This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (Telegraph): Is $6,300 fair value for gold? November 19, 2009. The last parabolic spike in gold took off when central banks joined the fray in the 1970s, hoarding bullion with the same enthusiasm as gold bugs. Dylan Grice from Société Générale says it smells much the same today. He sees an eerie similarity between the decision of India’s central bank to buy half the IMF’s entire sale of gold, and the move by France’s central bank to start converting dollars into gold in 1965.

• Gregory Zuckerman (The Wall Street Journal): John Paulson making big new bet on gold, November 19, 2009. John Paulson, who scored about $20 billion of profits between 2007 and early

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British-Russian relations have suffered greatly in recent years, with a series of incidents souring relations: the Alexander Litvinenko scandal, the British Council restrictions, diplomatic exits and various extradition rows.  Foreign Secretary David Milliband will visit Russia next week, the first visit by a British Foreign Secretary since relations hit their rocky low.  In an optimistic piece in the Times, the former British ambassador to Moscow, Tony Brenton, sees 'common ground' between Russia and Great Britain, and offers five suggestions for how the two sides can improve relations - without Britain shying away from tackling Russia on human rights.First, we should remain true to our own liberal principles. Russia is a signatory ...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reiterated her preference for Magna in its bid for Opel and described herself as 'very skeptical' about rival bidder RHJ International's prospects.  Finally some good news for ailing Lada-maker Avtovaz, which has smashed a German market growth record, with sales climbing 138% in the first half of 2009 compared with the same period last year.  Retail sales dropped the most in almost ten years in July, falling for the sixth month in a row.  Prime Minister Putin has said that the government will double its diamond industry bailout and set aside 30-35 billion rubles to buy diamonds to the state reserve this year.  The government has handed out between 1,500 and 2,000 microloans in an attempt to support small and midsize entrepreneurs.  The government is likely to return to nickel export tariffs at ...

TODAY: Russia warns against US joining monitoring in Georgia; Lavrov unfazed by Biden's comments. US says Russia could still join NATO.  Ambassador to Britain claims no legal basis for British Council activities in Moscow. Moldova election kicks off.  Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has said that Georgia's movements on the frontier with South Ossetia and Abkhazia are 'categorically inflating political and military hysteria'.  A high-ranking diplomat has said that including the US in monitoring missions in Georgia would be 'extremely harmful' and would raise 'the likelihood of border provocations,' as well as endangering the reset.   Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has downplayed Joe Biden's 'Bush-like' comments as 'not normative', saying that US voters who ...

TODAY: Russia rejoins Georgia talks; US-Russia nuclear talks constructive so far; policy report recommends US cancel plans for missile defense in eastern Europe; Medvedev creates body to counter 'revisionist' readings of Russian historyEncouragement from international mediators, and receiving a delayed UN report, have seen Russia return to talks on Georgia.  Apparently the talks have been 'constructive' so far and will continue in July.  The Georgian Foreign Ministry believes that the UN report was changed under pressure from Russia, as the amended version makes no reference to Georgian sovereignty over Abkhazia.  Russia will deploy fewer troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia than had been originally envisaged after last year's conflict.  Again concerns are emerging about consensus at the upcoming EU-Russia summit in ...

Things used to be so much more exciting for TNK-BP in Russia before they put former German Chancellor and Kremlin confident Gerhard Schröder on its board of directors.  No more office raids, no more regulatory expropriation attempts, visa denials, office raids, or even arrests of its staff.  Those were the halcyon days back when even the British Council was forced to shutter its offices and suspend its subverionary English language classes.  However, for those taken hostage during the TNK-BP wars, there is less mercy:  a court today has convicted two American advisers to the firm, whom we've dubbed the Brothers Zaslavsky, of corporate espionage against Gazprom.  They were only given a slap on the wrist (suspended sentences), which may be a sign that BP's new approach to dealing inside Russian politics is working, but surely they might have hoped ...