by John Helmer - Friday, July 30th, 2010
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We need the rest to sharpen up for autumn, and let the squirrel alone to wag his tail and collect his nuts – back soon.

by John Helmer - Friday, July 30th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow In the last three months of 2009, according to the federal Ministry of Finance in Moscow, Russia exported about 250,000 carats of rough diamonds, produced by Alrosa, to the west African republic of Guinea. There is no known diamond cutting or polishing facility in Guinea, and Russia has never exported […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 30th, 2010
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Senator Bob Brown (left image) is the first Australian politician to call for official accountability in the secret dealings the Australian Government has had since 2004 with Oleg Deripaska. He is chief executive and controlling shareholder of United Company Rusal, the Russian aluminiun monopoly registered on the island of Jersey.

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 29th, 2010
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by John Helmer - Thursday, July 29th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow China’s metals giant, the Aluminum Corp of China Ltd. (Chalco aka Chinalco), tied another knot for its future mining plans in the Republic of Guinea with London-based Rio Tinto in a signing ceremony in Beijing today. But Guinea’s Mining Minister Mahmoud Thiam told Business Day this will not deter the […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 29th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The federal Ministry of Finance has moved the planned privatization for the state shipping company Sovcomflot into next year; increased the bloc of shares to be offered from 20% previously announced to 25%; and put a discount on the target value for the sell-off.

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 29th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow A $200 million road construction project in Kenya, one of the country’s biggest infrastructure investments, is being delayed by a World Bank investigation of the involvement of Oleg Deripaska. The due diligence investigation of Deripaska now under way at the World Bank is the first acknowledgement by the multilateral global […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow After selling out of its container business, the Far Eastern Shipping Company (Fesco), owned by Sergei Generalov (right image), has announced it is taking an August time-out, and will return in September with an announcement of its “near-term strategy”. It isn’t known where Generalov will take his holiday, but if […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Among the squares of 17th century London, St. James’s is one of the least pretentious, even if several of the buildings on the square have made a reputation for themselves as pretenders to such things as wealth management, war-fighting, and diplomacy. For them, the equestrian statue of King William III, […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
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