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| | Johnson's Russia List #6406 - Soviet Chic, Berdy/ New Russians, Yeltsin, Poll/ Georgia, ORT Review, Alcohol, Iran, ... |
 | | Mr Simachev fitted out the waiters at the Zhiguli beer bar with their T-shirts while the cleaners wear housecoats and headscarves, evoking memories of the Soviet babushka. |
 | | Zhiguli, named after the Soviet Union’s cheapest beer, was one of the most popular bars in the 1980s, a place where non-party youth could drink, as long as they could afford a five-rouble entrance bribe to the bouncer. |
 | | A decade after the collapse of communism, the Russians are yearning nostalgically for the foibles and frustration, the slogans and stupidities of a system that was built on fear, ran on hypocrisy and fell apart amid cynicism and ridicule. |
| www.cdi.org /russia/johnson/6406.htm (10186 words) |
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