an asian nation that everyone seemed to trample on throughout history: alexander the great, genghas kahn, the turks, the soviets. the nation finally became independent after soviet collapse, but things got no better. instead, a former communist big shot, a mr. nayazov, took power and created a crazy cult of personality. he recently died, so things are pretty unstable.
Former Republic of the Soviet Union and is still ran like a communist state with little room for dissent or opposition, and the same party getting elected over and over with 99.999% of votes. It borders Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan. The president has a Stalin style cult of personality around him and his picture is everywhere.
