The Sweden-headquartered furniture retailer Ikea has confirmed that it will open its second outlet in Beijing in Xihongmen, Daxing district. It is expected that the new Xihongmen Ikea project will cover a total construction area of 150,000 square meters, including business buildings, offices, and subsidiary facilities. The project is reportedly going to start construction in July 2010, [...]

Stephen Blank has an interesting new article on Forbes in which he assesses the economic damage being caused by Russia's inability to effectively reduce legal nihilism and corruption, both of which are dragging on the country's attempt to recover from the crisis.  Sticking out like a sore thumb is of course the second trial of Mikhail Khdorkovsky, which will be in full session during the first state visit of President Barack Obama.  Blank describes the Khodorkovsky trial as a "palpable judicial farce," and if President Dmitry Medvedev is unable to take action to solve the situation it will "confirm the widespread belief that he is merely a tool of his predecessor, a placeholder until Putin resumes the presidency."

When he was a candidate to lead Russia, Dmitry Medvedev denounced the country's "legal nihilism." Now, as president, he has often spoken

...

Swedish furniture retail giant Ikea has announced that it will close its trade offices in Chengdu, Wuhan, and Xiamen and employees in these three offices will be dismissed. Ikea told local media that this decision is the company's efforts to integrate its purchasing businesses in China. In the future, its trade offices in Shanghai, Qingdao, and [...]