The Middle East: Where Europe, Asia, and Africa merge in a desert filled with oil
Turkey Iraq Syria Lebanon Palestine Israel Jordan Saudi Arabia Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Saudi Arabia UAE Oman Yemen		Russia Kazakhstan Uzekistan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Afghanistan Pakistan Iran (Kashmir) Georgia Azerbajian Turkmenistan Armenia Ukraine
	The Ottoman Empire was broken up after WWI by the British which drew up the present borders and therefore the territory for each of these countries, which because of the lack of water, were inhabited by nomadic peoples of various tribes with very different views. It was to the advantage of outsiders after the oil to accentuate the differences and cause strife. Turning Palestine into Israel after WWII only made things worse. The breakup of the Soviet Union allowed the 'stans' to resume their natural autonomous states due to their relative isolation because of the rugged terrain.