When Russians gather to drink, they often offer each other a traditional rhyming toast that can be roughly translated as: “May we have more pies and doughnuts, fewer black eyes and bruises!” It’s a formula that Russia’s most powerful businessmen have been quietly offering the advertising-starved managements of some of the world’s leading newspapers in […]

by John Helmer - Monday, September 1st, 2003
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MOSCOW – There are four men, possibly five, who as former officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), know the sordid truth of the IMF’s intervention in the Russian economy, leading up to the decisions the Russian government took on August 17,1998, to cut the rouble loose, default on government debt, and cover the Russian […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, August 26th, 2003
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MOSCOW – A notable French medical researcher recently conducted an experiment with the drug Viagra on twelve men, who were helicoptered to one of France’s highest peaks. No women were present. As is very well known, Viagra is taken by men who are sexually aroused, but lack an erection for sufficient time to enjoy the […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, August 20th, 2003
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When two small Russians, each barely 165 centimeters in height, place for-sale advertisements for $3 billion apiece in the Financial Times of London, a tall story is certain to be in the offing — though not much taller than the Mother Goose tales, which are truer than you think. In “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” for example, […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, August 12th, 2003
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Glazyev’s star is rising on the politicai left – but you wouldn’t know it from his silence on Norilsk Nickel’s labor dispute It is recorded that, in April of 1794, when Georges Danton, the French revolutionary leader, was awaiting the guillotine at the foot of the scaffold, he remarked, “Ah, better to be a poor […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, August 12th, 2003
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A word about the common, green, wrongly maligned toad. “Don’t play with the toad,” French mothers used to warn their children, “because if he pees in your eye, you will become blind”. The youngsters might have been forgiven for not knowing what to do, because the appearance of the ugly creature was also said to […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, August 10th, 2003
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A notable French medical researcher recently conducted an experiment with the drug Viagra on twelve men, who were helicoptered to one of France’s highest peaks. No women were present. By itself, Viagra (the brand name for the chemical compound known as sildenafil) isn’t a psychotropic drug, which spurs the brain to sexual arousal. Instead, it […]

by John Helmer - Monday, August 4th, 2003
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MOSCOW – Wars usually start with one large lie. Throwing more troops into the breach requires a great many little lies. Wars usually end when the lying can’t staunch the bleeding, and the stench. According to the wife of the David Kelly, the British Defense Ministry expert on Iraqi weapons who committed suicide last Friday […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 22nd, 2003
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By John Helmer Wars usually start with one large lie. Throwing more troops into the breach requires a great many little lies. Wars usually end when the lying can’t staunch the bleeding, and the stench. According to the wife of David Kelly, the Defence Ministry expert on Iraqi weapons, who committed suicide last Friday by […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 20th, 2003
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MOSCOW – The most famous game of Japanese Go ever chronicled was the last match of the 64-year old master, Shusai, and his young challenger, Kitani Minoru of the Seventh Rank. This began in June 1938, and ended, 237 moves and six months later, on December 4. The master was defeated. To understand how a […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 15th, 2003
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