<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML xmlns:o = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2523" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Most of the international debt activists I talked to in mid-1998 were extremely excited when Boris Yeltsin defaulted on US$41 billion in foreign portfolio bets (with those unbelievably high interest rates), especially because it was the key factor in bankrupting the Nobel speculators at LTCM, and because it set the stage for a series of subsequent defaults - from Argentina to Nigeria to Zimbabwe - that at least partially alleviated the awful pressure from international financiers. Absolutely tragic that geopolitics and venality have brought the Russian elites back to this point, now. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=untimely_thoughts@yahoo.com href="mailto:untimely_thoughts@yahoo.com">Peter Lavelle</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">Like or dislike what his happening in Russia’s corporate environment, there is no doubt that the Kremlin will control Russia’s very lucrative energy resources. Who knows? But my gut tells me that the Kremlin will pay generous dividends.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN><o:p> </o:p></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>