As you argue, Russia’s Central Asian underbelly rumbles queasily in the wake of the war in Georgia (“An Old Sweet Song,” August 30), but few in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are eager to get into trouble with Russia at the moment. Oil-rich, these countries are also multi-ethnic, with large and vocal Russian minorities. In short, the American alternative to Russian pipelines feeding Europe with oil and gas from Central Asia now smacks of a pipedream, for Georgia is awkwardly in the way. This is what your article states clearly enough. But it fails to take the next logical step by exploring all the winners and losers in this ominous game. In particular, your article fails to point out one of the potential winners at this junction: China. The pipelines that could have headed west are now much more likely to head east.