After the war

Oct 16th 2008 | BAKU, TBILISI AND YEREVAN

from The Economist print edition

An edgy neighbourhood has become both more dangerous and more important

... it is the three countries of the south Caucasus—Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia—that are the bigger story now, for they are the cockpit in a new clash between Russia and the West. The main reason these tiny countries matter, despite a combined population of only 16m or so, is geographical. Perched next to Turkey, north of Iran and south of Russia, this is a place where empires have long met—and clashed. Russia never reconciled itself to losing control of the Caucasus when the Soviet Union broke up in 1990-91. Moscow has been visibly fretful about rising Western influence.
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