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The German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Compagnia di San Paolo have released the 2004 edition of “transatlantic trends”, an extensive survey of public opinion on a range of foreign policy issues. Polls were conducted in the US, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Great Britain, as well as in Slovakia and Turkey. So if you’re interested in the latest update on “the rift” in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Slovak, or Turkish, click here (.pdf plugin required).

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Russian writers have long been honored as wise men and secular prophets, but by pioneering literary detective fiction here, Grigory Chkhartishvili has overturned some traditions of Russia’s literary world.
Chkhartishvili – who writes under the pen name Boris Akunin – is best known for a series of 11 thrillers set in late 19th-century Russia, each featuring the aristocratic detective Erast Fandorin. Since Chkartishvili began writing fiction seven years ago, publishers have sold 10 million copies of his detective books. [Two are already available in English]
The author himself doesn’t exactly hide his subversive ambitions: B. Akunin evokes the memory of Mikhail Bakunin, a 19th-century anarchist. And Chkhartishvili was once a Japanese translator. In that language Akunin means “bad guy.”

A delightful review in the Baltimore Sun (free registration required).

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Poker with Dick Cheney. “Colin Powell: Ladies and gentlemen. We have accumulated overwhelming evidence that Mr. Cheney’s poker hand is far, far better than two pair. Note this satellite photo, taken three minutes ago when The Editors went to get more chips. In it we clearly see the back sides of five playing cards, arranged in a poker hand. Defector reports have assured us that Mr. Cheney’s hand was already well advanced at this stage. Later, Mr. Cheney drew only one card. Why only one card? Would a man without a strong hand choose only one card? We are absolutely convinced that Mr. Cheney has at least a full house.” Lots more.