National Geographic for February had a great article, titled "The 'Stans'" which gave a brief summary of the conditions in the many countries in central Asia that have "-stan" at the end of their names. I learned more from this one article than I have all year about these countries. As with areas like Chechnya and other former Soviet "clients," this section of the world appears to be a complete zoo.

There is no way to predict what can happen here, in a rugged area of the world tucked between Islamic nations, Russia, and Red China. Pretty much anything. Although the mythical "pipeline" story currently emerging from these nations is horse manure, the fact remains that there is a lot of oil here, along with a lot of conflicting interests, and it is going to make for some interesting politics.