Following Bloomberg, of so questionable recent developments West deals with Russian investment opportunities too similarly to then Soviet political satellites in the time seeking a shelter in a rouble zone, which had resulted in a huge loss during an unpredictably occurred collapse of the Soviet Union:

“Ruble Cubed? Putin Puts Medvedev in Dilemma on Prices” (Update4)
By Bo Nielsen and Emma O’Brien

May 5 (Bloomberg) — The world’s biggest banks are advising their clients to load up on rubles in a bet that one of the first things Dmitry Medvedev may do after he’s sworn in as Russia’s president this week is to allow a stronger currency.
Merrill Lynch & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG predict gains of as much as 4 percent in the next six months. They say pressure will mount on the central bank to let the ruble appreciate to stem inflation even if it risks damping profits of oil and energy exporters, which according to Merrill Lynch fund more than half of the federal budget. […]

Perhaps, this motion contradicts none highlighted already with “West-West Perspective: Russia” being published a couple of years ago.

Alaska-2005: Cook Inlet. Photo by M.Kerjman

West-West Perspective: Russia

Out-of-square solutions among which a trance-continental railway connecting Russia with the States are seen as a way to tackle environmental/natural resources problems in a new millennium.

Although a known European dependence on Russia’s power sources substantiates world politics during at least two last centuries, new trends in further cooperation with eastern neighbours such as China and the USA of which businesses are major players of a Russian oil sector present a significant challenge, considering the trance-Bering Strait projects in progress. [...]