11:40 Shock and awe
The London press greeted the arrival this week of Valery Gergiev, the artistic director of St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater. As the new principle conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, his presence was met with a mix of shock and awe.

11:35 Comrade cowboy
Few countries are as rich in their literary heritage as Russia.Any nation would be glad to have among its literary progenitors even one author with the commanding epic scope of Leo Tolstoy, or a darkly prophetic visionary like Fyodor Dostoevsky...