PRIDE OF SMALL NATIONS: The Caucasus and Post-Soviet Disorder

By Suzanne Goldenberg 

The Caucasus is the mountainous gateway between Europe and Asia, Islam and Christianity, Turk and Slav. It harbours what must be the most culturally and linguistically diverse population in the world. In no other region has the break-up of the Soviet Union given way so rapidly or completely to ethnic hatreds, internecine warfare and political instability. Nowhere else are there rival regional powers - Russia, Turkey, and Iran - so concerned with, and even threatened by, what may happen.

The author introduces each of the new republics - Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan - as well as to the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and the micro-states of the North Caucasus. Situated on the frontiers of Europe, this region poses a unique economic and security challenge.

Zed Books Ltd (1994)