The Domination Continues

It was a tough day for anyone at 411 Summerhill that wasn't me. They all got dominated on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course and then in PS3 Tiger Woods 2007 Golf. It was tough to see so many dreams shattered in one day by the same person but I was able to continue.

I am sure that I will come to regret these words, the Ickey Shuffle I did in the living room and the plaque I made for myself but I have real problems celebrating my victories. Bygones.

On a more serious note, I continue to read about business conditions in Russia. The TNK-BP joint venture/company issues with its CEO versus the Russian shareholders was interesting. Neither the WSJ or The Economist wanted to cry foul about the treatment of the non-national shareholder interests and blame the Russian government but I will. The Russian government, Putin and Medvedev, had said that it is best to leave these disagreements to the private sector, yet there has been considerable involvement by the government in blocking Robert Dudley's, the American CEO, work visa as well as constant harassment to anyone not a Russian national working for the company.

Most people would consider this to be just the government making domestic owners stronger but the case of Mechel Steel in the news today shows that business in the former Soviet Union is getting hard for even the citizens of Russia that do business outside of the country. Putin is making very overt threats that if the largest shareholder of Mechel does not answer questions about selling cokin coal abroad more cheaply that he could be investigated by the prosecution office and anti-monopoly service.

This is just another example of the strange business conditions that happen abroad. In America, we are all offended by the strong handed approach and nationalistic stance Putin has taken. In Russia it is perfectly acceptable. I don't fault the Russian Prime Minister for being who he is, I fault everyone else for thinking that the culture has changed, thinking that we can apply Western business practices into a completely different culture.

This is why the Chinese have been so successful in Africa as well as other developing nations. They have a "live and let live" way about them when it comes to doing business on foreign soil. They don't care what happens in Darfur or Zimbabwe. As long as their national interests are taken care of, they could care less who gets oppressed/beaten/killed. I don't condone it. Rather, I think that we should accept the fact that not everyone thinks like the West and realize that no matter how many holes in the ground we drill for oil, natural gas or even water that each culture is unique and that we can't judge them by a standard we set for ourselves.