> Do you think the Yukos strategy of trying to drag in non-Russian
> legal judgments will have any real effect?
Unless Russia returns to the semi-colonial mid90s, no non-Russian court can overrule the Russian state as to who owns Russian natural resources. This is both a practical matter, and also international law - the "Act of State Doctrine" which even the US has on occasion been forced to acknowledge - see Banco Nacional De Cuba v. Sabbatino, 376 U.S. 398 (1964) <http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=376&invol=398>
On the other hand all Russian assets outside Russia, excepting central bank accounts and to some degree other bank accounts, are I suppose at risk - insofar as they have not already been stolen. But this is not ultimately a legal matter, but a political one. The US routinely seizes assets it can get its hands on that belong to entities or states (Cuba above all) that it wishes to attack. But European states (and Canada) have a history of defying these US "legal" attacks on Cuba.
So, this sequence with Yukos and the US Bankruptcy Court in Houston or similar absurdities could have real effect. It could increase tension between the US and Russia, and were EU courts - or Canadian - to defy the US courts imperial claims to have global jurisdiction in regard to Yukos, it would increase tension between the US and EU/Canada. Of course to the degree EU jurisdictions accept the US imperial claims it would increase tension between Russia and the EU - but considering EU dependence on Russian gas this does not seem the more likely alternative.
Overall this is totally great - as proved by the incredible and delicious whining by all the swine about the end of the "rule of law" (i.e. rule of the the most vicious wicked criminals to be found anywhere on the globe - the Khodorkhovskys, Berezovskys, Gusinskys and all their filthy like ) in Russia. JRL somedays recently has been one long sequence of pieces of this sort. Lovely.
john mage