tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87938975760148329972011-10-23T23:36:11.276-04:00Politics, Photographs, and Stories from the Road <br>Presented &amp; Analyzed by Gwendolyn Stewart<br>Illustrated Commentary on Politics, Broadly Construed<br>-- Featuring, But Not Limited to -- <br>American, Chinese, and Russian People &amp; Places of Interest<br> All Photographs and Text Copyrighted 2009; All Rights Reserved<br> &quot;YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS ARE AS DAZZLING AS YOUR SUBJECTS&quot;PICTURE POLITICShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03137939108362222899noreply@blogger.comBlogger561100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793897576014832997.post-64829721660609207452010-01-04T20:38:00.009-05:002010-07-13T18:42:05.835-04:00

MORE PICTURE POLITICS THE PICTURE OF THE DAY CONTINUED HERE

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ROBERT McNAMARA DIES June 9, 1916-July 6, 2009 A consideration of his life, and another photograph, here, and an appreciation by Walter Pincus, here: McNamara three months ago was "Hopeful about initial steps taken by President Obama on nuclear weapons, but fearful about the nation's growing involvement in Afghanistan -- a situation so much like Vietnam."

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SALASPILS CAMP MEMORIAL MEMORIAL TO THE VICTIMS OF A CONCENTRATION CAMP IN SALASPILSIN THE RIGA AREA, LATVIA Photographed in 1984 in the USSR "HERE BE GIANTS"

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GILDA RADNER & PAUL SIMON© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights ReservedA snapshot, just a quick grab shot, backstage at a New Jersey campaign rally for Bill Bradley in 1978, in honor of Gilda Radner, born on June 28, 1946, and lost to cancer twenty years ago. One of a pair, this one somehow poignant, the other, sweet and flirty, for another time.

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DUELING TVs#2Photograph © Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights ReservedAndy Warhol ("one of the most famous people in the world") on PBS, and an Iranian woman on ABC, photographed simultaneously, September 24, 2006.

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DUELING TVs #1Photograph © Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights Reserved

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THE SEATS OF POWER CHINESE STYLEOne of a Series© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights Reserved TIANJIN DUOZhang Lichang (left), then Tianjin Party Secretary, and Li Shenglin (right), then Tianjin Mayor, at the 16th Congress of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, November 2002.

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"THE BASIC TRAINING OFPAVLO HUMMEL"© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights Reserved STARRINGAL PACINO There is talk of reviving David Rabe's play, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, and a preliminary casting notice has been posted (June 24, 2009). Al Pacino starred in the Theater Company of Boston's production in Boston (shown here) in 1972, and in 1977 on Broadway. Leonard DiCaprio is said to be

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ON THE GRAND CANAL© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights ReservedHANGZHOU, CHINA, 1981

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OPERATION BARBAROSSA© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights ReservedTHE BREST FORTRESS MEMORIALOn June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union at Brest, in what is now Belarus. The Nazis were surprised by the resistance, memorialized by the Brest Fortress monument pictured above.

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RLS© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Right Reserved"SIMPLY THE BEST"In Honor of Father's Day

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ST. PETERSBURG WHIMSY© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights ReservedDOWN BY THE RIVER SIDEA bit of whimsy from Peter -- not Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey, but Peter the second capital of Russia, the affectionate shorthand for St. Petersburg -- a riverside confection photographed in 2006, after the G-8 summit, held in Russia for the first time that year.

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PERU FOR THE PERUVIANS: WHICH PERUVIANS? AND HOW? MACHU PICCHU "THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE" The protests of the Amazonian Indians have led to the repeal of two decrees (No. 1090 and 1064) which made the indigenous peoples fear for the fate of their land. President Alan Garcia said the resources of the jungle should be made open for exploitation by outsiders for the good of the country as a whole.  

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TIM ABDULLAH KHAN BUKHARA (UZBEKISTAN), USSR 1984 The man wears a helmet, the woman and the child (in the sidecar) take their chances. Or perhaps there was a law covering the driver of a motorcycle, and only the driver. Bukhara, as we have seen, is an ancient Silk Road capital. The Tim Abdullah Khan (above) was a silk bazaar, dating back to 1577.  There is a vivid description of its construction

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UP CLOSE & PERSONAL BORIS YELTSIN IN THE CROWD OKHA, SAKHALIN, 1990 To build on the themes of two earlier postings, the new Russian leader letting the people surge up close in Moscow, and touring the far eastern island of Sakhalin: Find Boris Yeltsin by that trademark thatch of white hair. And read more about it in RUSSIA REDUX.

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FLYING OVER SAKHALIN AIR SHOW DUO Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Russia), USSR, 1990 Continuing east from Moscow -- via Baikal – we come all the way out to the island of Sakhalin, so far east in Russia that it is just north of Japan.  For tales of Boris Yeltsin's journey to Sakhalin (an eyewitness account), and a little of Anton Chekhov's (not an eyewitness account; Chekhov wrote the book on that himself,

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ABOVE LAKE BAIKALRETURN VISIT, 1990 While we are in the area, a photograph taken a half-dozen years later that gives some idea of Siberian country living.This time I had come to Baikal and Irkutsk to cover the meeting between U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. I stayed to see a bit more of the area around the lake, including the infamous

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LATE AFTERNOON ON LAKE BAIKAL TWO WOMEN & THEIR KNITTING Listvyanka (Russia), USSR, 1984 Lake Baikal is famous as the "Gem of Siberia." I had been so keen to see it that I flew straight from Moscow to Irkutsk, the nearest big city, on my first trip to the USSR. NASA has posted two striking images of Baikal from space, iced over, here. More to come in RUSSIA REDUX

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THE VICTORY GALA  BORIS & NAINA YELTSIN CELEBRATE Following his victory in the first ever Russian presidential election on June 12, 1991, Boris Yeltsin was feted in a victory gala. He is seen above in a pair of photographs; his wife, Naina, is with him on the left. I have been to political celebrations in the U.S.  This one in Moscow felt different; something of a variety show, with poetry and

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THE DAY OF RUSSIA MOSCOW, JUNE 12, 1991 On June 12, 1990, Russia in the guise of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, and under the leadership of Boris Yeltsin, declared sovereignty -- while still part of the USSR. One year later, on June 12, 1991, Russia held its first election for president, and Yeltsin won. By the end of the year, the Soviet Union was no more. June 12 was later

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"THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE" LIMA, PERU Decree 1090, nicknamed the "Law of the Jungle," i.e., the Amazonian jungle, has been suspended by the Peruvian Congress, following deaths of both protesters and police. For some of the developments leading up to this, see the earlier posting here and on this site (the June 6, 2009 posting). 

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CHINA THEN & NOW II NANJING 1981 AS THE WHEEL TURNS II Forbid the ownership of private cars; start allowing for markets, especially in agricultural goods; and Voilà! Chinese farmers hitched up the farm machinery they did have, and drove to the city to sell their wares in town. Pictured above, vegetables being driven into Nanjing, China, in 1981.  Outstanding feature of the vehicle of choice (or

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ROBERT S. McNAMARA TURNS NINETY-THREE TODAY Former Secretary of Defense & President of the World Bank At a Forum on "13 Days" - Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis - At the John F. Kennedy Library Boston, Massachusetts, October 1, 2002 Robert McNamara came out of the Harvard Business School and World War II a Whiz Kid, and whizzed his way up to the presidency of the Ford Motor Co., just in

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A FIERCE GUARDIAN OF THE DRAGON GATE THE LONGMEN GROTTOES NEAR LUOYANG, CHINA Luoyang (in Henan province) is one of the ancient capitals of China, and a major locus for the introduction of Buddhism into the Middle Kingdom. For several hundred years beginning in the fifth century, a vast panorama of Buddhist figures was carved out of a kilometer-long stretch of rock face and caves along the Yi

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A SUMMER DAY ON THE RIVER THE RIVER OB' NOVOSIBIRSK (RUSSIA), USSR 1984 On a Sunday two-thirds of the way between Mother's Day and the Summer Solstice, a treat from a boat on the River Ob'.  We have taken off from the city of Novosibirsk, the largest in Siberia, and a major node on the Trans-Siberian Express.  

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SURFACE & SUBSTANCE  HANGZHOU 1981  COMPLIMENTS TO WEST LAKE AT DAWN Out wandering in Hangzhou early in the morning on my first trip to China, I meet a man standing at West Lake at dawn.  "It is very beautiful," I say. The local sets me straight:  "Yes, but the housing in town is very poor." 

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NIXON GO TO CHINA? NETANYAHU GO ?? OBAMA CHIMES IN Picture this: The cliché heard 'round the media echo chamber.If Richard Nixon can go to China, perhaps Bibi Netanyahu can -- Fill in your chief wish for an Israeli prime minister.For a recent example: "Just as it took a Richard Nixon to go to China, it will take a Netanyahu to enforce a peace settlement that will require a

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"FACING" TIANANMEN ZHONGNANHAI WITH GUARDS AT ATTENTION  THE FRONT GATE ("NEW CHINA GATE") OF THE SEAT OF POWER IN CHINA: BEIJING'S "WHITE HOUSE" OR "KREMLIN"  On the "Avenue of Eternal Peace" To the West of the Forbidden City (Map) (Description and some history)  Who made the decisions that led to the crackdown and the bloodshed on June 3-4, 1989? "Zhongnanhai." 

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A QUIET DAY  IN TIANANMEN SQUARE PLA SOLDIERS MARCH THROUGH. THE PORTRAIT OF MAO ZEDONG GAZES ON. BEIJING 1981 

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FACING TIANANMEN THE FRONT OF THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE FACING TIANANMEN SQUARE, BEIJING, CHINA AT THE TIME OF THE 17TH CONGRESS OF  THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY (OCTOBER 2007) TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY ON THE EVE...  

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STREET PHOTOGRAPHY ON FARAWAY STREETS YAN'AN WELCOME WITH SHY BOY  YAN'AN, CHINA 1981  The small boy hides behind the man's left side (being prevented from flight by having his wrist firmly grasped).  The grown-ups (with perhaps one exception) seem to enjoy the sight of the "very tall" photographer visiting Yan'an, the "cradle of the Chinese revolution," in 1981. 

PICTURE POLITICShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03137939108362222899noreply@blogger.com0延安市, Yan'an, Shaanxi, China36.599715180401475 109.4779014587402336.595408680401476 109.47060595874024 36.60402168040147 109.48519695874023tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793897576014832997.post-73111084281450775142009-05-31T18:21:00.040-04:002009-06-01T13:56:31.835-04:00

STREET PHOTOGRAPHYON FARAWAY STREETS BASHFUL IN BUKHARABUKHARA (UZBEKISTAN) USSR 1984 You have been introduced to one of the monuments of the Silk Road city of Bukhara; now meet a few of its people.

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MAGIC WATERS IN THE DESERT TROUBLES IN THE AMAZON LIMA, PERU For an almost-summer weekend, something light from an almost-summer evening in Lima, Peru.To wit, a light (and music) and water show from the Circuito Magico del Agua -- the "Magic Water Circuit" -- in a city in the desert.Something like a third of the twenty-seven-million population of Peru is said to live in its capital, Lima, tucked

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"JOHN F. KENNEDY" ON THE GINZA  AN AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ICON ... IN JAPAN IN HONOR OF JFK, BORN ON THIS DATE IN 1917, IN BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTSPRESIDENT, JANUARY 20, 1961-NOVEMBER 22, 1963In 1981, en route to China for my first visit, I had a chance to dash downtown to Tokyo for an hour-and-a-half, and grabbed it. I was back in the country where I lived for a year as a child, in the town of

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NADIR DIVAN BEG MADRASA  Today, something from the world of Islam – something beautiful, and something a bit unusual. Shown above is a close-up of the pishtaq (a "portal projecting from the facade of a building") of the Nadir Divan Beg Madrasa in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.   Bukhara is a Silk Road city, Persian-influenced, over two millennia old.   The UNESCO World Heritage Committee calls it "the

PICTURE POLITICShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03137939108362222899noreply@blogger.com0Bukhara Province, Uzbekistan39.740986355883564 64.4018554687537.629170855883565 60.66650396875 41.85280185588356 68.13720696875001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793897576014832997.post-5270111952409641602009-05-27T19:52:00.012-04:002009-06-04T12:59:44.121-04:00

TO THE BELL TOWER  OTHER WEDDINGS II  QINGDAO, CHINA  Red is the traditional color for brides in China. But though the young woman in this couple is dressed in white, in a "Western" gown, tradition has not been altogether neglected. Observe the touches of red.  Here, in 1994, a video camera is also coming up the stairs to the heights of the Bell Tower. 

PICTURE POLITICShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03137939108362222899noreply@blogger.com0Qingdao, Shandong, China36.1079328 120.415960635.5531823 119.48212260000001 36.6626833 121.3497986tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793897576014832997.post-47562095732521920982009-05-26T23:34:00.015-04:002009-06-04T13:01:18.869-04:00

AT LENIN'S FEET OTHER WEDDINGS I  BACK IN THE USSR   As June is almost here, and with it the wedding season in the USA, two weddings from other countries, other cultures: In today's photograph a newly married couple in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk comes in 1984 to be photographed at the foot of the Lenin statue in the heart of town.

PICTURE POLITICShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03137939108362222899noreply@blogger.com0Russian Federation, Novosibirskaya oblast, Novosibirsk55.0392304 82.927818154.6457824 81.9939801 55.4326784 83.86165609999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793897576014832997.post-55907296070196733742009-05-25T21:45:00.008-04:002009-05-26T12:41:22.312-04:00

HE'S NOT HEAVY...  FULL MILITARY HONORS ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY IN HONOR OF MEMORIAL DAY 

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MET ON A MOUNTAIN PASS NEAR KUNMING, CHINA Dressing Up As Soldiers From Other Eras (1994)

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A RAINY DAY IN THE PROVINCES ON THE EVE OF PERESTROIKA LENIN BILLBOARD & CAR ROSTOV-ON-THE-DON (RUSSIA), USSRThinking Again About Communism, IIIThe USSR on the Eve of Perestroika: "To Us the Most Precious Is the Preservation of Peace" -- V.I. Lenin," the slogan on the billboard says. The year is 1984.Lenin had died in 1924. (More in HERE BE GIANTS)

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SHIFT CHANGE Katowice Coal Mine, Poland, 1981 THE FALL OF COMMUNISM II Speaking of the fall (or not) of communism ("All Rise," May 21, 2009), we are in the primetime of the twentieth anniversaries of the fall of the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe.The year 1989 saw the second "Springtime of Nations." In astonishment, and uncertainty, the outside world, and even the political actors within the

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ALL RISE The 16th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party OBAMA & THE FALL OF COMMUNISM THE FALL? WAS WHEN EXACTLY? Today, in Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama made a rather strange statement for someone who is supposed to be so bright, and who is in charge of the national security apparatus of the U.S.  Here is the wind-up: "Fidelity to our values is the reason why the United States

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BUDDY GUY  HIGHLIGHTS  A concert photograph from back when, in honor of blues legend Buddy Guy's role in Bertrand Tavernier's film, In The Electric Mist, made from the novel, In The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead, by Grand Master James Lee Burke.  The book and the movie are set in Louisiana, where Buddy Guy was born, and the past is, Burke and Tavernier tell us, still very much with us

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CHINA THEN & NOW MAID & CHILD, NANJING 1981In 1981, the People's Republic of China was on the cusp of major change. The Third Plenum of the Eleventh Congress late in 1978 had seen Deng Xiaoping's return to power and a new line proclaimed. When I first went to China almost two and a half years later, the new line had begun to be implemented, but ordinary people were not yet sure that it would

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AS THE WHEEL TURNS -- TO CHINA? NANJING, CHINA, 1981  More and more there is talk about China becoming the new giant in the automotive industry (for example, in today's Washington Post).  So, a look back to the reality on the ground, literally, just over a generation ago, in 1981 in Nanjing. Private cars were forbidden. The blue creampuff above doubtless belonged to one official -- cadre -- or

PICTURE POLITICShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03137939108362222899noreply@blogger.com0Nanjing, Jiangsu, China32.0556449 118.797740931.764664899999996 118.33082189999999 32.346624899999995 119.2646599tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793897576014832997.post-24136460961717046492009-05-17T20:15:00.014-04:002009-05-21T12:23:53.437-04:00

THE PETRIFIED FOREST The Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, including its Blue Mesa trail, will benefit from some federal stimulus funds ($441,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it is reported ).

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RED STARS Twenty years ago today the Communist giants met, in Beijing, for the first time in three decades. Mikhail Gorbachev, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, made the trip to China for talks with Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader, and Zhao Ziyang, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. The leaders met in the Great Hall of the People. In the

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WHITE SANDS A PLACE OF BEAUTY, AND OF THE "TRINITY" SITE OF THE FIRST DETONATION OF AN ATOMIC WEAPON (WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, NEW MEXICO)

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A SUNNY DAY AT RONALD REAGAN'S WHITE HOUSE AMERICAN PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN HOSTS EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK AT THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, JANUARY 27, 1983This week President Reagan's unabridged diaries go on sale. They reportedly offer an "unvarnished look at people ranging from Pope John Paul to Mother Teresa to Mikhail Gorbachev." It should be interesting to look up the date of this

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MAO ZEDONG SLEPT HERE THE BEDROOM IN MAO ZEDONG'S CAVE RESIDENCE IN YAN'AN, CHINA This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the final stage of which was a campaign fought north to south by the People's Liberation Army. This was a victory years in the making.As we have seen with more recent guerrilla movements, weak governments which cannot

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THE HORSE MAO RODE IN ON MAO ZEDONG'S HORSE ON DISPLAYIN THE MUSEUM IN YAN'AN, CHINAYan'an was the site of the revolutionary base Mao Zedong and the other leaders of the Chinese Communist Party established at the end of the Long March (1934-1935). Mao's horse (see above) seems to have been lovingly preserved. A white horse.

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MOTHER & CHILD & HORSE LIMA, PERU PERU SCENES, the video-slideshow, is now up on YouTube.From travels in LIMA, URUBAMBA, OLLANTAYTAMBO, MACHU PICCHU, and CUSCO, PERU, at the time of the APEC Summit1. The Ghostly General2. Looking for the "Leader of the Free World" at the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit, Lima, Peru3. Bring Me the Head of John the Baptist4. Standing Guard over Machu

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HERE'S TO THE LADIES "Any noseMay ravage with impunity a rose." -- Robert BrowningHAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

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STALINGRAD TANK & BOY May 9 is Victory Day in Russia, the equivalent of V-E Day for the U.S. and Europe, where it is celebrated on May 9 (different time zones). Pictured above, a Soviet boy playing on one of the tanks in one of the memorials to the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the turning points of "The Great Patriotic War," or World War II. By this boy's time the city had lost the "Stalin" in

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"MOTHER RUSSIA" Is In Danger "Mother Russia," the hugely tall monument to the Battle of Stalingrad officially known as The Motherland Calls!, is in danger. The statue sits on top of the hill called Mamayev Kurgan in the Russian city now known as Volgograd. When it was built, four decades ago, it was the tallest in the world; now it is sinking, and, possibly, in danger of toppling.The size of

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NORMAN ROCKWELL At Home in Stockbridge,Masachusetts THE PAINTER NORMAN ROCKWELL'S STUDIO HAS BEEN RE-CREATED IN THE MUSEUM HONORING HIM IN STOCKBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS. Met a painter ("an amateur painter," she said), who startled me by telling me my photograph of Norman Rockwell (above) looked like a Rockwell painting.Given that Rockwell (1894-1978) has been gone for more than thirty years, it is

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