Today's news has seen upbeat reports about Russia's economy waving goodbye to the crisis, with Alexei Kudrin breaking the good news of a possible 'exit' from the depression, reporting strong third quarter growth (this growth, mind, has less to do with strategic planning than with increased oil production. Russia's production levels are at a record high, in direct counteraction to OPEC's efforts to raise demand). Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach has chimed in with the good news, suggesting the fourth quarter may see economic expansion of as much as 4%, as the stage is set for foreign investors, with the government's announcement that the state will be selling off some assets in 2010.
But surely, it can't all be good news. At least, not when the source originates from somewhere other than the Russian government. Reuters columnist Jason Bush suggests that the recent retreats of Carrefour and ABB may herald deeper issues:
Read the full article here.It's not exactly news that Russia is a challenging place to do business. And it's too soon to say whether these changes-of-heart represent a more general disillusionment on the part of major foreign companies.
What is obvious, though, is that the risk-reward calculus facing investors in Russia has changed dramatically since the onset of the economic crisis. Even though Russia's economy is returning to growth, nobody is predicting a rapid return to the hectic growth rates of 7-8 percent. Meanwhile, the legal and political risks remain as challenging as ever.
" Western politicians, however, point out that it is in Russia's interests to take action on climate change and to push for ambitious targets at December's Copenhagen summit. "There is 5,000 miles of railway track built on permafrost. It could crumble as a result of melting," Ed Miliband, the secretary of state for climate change, pointed out during a recent visit to Moscow."
The melting permafrost is the object of concern from Russian scientists since years [ Read Ria news or Russian scientifical publications ) and they don't need the advice of Mr Milbrand and others " Western politicians" [ Who have a strange Russophilia on this subject in comparison with their other statements on this country ] to deal with it .
What is this sudden interest for the Yamal Reindeers ?
I guess that nobody was taking care of them , except the " Prometheist " Paul Goble , before V. Putin announced massive oil and gas investments in the region .
The second reason is that perhaps somebody wants to include the methane emissions from the toundra in the Russian quota , prohibing any industrial developments in this country ?
On this level , Canada is as concerned as Russia even if the Russian toundra seems to warm a bit more than in Canada .
The third point is that the global warming is not a SCIENTIFICAL fact and there are many scientists in the world , not only in Russia ( In France M. Claude Allegre eg ) as this article seems to show , who don't agree with something is still a scientifical HYPOTHESIS and not a fact .