Booba

Opportunities to Profit from the New Cold War

I'm sorry, but it seems like this guy has no clue what he is talking about!
1) "Georgia, which had been well run economically"
Yea, it is so "well run" that hundreds of thousands of Georgians went to Russia to find work!
And some other facts:
"Corruption is perceived as significant. Georgia now ranks 99th out of 163 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index for 2006".
"Judicial corruption is still a problem despite substantial improvement in trying to raise the level of efficiency and fairness in the courts. Both foreigners and Georgians continue to doubt the judicial system's ability to protect private property and contracts."
www.heritage.org/index...
More over, Georgian President was accused in corruption and and seizing property illegally:
www.guardian.co.uk/com...
The fact that World Bank controlled by American Government prises Georgia doesn't mean this is true.
This is well-known fact that Georgia is tightly US-controlled "project" with President that graduated in America and his wife is an American citizen (not naturalized one) with tight political connections in Washington.
2) "especially since Vladimir Putin looks a lot more dangerous than the sluggardly Leonid Brezhnev."
Really? And what did you make you think so? The conflict with Georgia?
Let me remind you what have happened there. Georgina troops started shelling and bombing City of Tshinvali. Most of its residents are Russian citizens. What should Russia do? Whatch and relax?
What else makes this guy think that "Putin is dangerous"? What about Bush then that invaded Iraq and Afghanistan? Look at the map: where is South Ossetia and Russia, and where is Iraq and Afghanistan and America? So, who is "dangerous"?
If you do an economy analysis, you shouldn't put all of that CNN-style "we all hate Russians and Putin" bullshit here!
Brezhnev's USSR openly declared that it supported all countries that "chose socialism", and it did. Does Russia or Putin says or do that?
3) "Only the Ukraine seems to be trying its best to remain pro-Western, with its president, Viktor Yushchenko, flying in to Tbilisi to express solidarity with Georgia."
My poorly informed "analyst", "Yuschenko" does not mean "Ukraine". His approval rating is around 10% now, and even those who fiercely supported him now very disappointed. Not to mention that "pro-Western" president prohibited to use Russian language, the native language of 60% of Ukrainian residents, on TV and in commercials completely. Imagine what would happened if American President prohibited to use Spanish on TV and in commercials?
4) "Investing in Russia has always been a bit like visiting Las Vegas – but now it’s like wagering large amounts of money in a casino you know to be controlled by the Mafia"
Investing, my friend, is ALWAYS risky!
Sure, investing in mortgage-backing securities with AAA rating was completely safe, right? :)
5) "At some stage, oil prices will reverse – at which point Russia, with its thuggish approach and expensive military machine, is likely to run out of money quite quickly"
This is another very observation!
Russian gold and hard currency reserve holdings hit a record of 483.9 billion US dollars, having increased by 2.6 billion USD in a week, the Central Bank said. Russia has the world’s third largest gold and hard currency reserves after China and Japan.
www.globalfirepower.co...
This means that Russia has 3,500 USD of hard currency/gold reserves per capita.
How many thousands dollars of deficit per capita Americans have?
6) "As with Venezuela, foreign investors will then be the most obvious people to loot."
As with Venezuela????? I cannot see any similarities between Russia and Venezuela! Russia works with America and other Western nations in G8 trying to resolve global problems and spending money to fight famine, poverty, global warming, nuclear weapon control, etc. Russia works with America in space. Russia has been sharing intelligences with America and other Western nations that help them to fight terrorists. "Dangerous" Putin was first that called Bush to express his support his sympathy after September 11 and later went on to help American troops in Afghanistan.
Did Venezuela do anything like that?
7) "this time Putin may find he made a major mistake in timing his invasion of Georgia to coincide with China’s Summer Olympic showcase."
Oh, boy! Did the author forget WHO started it exactly when the Olympic Games was opening? Putin? Even CNN and AP say that Saakashvili started first!
8) "The United States will also need to boost its defense spending"
Really? And why we need to do that? To fight with Russia?
9)"One enormous advantage is that Russia alone is much smaller than the former Soviet Union, both in terms of population and its weight in the world economy."
So what? Russia is still able to evaporate this lil' blue planet!
There is NO advantages to have second Cold War and especially call for it, as you do in your article!
Nobody win it this time because post-Cold War history clearly showed Russia that in reality the West doesn't want to see Russia other than weak and humiliated. So, I doubt second Gorby will emerge from Russia!