turkey and Iran to contest to fill the power vacuum.

Interestingly read because I know nothing about this part of the world.