How does geography impact the relationship among countries in southwest asia

The geography of Southwest Asia opens up a space for a good connection between the countries and thus to create similar, if not same, cultural traits because of the absence of natural blockades between them, so the communication is easily manageable. Still, the region is dominated by deserts, so even though there's no big mountain ranges between them, it makes it difficult, apart from the coastal areas. Now even though the open terrain usually contributes to good relations, it occasionally causes problems as well, and this region is a perfect example of that, because lots of the countries are in very bad relations.