Vlad Ryzhkov's latest article over in the Moscow Times is worth a read, as it delves into that familiar and beloved topic of the comparative authoritarian models of Russia and China, and the challenged assumption that democracy is good or bad for economic growth.  I am not sure I buy Ryzhkov's argument that the Chinese wage a honest fight against corruption, but, as he rightly points out below, Russia could grow its economy quite a lot more without having to relinquish power to the democratic whims of its people if the government just tried to steal a little less from the private sector.  Investors certainly don't care about the political model, only if they can count on a certain minimum level of predictable and fair treatment.China has been able to modernize successfully because business has been free to operate ...

Water - the oil and gas of the not-too-distant future

What's news is this: «The world community is hoping that Russia will soon become a supplier to the countries of Europe not only of energy inputs, but of fresh water as well. About this has already been spoken at a January conference under the patronage of "United Russia", which will receive its continuation within the framework of the "Clean water" forum, which will take place in Moscow 24-25 November».

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What is not news is this: a long time ago, long before anybody from United Russia got around to it, one smart person had already concerned himself

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Despite hearing quite a few nice speeches about the Kremlin's commitment to fighting corruption, 2009 was most definitely a boom year for graft in Russia.Earlier this month Transparency International released its Corruption Perceptions Index report, which had Russia coming in at 146 alongside Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe.  Then there was the economic crime survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers, which again put Russia way down near the bottom of the most corrupt countries in the world, with 71% of the 89 companies they surveyed in the country reporting at least one instance of bribery, embezzlement, harassment, or fraud in the past 12 months alone.  On top of all that, we have the death of the innocent lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who was denied medical treatment in jail, the ongoing travesty of the second trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and repeated killings of ...

Hermitage is sending around another press today with regard to the recent death in Russian custody of their lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.  Apparently five days before his death due to untreated illness, the lawyer had filed a complaint denouncing the falsification of evidence in his case.  Below is the text of the release with some links to the original documents.  The growing paper trail accumulated by Magnitsky before his death is making it near impossible for the Russian government to make certain claims.

Five Days Before his Death, Sergey Magnitskiy Filed Legal Documents Indicating Evidence in His Case Was Falsified

23 November 2009 - The last petition filed by Sergey Magnitskiy, a Russian lawyer who died in pre-trial detention, described the malicious tampering by police investigators of materials in his case file and the falsification of evidence.

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Iran began five-day, large-scale air defense war games yesterday aimed at protecting its nuclear facilities from attack.  Changes in the permafrost in western Siberia are costing Russian oil companies a reported $1.9 billion every year in damage repair for infrastructure and pipelines. On the renewed appeal of the commodity uranium in an age of nuclear energy.  Renault's head predicts that Europe will be a world leader in electric car manufacture.  Heritage has announced that it will sell its $1.3 billion worth of oil fields in Uganda to Italy's Eni.  

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin introduced a cash-for-scrap-cars scheme and mortgage support at Saturday's United Russia congress, as he forecasted a 2009 GDP decline of 8-8.5%, 'which would be Russia's worst result since 1994,' notes the Washington Post.  Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov says Russia's first road connecting East and West will be finished next year (over thirty years after construction began?), as part of a project to build 6,000km of federal roads. 'Russia still lags behind its BRIC partners in terms of bilateral trade with Africa, but its trade with Africa is the fastest growing -- at 15 percent annually since 1992.'  Renault may take full control of AvtoVAZ in the next four years - if it hasn't merged with KamAZ to create an autos giant by then.  Two General Motors employees in St Petersburg - one ...

TODAY: Medvedev issues 'dressing down' for United Russia at annual congress, Putin doesn't disagree; funeral held for Sergei Magnitsky, second autopsy request denied; Litvinenko anniversary; Russia's school for tabloid journalists.United Russia held its annual congress in St. Petersburg on Saturday, where President Dmitry Medvedev issued it with a 'dressing down', warning leaders about 'backwardness', 'bureaucratic intrigues and games', and urged the party to get rid of 'bad political habits' such as restricting the openness of elections. (The Moscow Times notes that Medvedev took a similar tone with the party at last year's congress.) Prime Minister Vladimir Putin spoke in agreement with Medvedev's state-of-the-nation address from earlier this month, saying that the crisis 'has shown how costly it ...

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A well-known Russian journalist, head of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations  Oleg Panfilov in early November moved for permanent residency from Moscow to Tbilisi. In a conversation with journalists he explained that his decision was based on the fact that in Russia unknowns were constantly threatening him through the internet with physical lynching.

This news appeared on the internet on the 9th of November. To me this «news» was known two months ago: Oleg himself had told me about his desire to forsake Russia. In so doing no arguments in the form of threats did he name. I think

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This week's lunch with the FT features Peter Aspden sitting down for some sushi and a harmless bit of obsequiousness with Evgeny Lebedev, the son of Alexander Lebedev.  The conversation has some interesting points ... such as his potshots at newly wealthy Russians who throw their money at expensive art.  Evgeny strikes me as more intelligent and considerate than your average playboy - but then at other times he seems a bit out of touch.

"I feel very affiliated with Russia, what I see as its soul. Even with its landscape, that vastness that you can't grasp. Our history is violent and bloody: revolutions, war, turmoil. Even Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, they saw themselves as reformers but, on the

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