Well, thanks for telling it like it is, finally. Few others have tried. Who benefits from all the rubbish? At some point the U.S. business community and economy will yawn and wake up and discover that they have missed out on a hell of a lot. How can a giant economic power (US of A-holes) afford to have zero intel on Russia and continue to stumble along with any kind of success? Does anyone besides me see parallels with bad old evil empire here?

Lois DuPey
emerging from the wilderness

I like that video very much.

RussiaToday does a great job.

But the Wall Street Journal and CNN don't deliver news, they deliver perceptions with marketing and mechanizing. Most journalists wanted to be actors, but in Western media, they can be such. Truth doesn't get good ratings, and to that, the US public believes Russia is bad and Iraq is very successful with an oasis of peace and prosperity (if you watch FoxNews).

Almost everyone in America is acting or adjusting stories for the better taste. Ted Haggard, the evangelical preacher, is an extreme where he sells religion in a church while taking heroine and doing a gay prostitute. What you see in America isn't what you get. And for this, it is so easy to understand why Americans see Russia the way they do.

Unfortunately the US media gets a slightly higher rating (profit), yet the entire US nation loses billions in profits by not partnering with Russia. The short term gains of this entire US methodology is starting to show up in sub prime mortgages and this is only a symbol of the lost profits by forcing the American public to misunderstand Russia and the entire CIS.

Russia and her allies will make the gains and profits either way, it's the US media that does the disservice to it's own nation.

Hypocrisy, double standards, US media on Russia, US media on Iraq, round tables at the Whitehouse yammer about Iraq, or the experts at www.NTI.org yapping about nuclear material in the CIS - all of these issues are the same thing, US leaders and media trying to use words to create a new reality.

And repeat such chatter enough times, and maybe reality does change?

Visit the www.NTI.org site and realize how WAY OFF the US is about Russia and Belarus or the CIS in general.

NTI will send your very own FREE DVD, and as usual, the DVD is a STORY.
They make the story look like news.
And the best part is the main actor is running for US president :Fed Thompson.

Global investors are becoming concerned at the politics of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, of which Russia is a member.

The SCO is a growing political grouping that restrains the global market, and promotes regional cooperation in many sectors, including the military and energy.
S.C.O. Summit Demonstrates its Growing Cohesion

Hey IJ,

Yea... God forbid if there is cooperation with Russia...
God forbid if anyone should cooperate without Western input...

Oh my goodness, the US invented "business" and market economics (on the backs of American Indian, Mexicans, Blacks), and God forbid if someone should sign a contract without consulting the US, without placing a phone call for approval or that special wink or nod.

The SCO and business around the world continues whether or not the US mortgage system recovers, and it flows irregardless of US liquidity or stock market standing.

Eventually, global trade will happen without US dollars. It is at that point when America must wake up, dig down to her roots, and figure out a way of lifting America out of her hole without the crutch of hegemony or slavery - except at that point, energy will be expensive as a mother, and will not be the catalyst or the grease of any economy.

The SCO had some impressive "Peace Mission 2007" results... it's not just about economic cooperation but a full flank arenas.

It just seams to me that the world has a tendency towards peace, prosperity and cooperation, unless some PNAC / NEOCON steps in and spreads it's love and good intensions as we see in Iraq.

If we get anymore SCO structures, my GOD, we may have world peace !!! Hopefully (my sarcasim) American can zoom in and keep that from happening, you know? for democracy...

Luther,

Suggestions of SCO's harmful influence on the global market take us back to the discussion we had on Gazprom.

Leaving regional politics aside for now, Russia seems keen to help draw up a new global financial architecture. We agreed this should be done.

However the official forum that could be used (the G20?) was unresolved. And could a new central currency (SDR's?) replace national currencies?

Moreover what would be the aim of the new architecture? To help enforce the UN's R2P (discourage states from committing genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity), or provide protection for blue collar employment all over the world, or something else. Working with, not against, human nature seems a priority.

Hello IJ,

Well, anything that is similar to NAM but is altered where giants such as Russia, China, India, Brazil could joint... Bric plus any oil exporting nation should join... with the current members of NAM...

After a while, the pressure would mount onto the EU+UK and the US and they would join... A gold standard? no, that's not needed...

Frankly, the way the EU bylaws demand specific financial performance and ceilings on deficits, to carry that over to this new global NAM, that would work... and it would end $ hegemony, and no matter where you live and work, your competitiveness is based on your country's standing in energy and efficiency (such as public transport, education, healthcare, investment into infrastructure from decades ago)...

Just a thought, but what we have today in the US isn't working... honestly, having US banks pump more cash into the US econ to save the DOW isn't true capitalism - THAT'S COMMUNISM - THAT'S SUBSIDY - IT'S A HANDOUT. Having the EU flood and add liquidity to help the US mortgage system just doesn't sound like a system of advanced economics, Reagan would be irked... The US, the symbol of capitalism, so they say - is the richest of all nations - yet it needs EU liquidity and Chinese loans...

Something is really fishy. The English sounds good, and it makes a great movie and a fantastic speech for some US president, but I'm not putting my money into it.

Luther,

Thanks for the comments. I'll try to sum up where we've reached.

Which official forum should approve the new global financial architecture once it's drawn up? We still can't agree, but you suggest a change is not urgent.

I thought the G20. The G20 website says member countries represent around 90 per cent of global gross national product, 80 per cent of world trade (including EU intra-trade) as well as two-thirds of the world's population. The G-20's economic weight and broad membership gives it a high degree of legitimacy and influence over the management of the global economy and financial system.

However you suggest starting afresh and gathering together a new grouping of NAM (the old non aligned movement) - 113 nations with 7% of the world's GDP - plus BRIC's (Brazil, Russia, India and China) - and transient oil exporting nations.
The time it would take to form the grouping and make it globally legitimate would of course be huge problems.

Could a new central currency (SDR's) replace national currencies? There is no need, you think, despite frequent complaints about dollar hegemony.

Moreover what would be the aim of the new architecture? To help enforce the UN's R2P (discourage states from committing genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity), or provide protection for blue collar employment all over the world, or something else. Working with, not against, human nature seems a priority.

Hello IJ,

Heck, maybe you are right, the G20... maybe a BIG NAM... I really don't know.

I think we can all agree that something is wrong, and we can agree to a direction towards a solution that eliminates $ hegemony, and as this article is about - eliminate false images of nations such as Russia, but the details are for the economist and the politicians...

I write software, run a business and try to figure out where my family is an all this. With respect to Belarus and Russia, I favor them because it makes sense, it's not just a personal issue and US hegemony doesn't help the world, and it certainly will leave nothing for FUTURE US GENERATIONS...

What US hegemony does do, is subsidize the current US economy... Although today's neocons and liberals SAY and CLAIM they want to leave something for future US generations, it's a joke... The folks running America today will infact TAKE IT WITH THEM as they kick the bucket. US debt being created today will crush the next generations in the US - Merry Christmas to our dear grandchildren.

The only thing left in the US will be lack of energy and debts. The short sighted in the US believe and think pressuring Russia, distorting Russia's image will somehow make America richer now and tomorrow... sounds great, but it's not working. Iraq is more believable...

So the current system that favors America - is a pipe dream, and in fact, not only did it suck so much wealth out of the CIS since 1991, but Americans today have used hegemony to reach into the future of US generations and rip all wealth out of their grandchildren's lives...

Kill the dollar, and the world will be a better place, and future US generation will have no mess to clean up, and no debts handed down from the baby boomers.

How we get there? I think the answers are a mixture of G20 / NAM / SCO / EU / BRIC / UN and so forth.

Americans smirk that our marketing took so much from Russia, but it's the US future they took to the cleaners.

Who should Russia partner in drawing up a new financial architecture?

The Swiss-based World Economic Forum is active in this area, and this year published The International Monetary System, the IMF and the G20 in an attempt to move the matter forward quickly.

The many comments I have read that echo, "America is the cause of all evil," and that "Russia is just miss-understood or miss-characterized," is a great drum-beat, but rather shallow and lends zero credibility to the author nor truly addresses a solution.

Though it is true that the US media as a whole does not report bright and shiny images of doing business in Russia, it does not necessarily go unjustified.

Having lived in Russia during the 90's with my office two blocks from Red Square, and having a wife and daughter born in the Far East, I have a great love for Russia and hope some day to return for business opportunities. However, my failed business adventures in Russia left me, like so many others, with a very bad taste in my mouth.

For me to go back, I need the confidence of assurances. I need to know and trust that the system will allow fair business practices. For me to re-invest in Russia I need to know that the system will not allow my partners to steal from me without prosecution; that I can run a business with clean books instead of multiple books; that I don't HAVE to create shell companies to shelter income from a corrupt or manipulatable tax system.

As an American with the FBI always looking at our foreign business, I want to run a clean and straight up business in Russia. In the past, this was not possible nor achievable. Perhaps now it is different, but how do I know? What builds my faith?

This is my point. In order for Russia to fully access the investment capital from the Western World, the investors need a sense a security. Investors are not afraid to take risks. They do it all the time. We invest in a risky business and it fails, so be it. We chalk it up to experience. But if the business fails because we were deceived by our partners, simply due their system appears to support their deceptive practices, well then, we get very bitter.

And there is the crux of the bad press to talk about. Too many bitter investors. If Russia wants the investors to return, then she needs to get aggressive in her courting them. Russia needs to send good-will ambassadors, she needs to buy the good news and disperse it broadly, she needs to high-light and publicly prosecute businessmen who have cheated the foreign investors (and since Moscow seems to have a controlling factor in the media, if you have no one to prosecute, fabricate someone).

The point is, a reputation needs to be built that is geared towards giving foreign investors confidence. Whining about the big bad US of A doesn't achieve squat in the public relations image of Russia.

Dear Jeffrey Brooks,

I am an entrepreneur myself, and like most, we all have our personal failures and business failures.
I had some bad experiences with partners and customers that costs me 100's of thousands of dollars over years of my business activities. I had people modify contracts after we signed (in the US), I had my signature forged (in the US), lawyers (in the US) that milked budgets for cases that we won, and I had some partners do so much in terms of theft, but with each, I blame myself for not qualifying my partners and for not applying my due diligence.

You need to step back from failure, learn, regroup and move on.

I don't care how bad it was in Russia for you, more people were successful during the 1990's than failed. No matter how much failure there was, there was always more success even during the 1990's in Russia. Those that managed to get screwed, yet didn't cry about it, didn't freeze, those went on to be successful in Russia.

Jeffrey, the failures of your business in Russia was your failure, not Russia's, and my own failures are my responsibility. I know more entrepreneurs who fell on their butts, fell into bankruptcy but always got up and made their businesses work in whatever country they were in.

And anyway, you said: "America is the cause of all evil" ?
I say No... But as soon as people stop generalizing the negatives about Russia, Belarus and the rest of the CIS, then I will stop generalizing about the frequent failures in the US.

Regardless, my words are not as harsh as Zhirinovsky's, a great video below translated to English.

http://www.therussiansarehere.com/flashvideo/main.trah?file=Vlad-Zhirinovsky.flv

Wow Luther, I think you missed my ENTIRE point. I am not nor have ever blamed anyone else. My point is about perception. I agree with you that there was and is great business to be had in Russia. But if Russia as a whole, wants investors to come to Russia, then Russia as a whole needs to work on her image.

Jeffrey,

Sorry, maybe a jumped too fast...

Anyway... sure Russia needs to work on her image... But she has, we can see it in the BOOKS, the BOTTOM LINE, the deliverables, the results...

The image is hurt from the outside, by people who believe Iraq is going just DANDY.

Russia and many CIS nations are held to a higher standard, while places like America and the EU vigorously work to destroy the image of Russia and the CIS.

It's actually kind of like being an entrepreneur... if you are successful, it takes very little effort to maintain your level because of the momentum... But, Russia, Belarus and many CIS nations actually need to be TWICE (due to the 1991 collapse) as efficient, productive, and innovative as western nations in order to rise out of the ashes... Like they say, suffering breads character and nothing will make you more successful than a good case of failure...

People of intelligence know the CIS has a great future.

After all, if Bush were running Russia, just imagine where Russia would be today... It's almost like the grandfather clause where the old guy is given special rules... The US owing 60 trillion in debt plus 150 trillion in entitlements is good for the US (that's sarcasm incase some can't pick that up), but if Russia were in the same spot, the auditing and accounting firms would rate Russia at a F+.

Luther,
You're point is well taken and spot on. But how is that analysis used to help Russia? As a business owner and operator, I do not believe the financial pie to have a defined size. One thing I have learned is that for my business to do well, it helps me that my competitors do well, that my adversaries do well,that the economy in general does well. As the saying goes, "A rising tide rises all ships."

For me (generally speaking as an investor) I want to know that Russia is on the right track and that people are doing well there. I don't need to be there first. Russia has a very long and prosperous future ahead of her, and I doubt that no matter how long on sit on my backside, I still will not "miss the boat."

But coming back to my original point, "perception". What is Russia doing about her perception? Call it a conspiracy if you must, blame it on the US media if you must, blame it on Hollywood if you must. Compare her to the US and her leaders if you must, but we still come back to the same spot about her image and what is she doing about it?

When the gas line blew and killed the kids in Washington State a few years ago, I know as fact that the company paid the local news outlets to run positive stories about the company. They did and it worked. When a can of Coca Cola is in the hand of a Hollywood actor during a film, Coca Cola pays for that ad spot. During the late 40' through the late 70's, Israel supporters paid for Hollywood movies to be produced portraying good on Israel. While I was living in Argentina, the government paid for tourism ads.

What have we seen about Russia lately? Books about true conspiracies; Hollywood movies portraying gangsters and corruption; Russian leaders letting submarines sink because of pride and ego or just pure incompetence. The list can go on. I am not trying to trash on Russia, but this is the uphill battle.

Saying it is not fare or up-to-date does little to convince the investor to return for round two.

True many people do not want this good news to be public. They do believe the pie is limited and they want to get theirs first. Others on a global scale also do not want Russia to be prosperous. They want Russia to flounder and need perhaps the US economically. All this is true and all this will not change.

So again, what is Russia doing about this? This blog is one great way of helping, but it is only one blog. Russia needs to utilize the trickle up theory. She needs to promote the heck out of herself in every field: tourism, trade, manufacturing, banking, you name it, but don't forget her legal and political structure. She needs to build the investors' confidence in ALL of Russia, and then she needs to concentrate on helping enrich and empower the people at the bottom so that they can feed the system. America's financial strength does not come solely from her mega-corporations, it comes mostly from her enormous tax base of citizens and their earning and spending power.

Hello Jeffrey,

I am a former "ditto head". A ditto head is someone that listens to Rush Limbaugh (I think the guy is a jerk now) and I agree with the concept you wrote that this isn't a pie or that wealth is some finite size... In fact, you don't need to take from A and give to B. That wealth is created and it can grow out of thin air by simply growing an economy...

But later I realized that said pie can be finite once you take energy into account. In fact, real - true wealth will be found by extreme efficiencies or true innovation as apposed to today's integration or evolution of ideas. We need major inventions like we had 50 years ago and 100 years ago, not this pathetic evolution. Nothing major has been invented in the last 30-40 years. The PC or Windows or the Internet are not MAJOR.

So unless we get something like fusion going, nations that have energy issues are completely and total screwed. If your nation is energy efficient then your ok, even if you have little reserves. But the worse nightmare is to have little energy and massive energy consumption - think the US here.

Therefore, as a former republican and a former ditto head, I can agree with you.
But, energy is finite and with out energy or with an energy hog of a nation, then you can kiss your ass good bye.

So with out inserting a large post into RussiaBlog's DB, I can't tell you all the details why Russia is a great investment. I'm not a financial advisor and I'm not a big business, but I took this analysis as a hobby, and once I personally experienced Belarus and Russia, I was able to see the obvious and it was this coupled with energy issues that I realized how much Belarus, Russia and the CIS nations were in a perfect position for a very prosperous future and yet at the same time, I realized how dismal the US future was.

Whether you are looking at simple agriculture, IT, nukes, aerospace, educations, demographics, health, transportation or urban planning, when you look at the fundamentals in relation to ENERGY, you will realize that putting your money anyplace in the CIS is bound to be far better than the US.

It's just my opinion, nobody here is paying for such. But if you take any major sector of every economy, and look at how energy effects it, then it's far different than just a monetary issue.

The pie is not limited, but the energy going into the pie is limited. If humans in general innovate (as apposed to evolve and integrate) then that pie can grow. But I feel Bush knows the energy pie is finished and it's why we encircle Russia, and anyone with any brains would see that fusion is 50 years off, and that you had better pay attention to the energy part of the pie equation, it's not just about monetary growth or consumption... energy efficiency is going to be the next holly grail as well as absolute energy reserves.

Luther

Thieves. Killers. Fascists. Monopolists. Illinois, huh?