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☆ Meet the woman who engineered Russia's wartime economy and helped secure another term for Putin
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Russian central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina has played a key role in stabilizing Russia's sanctions-hit economy. It's also aimed at the woman behind him: Elvira Nabiullina, the country's central bank governor, who plays a chief role in keeping Russia's wartime economy ticking. At the time, she was the first woman to lead a Group of Eight, or G8, central bank. In 2015, Euromoney, a finance trade publication, named Nabiullina Central Bank Governor of the Year. In December, she issued a warning that Russia's economy was at risk of overheating.

Persons: Elvira Nabiullina, —, Putin, It's, Nabiullina, Daniel McDowell, McDowell, wined, Christine Lagarde, Nabiullina —, Richard Portes, Portes —, Portes, Anders Åslund, Åslund, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka, Yaroslav Kuzminov, Kuzminov, Nabiullina's, Alan Harvey, Herman Gref —, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, Maxim Shemetov, Michel Camdessus, she's, isn't, Sergei Aleksashenko, Alexei Makarkin, Vladimir Pesnya, Nabiulina, let's Organizations: Ukraine, Service, Russian, KGB, Syracuse University, Kremlin, International Monetary Fund, US, London Business School, Moscow Times, Bloomberg, Higher School of Economics, —, Moscow State University, SNS, USSR, Industrial Union Board, Gref, Central Bank Governor, Nabiullina Central Bank Governor, Banker, Central Banker, IMF, Monetary Fund, Financial Times, Government, Political Technologies, Wall Street Journal, RBC, Politico Europe Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Russia, Brussels, Nabiullina, Swedish, Moscow, Ufa, Central Russia, Tatars, Crimea, Euromoney, Europe, steadying

☆ Christopher Paolini Wanted a Job Involving Dragons, So He Created One
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-02 | by ( Stefano Montali | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the months before Christopher Paolini wrote the book that made him a star in young adult fantasy, he built a hobbit hole. His family self-published the book, and for more than a year, he promoted it as he could, hand-selling copies outside bookstores and giving presentations at schools. Eventually, Carl Hiaasen, a best-selling novelist, picked up a self-published copy at a grocery store while on a family trip to Montana. His stepson — who, according to Hiaasen, said “Eragon” was “better than Harry Potter!” — finished the 500-page book in a day. Hiaasen passed the book to his editor at Random House Children’s Books, connecting Paolini to the New York publishing world.

Persons: Christopher Paolini, He’d, he’d, — Leo Tolstoy, Alexandre Dumas, Jane Austen, ” Paolini, wasn’t, ”, Eragon, Carl Hiaasen, —, Hiaasen, Eragon ”, Harry Potter, ” — Organizations: Random, New Locations: Paradise Valley, Mont, Montana, Paolini, New York

☆ For Russia’s Pop Star Exiles, a Moral Stand and a Creative Climb
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Paul Sonne | Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Monetochka was on her way to becoming a superstar in Russia. She had released two hit albums of lyrical pop, secured ad deals with brands including Nike and Spotify, and was set to appear and sing a new song in the opening scene of Netflix’s first original Russian drama, a lush adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina.”But President Vladimir V. Putin’s military action derailed everything. Netflix shelved the series. The big ad deals, which once comprised more than half of Monetochka’s income, disappeared. And, after making a raft of antiwar statements and fleeing Russia, she was branded a foreign agent in January.

Persons: Monetochka, Netflix’s, Leo Tolstoy’s “ Anna Karenina, ”, Vladimir V, — Organizations: Nike, Spotify, Netflix, Melrose Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Russian, Lithuania, New York, U.S

☆ Your Next 10 Steps After Watching the New ‘Napoleon’ Film
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Victor Mather | More About Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Since you’re already in Paris to see that horse, stop by the Louvre for one of Jacques-Louis David’s masterworks: “Le Sacre de Napoléon” (1807). Far from a stock figure, he is a fully realized person in the novel, displaying egotism, anger and a liking for snuff. If that famously thick book is too much, there are several film versions. Herbert Lom plays Napoleon in a 1956 Hollywood film starring Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda. And Prokofiev wrote an opera that was last seen at the Met in 2008, but is readily available on streaming services.

Persons: Jacques, Louis David’s, Napoléon ”, Napoleon, Pope, Read, Leo Tolstoy’s, ” Napoleon, Herbert Lom, Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Prokofiev, William Thackeray’s, George Orwell’s Organizations: Louvre, Notre Dame, Times, Met Locations: Paris, Moscow, Hollywood, Le

☆ My Summer With Leo Tolstoy
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Peggy Noonan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Peggy Noonan is an opinion columnist at the Wall Street Journal where her column, "Declarations," has run since 2000. She has been a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, and has taught in the history department at Yale University. Before entering the Reagan White House, Noonan was a producer and writer at CBS News in New York, and an adjunct professor of Journalism at New York University. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up there, in Massapequa Park, Long Island, and in Rutherford, New Jersey. In November, 2016 she was named one of the city's Literary Lions by the New York Public Library.

Persons: Peggy Noonan, ”, ” Noonan, Ronald Reagan, Noonan Organizations: Wall, Journal, NBC News, The, Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, Yale University, Reagan White House, CBS News, Journalism, New York University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Lions, New York Public Library Locations: New York, Brooklyn , New York, Massapequa Park, Long, Rutherford , New Jersey, Rutherford, New York City

☆ US judge to set trial date for Trump over efforts to overturn 2020 election
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | Thomson Reuters | Sarah N. Lynch Is The Lead Reporter For Reuters Covering The U.S. Justice Department Out Of Washington | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Trump, who on Thursday appeared at a Georgia jail to face state criminal charges of trying to overturn his defeat there, is not expected to attend Monday's hearing. Trump has previously lashed out at U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, saying, without evidence, that she is biased against him. In Georgia, where Trump faces racketeering and other state charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat there, District Attorney Fani Willis has asked the court to set a March 4, 2024 date. Last week, a judge agreed to set a trial date of Oct. 23 for Trump co-defendant, attorney Kenneth Chesebro, after he requested a speedy trial. The judge has not yet set a trial date for the other defendants, though Sidney Powell, an attorney who advised Trump and promoted false fraud claims after the election, has also requested a speedy trial.

Persons: Donald Trump, Evelyn Hockstein, Donald Trump's, Jack Smith, Democrat Joe Biden, Trump, Tanya Chutkan, Chutkan, Leo Tolstoy's, Fani Willis, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Attorney Alvin Bragg, Smith, Sarah N, Lynch, Scott Malone, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Fair, REUTERS, Rights, Washington , D.C, Trump, Democrat, U.S, Washington, House, Attorney, White, Thomson Locations: Iowa, Des Moines , Iowa, U.S, Washington ,, Georgia, New York, Manhattan, Florida, New York , Florida, Washington

☆ A Pacifist Sect From Russia Is Shaken by War, and Modernity
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Dan Bilefsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When he was growing up among the Doukhobors, a pacifist religious group that emigrated to Canada from Tsarist Russia, J.J. Verigin would sometimes arrive home from school to find naked elderly women trying to burn down his family’s house. One attempt, in 1969, succeeded, lamented Mr. Verigin, 67, who recently recounted the episode. A blaze destroyed precious family artifacts, including correspondence between his great-great-grandfather, a prominent Doukhobor leader, and the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, an early admirer of the Doukhobors’ pacifism and Christian morality. The elderly women, Mr. Verigin explained, were part of a small and radical splinter group within the Doukhobors who periodically stripped naked and lit buildings on fire to protest land ownership and what they viewed as excessive materialism. Some among those charged with arson had another motive, he said: getting deported to Mother Russia.

Persons: Verigin, Leo Tolstoy, Russia Locations: Canada, Tsarist Russia, Russian

☆ CIA launches video to recruit Russian spies
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Alex Marquardt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The CIA first posted the video on Telegram, which ends with instructions on how to get in touch with the CIA anonymously and securely. The video is also being posted to its other social media platforms, including YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. It appeals to their sense of patriotism and plays on Russian culture, quoting lines from Leo Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. The emotional two-minute video shows different Russians going about their lives, appearing to contemplate major decisions. Monday’s video mirrors a more blunt outreach on social media by the CIA a year ago, two months into the war in Ukraine.

Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, denies the espionage charges. When asked by the judge if he needed translation, Gershkovich said in Russian that he understood everything. The Kremlin has said Gershkovich, the first U.S. journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War, was caught "red-handed". "He is reading a lot in prison - Russian literature in the original Russian," Nozhkina told Reuters, adding that he was reading Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece "War and Peace" about the French invasion of Russia in 1812. Asked about the prison food, Nozhkina said Gershkovich was being given porridge in the mornings and that the food was normal.

RISE TO PROMINENCEA former lawyer, Navalny rose to prominence with blogs which exposed what he said was vast corruption across the Russian elite. Navalny has been detained countless times for organising public rallies, and prosecuted repeatedly on charges including corruption, embezzlement and fraud. Putin dismissed the investigation as a smear, saying: "If someone had wanted to poison him, they would have finished him off." KEY NAVALNY QUOTES:ON THE UKRAINE WAR:"This is a stupid war which your Putin started," Navalny told an appeal court in Moscow via video link from a corrective penal colony in 2022. ON PUTIN:"Corruption is the foundation of contemporary Russia, it is the foundation of Mr. Putin’s political power," Navalny told Reuters in an interview in 2011.

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