I am going to follow natasha of the watch in linking this:

the bitter shack of resentment -- Of Oil and Selective Tyranthood

Last year, I wrote of the negotiations between Unocal (with the approval and assistance of the State Department) and the Taliban which had been quietly going on in the mid-1990s, despite the fact that the Taliban was not a diplomatically recognized regime. Back then, when I wondered if our attack on Afghanistan might have a secondary motive -- to mow down the last barriers to the pipeline -- people called me a liberal conspiracy theorist. Then Bush et al installed Hamid Kharzai, a former Unocal consultant on the pipeline project and one of those who lobbied for the project in the region, as the president of the "new" Afghanistan. I hated to say I told you so ...

And with further comments and links on zany and dictatorial Turkmenbashi.