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Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., says the Yukos affair reflects Mr. Putin's interest in "neo-imperialism abroad, and authoritarian control at home.

Kinda like looking in a mirror eh John.........

Russia has a right to set limits on key commodities, although one may question the prudence in doing so. Nevertheless what's at stake here is the rule of law. Business and commerce can't really thrive unless they can count on some minimal standards of justice and the rule of law. Contracts must be enforced and agreements must be kept.

Evidently Putin still wants to hang onto the kind of centralized power that his predecessors enjoyed under the Communist system. That's not compatible with the development of a free market system, which Russia needs if they are ever to put the disastrous mistakes and missed opportunities of the Soviet system behind them.

China also needs to confront these contradictions. You can't have a totalitarian government and a market economy at the same time. Sooner or later they will come into conflict. Anyone who invests in China at the present time is incredibly stupid, because they will never get their money back out.

No surprise here other than it took so long. When are Americans going to wake up and realize that overseas companies and governments do not "play by our rules"? I have zero invsetments in overseas corporations and minimal in US companies that have moved most of their operations overseas. Japan has been breaking international laws for 60 years, Old Europe and the Arab states aren't to be trusted and as far as Russia goes - well we all know that you can't trust them. When the bottom drops out in theses second rate counties the first thing they wioll do is absorb/confiscate/nationalize the US holdings.