Moscow Rising.

Pity the prospective investor in Russia. He tries to reserve a business-class seat for a last-minute flight to Moscow, but forget it. Sold out. So are the hotels when he arrives. Alas, it's banishment to the shabby outskirts of town.

As a consolation, he treats himself to a pricey dinner at the aptly named Snobs--realizing, belatedly, just why Moscow has become the most expensive city in Europe. Nothing that a credit card can't take care of, he tells himself. But then he goes to an after-dinner club called First. Just as he sits down to marvel at the spectacle of a willowy trapeze artist gyrating high overhead, a black-tied waiter solicitously approaches. "I'm ...