Russia
![Video from China/Japan Presentation and DC Trip](https://investor.fm/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/blackbird.jpg)
Video from China/Japan Presentation and DC Trip
I had been in DC a few times before but never really had time to see the city. I took my almost-ten-year-old son Jonah with me on this trip, and we had an amazing experience.
![Randoms: Invitation to Presentation; Vodafone; Russia](https://investor.fm/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/russia.jpg)
Randoms: Invitation to Presentation; Vodafone; Russia
I’ll cover a lot of random subjects, but let me start with an invitation. I was invited to give a talk about China and Japan at my alma mater, the University of Colorado at Denver.
![Dear Mr. Ex-KGB](https://investor.fm/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/kgb.jpg)
Dear Mr. Ex-KGB
Dear Mr. Ex-KGB, desperate times call for desperate measures. No kidding. I understand why you took the collapse of the Soviet Union model added some wishful thinking and applied it to the United States.
![Russia Wrestles With Ruble Collapse](https://investor.fm/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/russia-3.jpg)
Russia Wrestles With Ruble Collapse
Bad decisions when times were fat spell a rough road ahead for those who hold their savings in Russian currency. It is amazing how things change in a few months.
![](https://investor.fm/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/russia-2.jpg)
Fly, Don’t Buy Airlines or Why Big Banks Make Dumb Loans
Why would somebody ever give a loan or buy airline bonds of any country? I can understand buying distressed bonds or maybe a stock as a trade.
![Russia We Dont Need the West Anymore](https://investor.fm/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/Russia-We-Dont-Need-the-West-Anymore_.jpg)
Russia: We Don’t Need the West Anymore
Royal Dutch Shell's $7.5 billion sale to Gazprom may have been coerced by the Russian government. Vitaliy Katsenelson looks at the Sakhalin-2 sale and examines the long-term implications if Russia disregards Western investment.
![Russian Thievery](https://investor.fm/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/Russian-Thievery_c.jpg)
Russian Thievery
The Russian government's threat to suspend licenses for two giga-billion projects by TNK-BP, in part owned by BP (BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-A), is not uncharacteristic of Russia and its very short term thinking.