[Dr. Frank fan]

Russia still believes that they possess most/all of their neighbors, I see.

[jhpigott]

i guess when you lose an empire overnight reality takes a while to set in.

But from the Russian POV, the U.S. has been very active, militarily speaking, in the region since 2001. A conflict real close to their southern border, understandably, makes them nervous

[Tailgunner Joe]

Right, Russia thinks the South Caucasus and Central Asia is still their Soviet empire. Putin is stuck in the cold war and is too stupid to know that his side lost and the whole world rejoices about this fact. In fact Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan both sided with the USA against Saddam unlike Russia, and they are part of the Coalition of the Willing.