Word: russian
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...during the campaign, but the title of Prince of Gaffe belongs unassailably Silvio Berlusconi. Last week's election victory of Barack Obama and his garrulous running mate offered the Italian Prime Minister another chance to prove he is the world leader with the loosest lips. Speaking in Moscow alongside Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Berlusconi flashed a Cheshire-cat grin as he listed the reasons that Obama would be an effective leader: "He's young, handsome, and even has a good tan." (See pictures of Barack Obama's campaign behind the scenes...
Arkady Gaydamak, the enigmatic Israeli-Russian billionaire, thought he had his campaign for mayor of Jerusalem all gamed out. He was hoping that a win by his Beitar football team last week would boost his chances in the Nov. 11 vote. Indeed, Beitar started strong against rivals Ha'poel from Tel Aviv. Twice, his players sprinted up field, shaking off defenders to take cannonball shots at the goal, but twice the ball struck the crossbar. Beitar was scoreless. Then, in the last six minutes of the game, Ha'poel drilled in two goals. The Jerusalem fans left in a foul...
...Tuesday's mayoral race, Gaydamak - once the prohibitive favorite because of his lead in campaign financing - has had a streak of bad luck. Like many Russian oligarchs, he was hit hard by the global economic crisis. His fortune shrank, forcing him to sell off a major Israeli company at a $100 million loss and to fire nearly all of his radio-station staff. Worse still, Gaydamak, supposedly the model for the title role in the movie The Lord of War (starring Nicolas Cage as an arms dealer in Africa), is one of 42 high-profile defendants on trial in France...
Gaydamak is setting his sights on Jerusalem's secular and less Orthodox Jews. But the Russian faces competition from Nir Barkat, 49, a software multimillionaire and city councilman. They will end up splitting the secular votes, with Barkat scooping up the larger share. Barkat has swung to the right, promising to build more Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. Gaydamak thinks his only chance is to make inroads among the city's Arab community...
...idea of Gaydamak emerging as a champion of the city's Arabs baffles his Beitar football fans. The team's supporters are known for shouting "Death to Arabs" during matches. His fans say that while the Russian might know his football, he is clueless about Jerusalem's complexities (nor does he speak much Hebrew). Plus, they say, his advisers are selling him all sorts of crazy schemes so they can grab his shekels. Gaydamak, they say, may be a billionaire in Russia, but in Israel he is a freier, or sucker. (See pictures of Euro 2008 soccer games...