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By John Helmer in Moscow
For a brief moment, the death of Boris Yeltsin in April allowed his supporters and critics to reappear in full cry; particularly his supporters, whose attacks on the Putin administration have failed to attract an audience outside Embassy Row, and who are naturally nostalgic for the days when their bons mots drew better remuneration.
Since almost no Russian or western correspondent remains in Moscow today, who reported on the Gorbachev, the Yeltsin, and the Putin administrations, the Yeltsin obituary columns were largely an exercise in wishful retro-thinking — and exhibitionism.

By John Helmer in Moscow
It’s a pity Vladimir Lenin was tone deaf, and dismissed music (along with chess) as an entertainment for the ruling class. Had he an ear and taste for classical music (like Karl Marx, who was keen on Beethoven, and Leon Trotsky, who loved Verdi), he might have devised a revolutionary doctrine for the performing arts. This could have protected Russia from the likes of Mstislav Rostropovich the cellist, Nikita Mikhalkov the filmmaker, Valery Gergiev the conductor, and X the theatre director.
I regret I am obliged to avoid using X’s, or his Moscow theatre’s real name, because he and his colleagues are so thin-skinned, so despotic, and so vengeful, they brook no criticism, and would react by attacking the livelihood of a member of my family.

Two civil guard officers were killed Thursday when their booby-trapped car exploded near a barracks on the Spanish island of Majorca, local police said a day after a bomb in northern Spain injured dozens. “Two civil guard officers who were in an official vehicle were killed in an explosion,” a spokewoman for the civil guards on the Balearic islands told

Japan’s banks showed signs of recovery in their fiscal first-quarter results, but while the nation’s biggest lender reported profit gains, other bank results showed a difficult operating environment persists.

Corazon Aquino, who helped bring down a dictator as leader of the “People Power” revolution and became president of the Philippines in 1986, died Saturday in Manila at age 76.

Restrictions continued despite US president’s attempts to engage with Damascus.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Republicans from Iowa and New Hampshire defended their coveted early spots in presidential nominating contests Friday, as national party leaders consider recommending a new pathway to the White House for the 2012 election….

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Friday that former Philippines President Corazon Aquino will be remembered for her “crucial role” in moving the country to democratic rule through non-violent protest….

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bowing to populist anger, the House voted Friday to prohibit pay and bonus packages that encourage bankers and traders to take risks so big they could bring down the entire economy….