Postcards from StanlandCentral Asia has long stood at the crossroads of history. It was the staging ground for the armies of the Mongol Empire, for the nineteenth century struggle between the Russian and British empires, and for the NATO campaign in Afghanistan. Today, multinationals and nations compete for the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian Sea and for control of the pipelines. Yet Stanland is still, to many, a terra incognita, a geographical blank. Beginning in the