Murphy...yup, it's a sickness.
You need to go back to WWII and the days of the Great Game before then to understand the modern contexts before now. Hitler drove to the Caucus for the
oil in the region and for a land route to the Middle Eastern interests held by England (notably the beginnings of modern Iraq). He was stopped in Stalingrad thankusbetogawd.
The Great Game (between England and Tsarist Russia) was for the control of the Middle East, again for
oil and for the protection of greater India (before the partition). This is when the British learned about how fun trying to control Afghanistan was (Alexander had learned that centuries earlier, and the USSR was soon to find out a 100 years later).
The Caucus was always the crossroads...everyone had their crosshairs on it.
Russia's expansionist intentions are nothing new...look back to Ivan, Peter and Catherine...always looking to the south and east. Not unlike our own Monroe Doctrine...it's all a sphere of influence thing.
Russia's new President is rattling Putin's sabor these days, and warned of a backlash to having the US Navy in what it considers its lake (the Black Sea). Note that Chavez just announced some Russian navel vessels have been invited to play with his little boats in a war game in our little lake...