Word: russian
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...author's point is frequently pounded into the audience until the art form loses any claim to verisimilitude. In an effort to avoid this trap--and Stalin's censors, since The Dragon was written in the Soviet Union in 1943--Yevgeny Schwarz has turned to allegory, drawing on the Russian folk tradition to disguise a commentary on his country. Dragons, heroes, talking animals and flying carpets people his work, giving his play an outward simplicity that underlines his final statement...
...oldest royal victim of Communist rule is Grand Duke Vladimir Cyrilovitch, 58, cousin of the last czar and claimant to the throne of Russia. Born in exile, he has never set foot in Russia, but travels widely, visiting Russian émigré colonies. He is married to Grand Duchess Leonida, whose family ruled Georgia for 13 centuries. They live in Madrid and have one daughter...
...exactly a poor age for the piano. But no need to fear the historians' old canard about each epoch of artistic plenty being followed by drought. The best of today's pianists are already being pressed by some younger challengers, among them Vladimir Ashkenazy, 38, the Russian-born star who now lives in Iceland, and Italy's Maurizio Pollini, 34. They, in turn, have to look over their shoulders at even younger contenders...
...tariffs set in "conferences"-international shipping agreements -that cover nearly all commodities on the world's trade routes. A conference member, for example, must charge $52.75 per ton for carrying kraft wrapping paper from the U.S.'s West Coast to the Far East. The Soviet price: $38. Russian ships will haul coffee or sisal from Kenya to Europe for half of the conference rate, machine tools from West Germany to Canada at a 45% reduction, or indeed any product at whatever discount will win the business...
...Soviet shippers can get away with such tactics for simple economic reasons. Their operating costs are low. Russian crews are paid substantially less than Western sailors, and bunker oil, which sells for up to $80 per ton on the world market, costs the oil-rich Russians just $20 a ton. Nor are the state-owned Soviet ships saddled with the interest and financing charges that can account for about half the costs of running a Western vessel. Beyond that, the Soviet merchant marine does not have to show a profit; the state can absorb losses until Western lines cut service...