HOPES WERE HIGH for the start of Vladimir Putin's second term after his re-election as Russia's president in March. He had already pushed through enough radical reform to put the Russian economy on a path to sustainable recovery, and despite hiccups no-one doubted that he was committed to the reform of the country's creaking institutions.
Then came the summer crackdown on the Yukos oil company, which has unnerved investors and caused the stock market to lose all of the gains it had made since the start of the year. Each week brings a fresh round of banner headlines detailing the last blow and counter-strike as the two sides slug it out.
But lost among the news is the fact that the Russian economy is roaring ahead: if it weren't for the Yukos affair Moscow would be boom town as investors flocked in to set up shop.
At the...
