I was never exactly sure what exactly happened to the USSR after it broke up, and started wondering again after Georgia and Russia started warring over South Ossetia. So here’s the skinny:

Other than Russia, of course, we have…

THE BALTICS:
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania

EASTERN EUROPE:
Belarus
Ukraine
Moldova

THE CAUCASUS:
Georgia
Armenia
Azerbaijan

CENTRAL ASIA:
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikstan

Now we can get a better handle on the Soviet bloc’s various territorial disputes and perhaps insight into the Ottoman Empire/Byzantines.

Jamaica swept the Olympic’s track & field sprinting events, with the inimitable Usain Bolt taking back-to-back golds in the 100m and 200m dashes (not to mention the 4×100 relay). The women went 1-2-2 for the 100m. It’s curious how a small island in the Caribbean can churn out so many world-class runners, with a population of 2.8 million and a land mass of roughly 4000 square miles.

Taiwan, on the other hand, has 23 million people and a land mass of 13,8000 sq mi - about 3.25 times the size of Jamaica.