In a dog-eat-dog world, small states are often seen as mere appetisers. Even mid-sized ones, such as Ukraine, may feature on the menu of larger neighbours. Armen Sarkissian, a former prime minister and president of Armenia and a theoretical physicist of considerable standing, has a vested interest in the well being of smaller countries. He argues that nations such as his own have been treated as ‘disposable’ throughout much of history or, at best, as an appendix to larger sovereign entities in the vicinity.