Russia has been widely promoted as one of the BRICS nations, full of energy and dynamism like many leading emerging economies. Indeed, with its low unemployment figures, growing GDP, and recent WTO membership, it could be heralded as a poster child of the shifting concentration of wealth from the west to the east. Yet after spending 11 days in Moscow and St. Petersburg in February and March, we came away with mixed feelings.

-Article by Karl Moore and Tarek Dabbous

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Moscow and St. Petersburg with Professor Karl Moore and 42 other McGill students as part of the Hot Cities of the World Tour. Each year, the tour aims to bring McGill students to various cities which will likely rise to prominence and become global centers of economic activity in the coming years. While representing McGill University, students travelling with the Hot Cities tour have visited Tel Aviv, Dubai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Johannesburg and many other cities. The tour has two primary purposes.