Investing in Russia has long been a part of European investor trends, particularly in the UK whose investors hold half of Russian oil company TNK-VR. Investing in Russia has fuelled the expansion of consumer services and industries, helping to move the nation away from a purely industrial and export focused economy.

In light of the recent problems in the stock markets, investing in Russia is most safely done with attention to areas of high consumer demand. Over the last decade there has been a steep increase in employee wages and consumer spending on services and high tech products.

Wise investing in Russia at this point includes investing in funds that are necessary for human sustenance, such as those invested in dairies and other food producing companies. Second, investing in Russia through focus on consumer-driven industries and services, means also investing in technology, as the people of Russia continue to spend large amounts …

The news that Washington is fast becoming the world’s biggest slumlord through the buyout of distressed mortgages helped send international markets skyward.

The biggest gains were in Russian stocks. And this could be the situation for quite some time, says emerging markets expert Irwin Greenstein, writing for Contrarian Profits.

The irony, of course, is that Washington and Moscow are now marching in lockstep with each other when it comes to their stance on market intervention. After a series of unprecedented bailouts, the US has effectively renounced the principle that markets are self-regulating.

This from Irwin…

Russia’s RTSI Index (RUS:RTS.RS) jumped 20.17%. That’s huge, especially in comparison China’s SSE Composite Index (Shanghai: 000001.SS), which gained 9.46% and the Hang Seng Index (HKSE:^HSI), which closed up yesterday 9.61%.

Meanwhile, the Dow closed yesterday with a gain of 3.9%.

That Moscow and Washington have both used massive bailouts to …

The ugly truth can sometimes yield beautiful profits, says Irwin Greenstein, writing for Contrarian Profits. But the truth exposed by the US government’s recent round of Wall Street bailouts is that the US actually lost the Cold War in terms of its free-market philosophy. Investors should adjust their portfolios accordingly…

For a while now I’ve been writing that if you can integrate a historic shift into your investment strategy you may come out ahead. The shift is this: that America actually did lose the Cold War.

This became apparent to me about a year ago when we saw the economies of our old Cold War enemies, Russia and China, continue to thrive as our own free market economy literally started to melt down.

Now with Washington bailing out AIG, it seems that our Cold War defeat is undeniable. The very same foreign-policy …

Investing in Russia has been hot since 1997, with capital funds flowing into the Russian market rising from $4.8 billion to $50 billion between 1997 and 2007. –and all time record for the Russian market.

While on paper it is easy to see that investing in Russia looks good –there’s a dramatic increase in wages and standards of living, huge currency reserves, and a fast growing economy, yet in reality these factors that make investing in Russia look so attractive aren’t necessarily as cut and dried.

However charming investing in Russia looks on paper, the country has had its share of problems. Russia has a history of government controlling domestic and international firms doing business there.

Russia also likes playing rough and tough with energy supplies, such that investing in Russia can be a bit too similar to playing Russian roulette. In 2006, for example, Russia cut off energy supplies to Ukraine and …

While the invasion of Georgia, along with Putin’s continued zealous nationalism, has triggered fear from foreign investors of an increasingly depressed Russian market, things aren’t nearly as bad as they may seem. Indeed, it may be an optimal time to invest in Russia, according to several money managers.

Who’s investing in Russia?

Many money managers and Russian experts are certain that as fears are assuaged money will flow back into the Russian market, and stocks will rise. Those who invest in Russia early on, will then cash in.

Portfolio manager John Connor suggests others invest in Russia. He reports that he has recently increased holdings in Russia by 50%, taking full advantage of the massive recent sell-off and says, “There are tremendously undervalued positions in Russia”. Continuing to beat its three- and five-year benchmark, Connor’s Third Millenium Russia Fund (TMRFX) is running strong.

The Russian economy has been growing at a rate of 7-8% …

And he wants you to know about it. From his op/ed in the Sunday Times: First, speaking up clearly and bluntly about what has happened. This is not a time for diplomatic opaqueness. It is a time to distinguish unambiguously between right and wrong. It is a time for democracies to stand together. It is a time for members of our parliament – the seat of one of the world’s oldest democracies – to speak up for one of the world’s newest. Today, in Georgia’s hour of need, this instinct unites government and opposition. Second, we need urgent diplomatic efforts, in which Britain must play a leading role. Russian forces must leave Georgia right away as they are required to do under the ceasefire agreement both sides have signed. Third, Russia must pay a price.

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From the International Herald Tribune: So along with the old-school onslaught of infantry, armor and artillery, Russia mounted joint air and naval operations, appeared to launch simultaneous cyberattacks on Georgian government Web sites and had its best English speakers at the ready to make Moscow's case in television appearances. If the rapidly unfolding events caught much of the world off guard, that kind of coordination of the old and the new did not look accidental to military professionals. "They seem to have harnessed all their instruments of national power — military, diplomatic, information — in a very disciplined way," said one Pentagon official, who like others interviewed for this article disclosed details of the operation under ground rules that called for anonymity. "It appears this was well thought out and planned in advance, and suggests a level of coordination in the Russian government between the military and the other civilian agencies and ...

Everyone is aware that Washington is not about to send the Marines into Georgia to assert its regional interests, but what are the realistic diplomatic and economic penalties that could be leveraged against Russia? The Bush Administration will be looking to save face, but as we have speculated, its range of options is rather limited. The Wall Street Journal elaborates a couple of ways that Russia may find itself punished for the war in Georgia: Western authorities should also explore the vulnerability of Russian assets abroad. At the least, they can make life difficult for the holders of those assets. Post-Soviet Russia allowed the emergence of businessmen and entrepreneurs who indeed wish to function as normal participants in world commerce. Their number, however, assuredly includes the lucky billionaires under Mr. Putin's protection. All of them want to benefit from the West's rules. That privilege should be restricted so long ...

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is getting a lot of interesting press coverage this week - and like his public persona, there are those who hold him in awe, and those who blame him entirely for what's happened (if you haven't yet read what the Russians say about him, hold onto to your keyboards...). Here are some more interesting snippets of how his personality is being portrayed. "Why Americans swoon for the former Soviet Republic of Georgia," by Ilan Greenberg, Slate.com I got to know Georgia—and Saakashvili—when I profiled him for the New York Times Magazine. For almost two months I shadowed Misha. In Slovakia for a regional summit, walking next to Saakashvili along Bratislava's cordoned streets, the Georgian head of state hooked his arm on my elbow and offered to trade gossip about his senior staff. In Tbilisi, Saakashvili gave me ...