The Cunning Russian Boom

By any measure, Russia has a lot coming down the pike that would seem to augur better ties with the West.

Aside from the Winter Olympics in 2014 and the World Cup in 2018, there is the New START treaty and impending WTO membership.

This latter is of particular importance, some analysts say, because WTO membership, which has been in the works for 17 years, could lead to a surge in foreign investment and competitiveness in the Russian market. Perhaps. Certainly mergers and acquisitions in Russia are on the uptick: in the third quarter of 2010, M&A activity hit a three year high of $33.8 billion, pegging the Russian market just $4 billion behind China.