Rosneft, LUKoil, TNK-BP, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz are all under pressure from the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service to reduce domestic prices. TNK-BP is being hung out to dry by Gazprom, which has reneged on its agreement to buy 63% of the Kovykta gas field, which is a reflection of the enormous financial pressure on the company as they shift focus to short-term projects. Russia's Central Bank has decided to place a long-term $500m deposit in Gazenergoprombank, a bank affiliated with Gazprom. The company's surprise decision to send a high-ranking 12 person delegation to Alaska to discuss projects with ConocoPhillips is seen as an embarrassment for vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

TODAY: EU decides to delay talks with Russia; Gorbachev supports Yukos prisoner; More military spending; UK continues fight for extradition. With strenuous resistance from Poland, Sweden, and the Baltic States, the European Union leaders have delayed a decision on whether to restart talks over establishing a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Russia. "The PCA will resume once the analysis, the evaluation that is being done by the Council (of EU ministers) and commission is finished," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Amid funeral proceedings for Alexei Cherepanov, the New York Rangers first-round pick who died during a game outside of Moscow Monday, the Duma called for a probe of why medical officials weren't present at the game. Responding to outlandish claims of Russia expertise by Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, her Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, recently quipped, ...

The press and blogosphere are of course having a field day with the news that executives from Gazprom are enjoying a road show in Alaska this week to woo local representatives and meet with ConocoPhillips, possibly discussing participation in natural gas pipeline down to the lower 48 states. Given that Gov. Sarah Palin, the eminent "Kremlinologist," has placed so much emphasis on her foreign policy expertise with Russia, the Gazprom invasion is embarrassing to say the least. Some think that the timing of the Alaska visit carries a message: "The timing is as interesting as the visit itself," said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib Financial in Moscow. "Gazprom's entire senior management goes into Sarah Palin's backyard during a contentious election. There's a message there." However let's not lose the plot completely. Gazprom has had a business ...

The most-watched vice-presidential debate in history recently took place between candidates Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, and Joe Biden, the senior Senator for Delaware, at Washington University in St. Louis. There were reportedly 70 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research. Stockerblog.com has put together a comparison of the Joe Biden Stock Index, which is made up of the companies that are connected to the billionaire contributors to the Joe Biden campaign, and the Sarah Palin Stock Portfolio, which is made up of the stocks in the Alaska State disclosure filing for her and her husband. The Palin Portfolio was down 22% outperforming the Biden Index which was down 27%, which doesn't mean much since it a comparison of a contributor index to a stock portfolio, or in other words, apples to oranges. However, both grossly underperformed the Dow ...

When US stocks dived following the passing of the bailout bill, President Bush sought to calm investors. He said it would "take a while" for the bill to take effect. Problem is George W doesn't have much of time.

In less than one month, Americans will vote into office either Barack Obama or John McCain. Each has very different ideas about how to tackle the financial crisis.

Martin Hutchinson says Obama is most likely to win on a populist anti-Wall Street platform. But if he follows up this rhetoric with more regulation and protectionism, this could hurt US investors even more in the long run.

The market’s verdict on the $700 billion bailout was pretty clear: Stock prices started dropping the moment the bill was passed on Friday afternoon and continued to do so Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down 370 points for the day – after being down 800 points earlier that same day. The economic effect is also pretty clear: Given that the bailout plan is being launched at a point when money is already tight – and that it pours $700 billion of our money into the most useless, toxic waste left over from the housing bubble – you can be certain that it will end up starving more-worthwhile potential investments of badly needed capital. But the political impact is less clear, in both the short- and long-term periods. For a start, it’s not clear to the electorate who is to blame ...

From Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: McCain's scorn for Barack Obama was on unrestrained display in Friday night's debate. How dare this impudent whippersnapper imagine he can be president, you could almost see McCain thinking. I'm the one who's racked up the frequent-flier miles to Waziristan! Henry Kissinger and I were BFFs when Obama was glued to "The Brady Bunch"! Listening to McCain debate was like a stroll down foreign policy memory lane: Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko. George Shultz, "our great secretary of state." Perestroika. SDI. Those were the days, my friend. We thought the Cold War would never end. Maybe we should just ask everybody who were direct participants in the Cold War on both sides to just take a step back from government and policy circles, and let some of us without these burdensome historical hangovers take a crack at understanding each other.... Oh god, did I just ...

Ah, there's nothing quite like American conservatives fighting amongst themselves to make an election interesting, and wake us up from eight years of the Bush consensus slumber. First, the party's base really began to crumble this week with the exposure of deep doubts over the abilities of Sarah Palin following her collapse in a milk toast interview by Katie Couric. Ever since Kathleen Parker at the National Review published her attack on Palin, many are following suit. Some believe the heaps of abuse and mockery (see video below) being thrown out against the Alaskan governor plays to her advantage, but others think that populist charisma won't be enough to survive the debate and media. Naturally one of the principle areas of focus in these criticisms of Palin is her claim of Russia expertise, which is one of the main points raised by an ...

Sarah Palin is the Republican vice-presidential nominee in the upcoming presidential election, Alaska's first female governor, and their youngest governor. Todd, her husband, and Sarah Palin’s stock holdings can be found in her Alaska State disclosure filing for this year. Here are the stocks they own:iShares MSCI Australia Index (EWA) is an ETF that invests in Australian stocks. It has a PE of 13 and pays a yield of 5.33% .iShares MSCI Belgium Investable Market Index (EWK) is an ETF that invests in Belgium stocks. It has a PE of 9 and pays a yield of 9.98% .iShares MSCI Spain Index (EWP) is an ETF that invests in Spanish stocks. It has a PE of 10 and pays a yield of 4.56% .International Game Technology (IGT) makes and sells computerized gaming equipment. It has a PE of ...

Sarah Palin is the Republican vice-presidential nominee in the upcoming presidential election, Alaska's first female governor, and their youngest governor. Todd, her husband, and Sarah Palin’s stock holdings can be found in her Alaska State disclosure filing for this year. Here are the stocks they own:iShares MSCI Australia Index (EWA) is an ETF that invests in Australian stocks. It has a PE of 13 and pays a yield of 5.33% .iShares MSCI Belgium Investable Market Index (EWK) is an ETF that invests in Belgium stocks. It has a PE of 9 and pays a yield of 9.98% .iShares MSCI Spain Index (EWP) is an ETF that invests in Spanish stocks. It has a PE of 10 and pays a yield of 4.56% .International Game Technology (IGT) makes and sells computerized gaming equipment. It has a PE of ...