Farah Stockman wrote a terrific article about Turan, Iraqi bonds, and the way bond prices track political and social stability in conflicted nations like Iraq:

WASHINGTON — Some count the kidnappings. Others count the suicide bombs. Still others count the deaths of US soldiers. But, in the saga of Iraq’s slow struggle toward normalcy, Robert Smith keeps track of something far more obscure: the price of Iraqi governmentissued bonds.

Smith, one of Boston’s most intrepid investors, has made his fortune betting on the world’s most dangerous places. Dubbed the “Indiana Jones of International Finance,’’ Smith buys IOUs from governments so unstable that few others will touch them.

From an office that overlooks Boston Harbor, Smith can recall when Iraq looked like a terrible gamble, as sectarian violence raged and the country slid toward a civil war. But now, a week after Iraq’s historic election, his bets are paying off: The price of Iraqi bonds has doubled in the last year, recently hitting their highest value ever.

“Iraq has the potential to vault past other countries’’ to become a top oil producer, said Smith, a 70-year-old debt merchant whose recent book, “Riches Among the Ruins,’’ details his investment adventures.

Check it out online or in the Sunday Boston Globe.

Last year, I met with a Palestinian official named Dr. Jihad al-Wazir, the governor of the Palestinian Monetary Authority. He explained to me his vision for financial modernization and transparency as a way forward for the West Bank, with investment providing greater opportunities for the territory. Although the specter of armed conflict – either with Israel or internally with Hamas – always looms over Palestine, they have actually made some remarkable economic strides.

This week, a group of Palestinian business leaders and investors traveled to London to promote the Palestine Securities Exchange, based in the cities of Nablus and Ramallah. Ahmad Aweidah, the PSE’s chief executive, pointed out the fact that “investors have achieved an average annual return of 17.5%” since 1997.

The PSE is moving towards floating itself as a publicly-traded company in late 2010 or 2011, according to the Financial Times, and its biggest Western investor is Blakeney Management, a small London-based firm very similar to Turan in its focus on emerging markets and illiquid assets, according to Aweidah.

The risks of investing in Palestine are obvious – security and corruption top the list, with the ability of listed companies to expand their production and sales severely limited in the event of conflict or Israeli blockades. The upshot is that like any ‘frontier market,’ opportunities to pick up underpriced securities will exist in the climate of uncertainty and inefficiency. The largest of the exchange’s 39 companies is PalTel, a local mobile provider – a classic emerging market infrastructure play, as many developing economies skip landlines altogether and head straight for mobile networks that cover more population faster.

If conditions stay relatively stable and Dr. al-Wazir is able to create a functioning system for central banking and capital markets, Palestine’s relatively educated population could fuel an economic boom in a territory starved for opportunity.

Look to see the PSE’s investor roadshow repeated later this year in New York City.

This isn’t my article, but it’s an insightful analysis of the state of sovereign debt – including the seismic shift of high debt ratios from emerging to developed nations.

Many metrics speak to the generalised nature of the disruption to public finances. My favourite comes from Willem Buiter, Citi’s chief economist. More than 40 per cent of global GDP now resides in jurisdictions (overwhelmingly in the advanced economies) running fiscal deficits of 10 per cent of GDP or more. For much of the past 30 years, this fluctuated in the 0-5 per cent range and was dominated by emerging economies.

Second, the shock to public finances is undermining the analytical relevance of conventional classifications. Consider the old notion of a big divide between advanced and emerging economies. A growing number of the former now have significantly poorer economic and financial prospects, and greater vulnerabilities, than a growing number of the latter.

It’s now nations in the developed world that have surging deficits and total debt closing in on 100% of GDP, while emerging markets like Brazil are cleaning up their balance sheets thanks to competitive manufacturing businesses, commodity exports, and hawkish central banks.

While there are a lot of factors el-Erian leaves out, it’s a good overview of the future of sovereign debt.

Latin Finance turned to Turan Corporation’s experience and the Riches Among the Ruins blog for analysis on the struggle between Lulismo and Chavismo in Latin America.

Brazil’s election is looming, with the electorate divided between Lula’s hand-picked successor Dilma Roussef and the Sao Paulo state governor, Jose Serra.