Thanks for the comment.

My question is about this idea of the "new great game". While an Uzbek or Turkmenistan base is for the war efforts in Afghanistan, and the gas from a particular country may not be going to foreign players, what of this issue of the struggle between Russia, China, Iran, & the US for a presence and influence in the region -which is ultimately because of oil and other natural resources.

I did a search on Uzbek and oil pipelines after your post, there are a lot of big US companies present there -and hiring...

My understanding is that Russia and the US reacted very strongly when Turkmenistan made a pipeline agreement w/ Iran.

My point/ question is not on the specifics of the oil per se -which I am not an expert in, but on how much of a blind eye is required to become involved in these countries? Or what policies that border on complicity are required?