IKN

News out of Яussia is that Яussian PM and Abba fan, Vladimir Putin, has just given the final go-ahead-all-clear-let’s-do-this-crazy-thing-one-time to the Bilateral private bank to be set up by his motherland and a place called Venezuela, which is in Latin America somewhere so they tell me.

The bank is to be a private enterprise with its HQ in Moscow and a branch in Caracas. It will be jointly funded and aims to offer capital to corporate projects in the hydrocarbons, electricity, mining, metallurgy, infrastructure, mechanics and petrochemicals sectors, according to the official stuff from Яussian infoagents Novosti today.

I’m sorry, did that say “mining”? Now how on earth might Яussia invest in the Venezuelan mining industry? What opportunities are there in the sector right now? Hmmm….can’t think of a single one……any ideas spring to mind, Mr. Salamis?

Finally, if you think banking in CommieHeaven Hugolandia is a dumb deal to get into check out this report today about how Venezuela’s second largest bank, Mercantil, raised profits by 22.5% in 2008, which sure beats the heel out of WaMu’s performance this year. And the US still tries to tell us down here how to run our economies……..