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...help." Kurkov captures such absurdities of post-Soviet existence with characteristic black humor. Born in St. Petersburg, Kurkov grew up in Kiev, where his parents moved when he was 2. He learned Ukrainian, majored in foreign languages at college, and now writes essays in Russian, Ukrainian, English and German. He also speaks Japanese, his fluency in which nearly landed him a stint monitoring Japanese radio traffic for the kgb in 1985. To avoid that, he worked as a prison guard in Odessa, where his job was to write papers for political indoctrination classes. That took about 30 minutes...
...Russo-Japanese War was another gift from the gods to Roosevelt. He had long worried about czarist ambitions in Asia, as he worried about German ambitions in the Atlantic. He was full of admiration for the Japanese armed services as they steadily vanquished the larger Russian armies on land and smashed the Russian fleet in the epic battle of Tsushima in May 1905. But the President did not want complete Japanese domination of the Far East either, and so he actively lobbied both sides to turn to the peace table. Since Britain was diplomatically allied to Japan, and France...
...same, the world remained a dangerous place. There were the German threat to France, the Anglo-German rivalry in the North Sea, the Balkan tinderbox and the unanswered question of Japan's ultimate ambitions. Roosevelt decided a bold move was required to send a message that the U.S. was a global player. In December 1907 he dispatched from Hampton Roads, Va., the "Great White Fleet," consisting of all 16 of the U.S. Navy's modern battleships. They were embarked on what would be a 46,000-mile, 14-month cruise around the world. Here was showing the flag, indeed. Almost...
...overflows with gourmet comestibles, stocking around 46,000 products from exquisite smoked salmon and marinated olives to fresh oysters. But it's the non-Western delights that are Great's real points of difference, with the store boasting very wide Japanese, Korean and kosher selections alongside the Italian, German or French fare. Choose your sashimi or sushi, get some kimchi on the side, and then head over to nearby Hong Kong Park for Asian alfresco dining...
...Ratan Tata merely draws a salary from Tata Sons. And while hardly poor, he takes personal modesty seriously. Tall, guarded and retaining the outsider's accent he picked up in an earlier life as a trainee architect in the U.S., he is famously private. He lives with his two German shepherds, Tito and Tango, in the same second-floor apartment in Bombay that he has kept for 20 years. He is one floor below his stepmother, and neighbors say they have never known him to throw a party. His one indulgence apart from his dogs he is frequently spotted muddying...