The origins of the unrest lie both in the recent turmoil in Kyrgyzstani politics, and in the country's history as a former state of the Soviet Union.

ECONOMIST: Kyrgyzstan

The most enduring embargo in modern day history is a remnant of a Cold War past when the Soviet Union was the enemy and the world was on the brink of nuclear war.

CNN: SHARE THIS

Research into seabed minerals has a long and slightly conspiratorial history, starting in the Cold War with the United States and the Soviet Union surveying the oceans ahead of possible future conflict.

BBC: UK Seabed Resources joins deep-ocean mineral-mining rush