Human Interest

You can find this on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh

The Crimea region has been hotly debated and fought over for quite a while now. The collapse of the USSR created a power vacuum in Eastern Europe which led to the contest for power in many of the former Soviet Satellite countries, including Ukraine. The Crimean peninsula, while mostly occupied by Russians, is legally a part of Ukraine, but maybe not for long. The Russian government is seemingly working to annex the peninsula while the Ukrainian government is working to keep it. The region will continue to be under lots of tugging and pulling for a while until a single government wins in to their nation. 

this is a perfect example of some of the conflicts which have resulted because of the failure of the soviet state. with many of these states trying to gain land that the view as theirs, these wars can only really end in bloodshed or massive investments in peace.

Borders seem to be a problem whether you live in one continent or another, everyone wants power and control but not everyone can gain it. This video focuses and goes into depth about enclave and exclave borders, showing the irregularity of the borders in different areas that causes conflicts and problems. An example of a problem that the citizens have to deal with is that some villages can not leave due to the road blocks due to the borders. I can not imagine not being able to leave a certain area for all that time, I would go insane and I imagine those people are as well. International borders power has to be split somehow and not everyone can always come to an easy decision because parts of the land are claimed but the people do not have any control of it. Irregular borders cause more trouble than they are worth in my opinion. The final interesting fact about this video was that you learn that Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are the two locations that have the most irregular border, these places must have the most conflict and problems. These borders are in places such as Germany, South Asia, China, Belgian, Sweden and Central Asia.

A fascinating look into the complexity of borders. It is always important to keep in mind when looking at maps that the borders are neither permanent or defined as it exists in reality. Borders on world maps are rough estimations of what the borders actually are for they can't depict precise details on such a large scale. Furthermore regional/local maps sometimes do not whether as to conform to the border misconception unfortunately. In Central Asia as defined int he video the border were primarily a result of the Soviet Unions attempts to divided ethnic minorities reducing their power (primarily Stalin). As a result the countries after the collapse proceeded to claim the ethnic groups which created enclaves within each-other. As long as these groups are on peaceful terms this kind of thing isn't an issue. Unfortunately it does make the peoples lives in the enclaves slightly more difficult due to having to cross the border twice to see the rest of your country. This kind of thing was even done to the Jews in the first century AD who like the Russians wanted to eliminate or at least reduce attempts at revolution by the local populace. Hopefully Central Asia has or will make the lives of these enclaves easier.

I'm not on the oil or gas business, or a follower of the Eurovision Song Contest, so it's unlikely that Baku is top in my mind. The pictures of the building looks classic. The Russian taxi looks like if was built in 1940, but it was recently. Russia because the embargo, along side cuba, has the oldest looks cars.

Baku is a very interesting city, because of how much of a mish-mash the city is.  What always interests me as an American, is the fact that how varied the old world can be.  In the article it shows the modern, opulent Four Seasons hotel, behind an old government building that looks like it belongs in 18th Century Europe.  It is also crazy how the Maiden Tower from the 6th Century sits right across from Designer Clothes retailers.  Once again, as an American this is very hard for me to visulize, our oldest buildings still standing in cities date back to the 1800s, maybe 1700s, if you are in a city like Newport, RI.  The fact that an ancient tower still stands in a modern city is absolutely fascinating.  Also described in the article is a Bentley dealership (a British Luxury car).  This shows that the city is growing in wealth and changing.  The country of Azerbaijan is certainly on the path (as mentioned in my scoop about Azerbaijan wanting to be famous) to become a world destination.  I think it will be interesting to keep following what is going on in this region, as the country continues to transition.   

People will come if there is something exciting to see.  Also if they feel there is relatively little danger.  I'd say they need to keep on developing and make it glitter.  Once the wealthy are attracted and the celebrities then maybe more tourism might happen.