In an interview with Bloomberg, Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs says he’s still bullish on Russia despite receiving many emails requesting him to drop it from the BRIC grouping. So despite the murder of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, the ongoing farcical trial of Khodorkovsky, and rampant corporate raiding and theft with no reform in sight, the financial community sees no risk associated with the absence of rule of law.

They might want to check out Irwin Stelzer’s piece in the Wall Street Journal the other day, which argued that “Foreign investors in Russia are playing a game that Nathan Detroit, the host in “Guys and Dolls” of “the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York,” found unwinnable. On a losing streak, the gun-toting thug, Big Julie from Chicago, forced use of his own dice– which had no spots (“I know where they are,” Big Julie assured the players)–and proceeded to roll only winners.“