What about Korea and Vietnam. Yes they had internal conflicts, but were they not greatly magnified by the superpowers? Certainly the Korean war has led to long term destabilization in the region. The whole middle east situation was not helped, but magnified greatly by the cold war.
The superpowers were also the reason the Korean and Vietnam conflicts didn't expand outside their regions. Russia's current aggressive stance in the Middle East and its former Eastern European republics isn't because of Russian strength, it's because Russia now sees NATO as weak. They see a lack of commitment to its members security and are taking advantage of it.