Tensions have been running high between Russia and the EU since Russia invaded Georgia last month.

The two powers have reached an agreement on a draft peace plan, but business ties are a long way from normal. With the EU dependent on Russia for almost half of all it’s energy needs, this dispute could cause serious problems come winter.

Sara Nunnally says the EU’s scramble for alternative energy sources opens up new investment opportunities in frontier markets around the Caspian Sea. Sara says Turkey is also well placed to become a new regional energy hub.

Taipan Publishing’s Sara Nunnally thinks we are seeing the first wave of renewable energy investments in Latin America. The region is one of the fastest growing in today’s global economy, and countries like Chile are turning to wind and solar power to boost local energy capacity. However, ongoing political and instability in the region makes any new venture risky, so Sara recommends sticking to established European firms for solid profit opportunities…

Iran may be part of President Bush’s “axis of evil,” but Taipan Publishing’s Sara Nunnally says it is also a major player in the global commodities market that is now looking to expand its output.

Ambitious new projects to develop the steel and natural gas sectors will dramatically boost production. China and Russia are rushing in to secure supplies. But sanctions prevent the US from investing in Iran.

Sara says ongoing suspicion over Iran’s nuclear program will keep it off the investment table for much of the Western world…

Sara Nunnally says oil is having a major influence in Britain and Dubai, and creating new investment opportunities in both. One is running out of supplies, the other can’t spend its income fast enough. In Britain, this has prompted a new round of exploration permits, with Egdon Resources (LON:EDR) leading the chase. Meanwhile, Dubai’s venture into the luxury international hotel market could see considerable expansion in the sector. More from Sara…

It wasn’t long ago that we published several articles urging investors into the neglected biotech industry. Now Sara Nunnally over at Taipan Publishing says Central and Eastern Europe is a hot region for the sector right now. Big pharma is also looking to enter the rapidly growing market for generic drugs. And a popular way to establish a foothold in the region is through acquisitions of local firms.

Emerging markets economies are investing in other emerging markets, says Sara Nunally on Taipan’s Emerging Markets blog. China’s massive sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp., recently signed a deal to invest in Chile. Emerging market nations are even now investing in developed nations. Yet another reason, says Sara, for investors to keep emerging markets on their radar… 

When the U.S. economy fell off a cliff, a bunch of investors fled to the “safety” of booming emerging markets, like China and Brazil.

High energy prices make companies both rich and greedy. Electricite de France (NYSE:EDF) has $54 billion to spend on investments over the next two years. If it doesn’t spend this war chest on external acquisitions, it will spend it on internal expansion. Either way, EDF will remain a top energy company in Western Europe, says Sara Nunnally in Taipan’s Emerging Markets blog…

Conspiracy theorists, meet the Nostradamus of novels: Tom Clancy.

Taipan Publishing’s Sara Nunnally and her colleague Christian DeHaemer say the current conflict in South Ossetia between Russia and Georgia is scarily like the Tom Clancy video game Ghost Recon.

They also say the conflict is all about oil. Russia wants to control energy routes through the Caucasus. And it wants to destabilize Georgian plans to build a natural gas pipeline that would feed European demand. More from Sara…

Russia and China’s nuclear energy ambitions are well known. But Taipan Trader editor Sara Nunnally says Eastern Europe is also turning to nuclear power.

Several of the EU’s newer member states are currently holding bids for new plants. And having a clean and reliable energy source will spur industrial growth in the region, creating attractive investment opportunities in the process.

More from Sara with the countries most likely to benefit from this new energy drive…