TNK-BP: Volodia’s Café

Tony Hayward is shocked - shocked - to discover that Russia isn’t quite a rule-of-law country. The BP chief executive chose the annual assembly of Rosneft, the Russian state-owned oil giant, to point out - rather timidly in fact - that the country’s long-term economic success depends on the respect of property rights and a “consistent application of the rule of law”. Hayward’s sudden discovery that something isn’t quite right in Russia was brought about by the TNK-BP imbroglio. Essentially, the...