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By Kevin Allison
The country needs to enhance the efficiency of its lucrative oil business. Rosneft’s $55 bln swoop on Russia’s number-three producer might help, if TNK-BP’s superior oilfield know-how rubs off on the lumbering state-dominated giant. More likely, the deal will stifle competition.

Hong Kong suffers from being small and open

By Andy Mukherjee
The territory has intervened again to stop its currency rising. But Hong Kong’s peg is only partly to blame for its liquidity glut. Singapore’s more-flexible exchange rate isn’t faring much better. Small, open Asian economies are basically helpless against Western money-printing.

Last U.S. debate neglects foreign policy realities

By Jeffrey Goldfarb
Listening to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney spar, it would have been easy to forget that Europe exists, free trade matters or global coordination of finance remains a priority. Worse, the politically facile China-bashing suggests both men are missing the big opportunity.

BBC discovers curse of successful institutions

By Edward Hadas
The UK broadcaster is engulfed in a scandal for its faulty handling of a star and his alleged sexual misdeeds. The BBC’s failures already look painfully obvious. But as BP, the Catholic Church and many others have discovered, self-correction is easier to preach than to practice.

China’s liquidity non-problem could turn ugly

By Andy Mukherjee
China is thirsty for “ultimate liquidity”, the money and debt which the government guarantees completely. Loans could dry up unless the central bank greases the credit machine more liberally. But the creation of more ultimate liquidity would also - ultimately - be risky.

Goldman exposé doesn’t go according to plan

By Antony Currie
Greg Smith’s resignation book doesn’t blow the lid on Wall Street the way “Liar’s Poker” did. Even his purported tale of disillusionment has been done before and better by Goldman veteran Jonathan Knee. The real revelation is the firm’s apparent erosion of employment standards.

Japan exporters should fear slowdown, not boycott

By Wayne Arnold
Ire over islands has hit Chinese consumers’ yen for things Japanese. But China’s slowing economy is having an even bigger impact on exports. And while China has toppled the U.S. as Japan’s biggest market, it’s plunging demand from Europe that’s dragging trade down the most.
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