NPR culture hero and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me Host straight-guy Carl Kassel defines timbre of voice and voice of reason. He stands in a lineage back to Walter Cronkite, Edgar R. Murrow and Daniel Shore. It should not come as such a surprise, then to hear that Obama has tapped his ace, Carl Kassel […]
After the recent annexing of the Crimea by Russian President Vladimir Putin, speculation has been arising that the old Soviet days could return once more. But if this is Putin’s desire, what is he doing to make it come about and what will that mean for the rest of the world? When Putin was sworn […]
It was August 16 1999 when a new prime minister was sworn in by the Duma, Russia’s parliament. He was the fifth to be appointed in a mere 16 months and nobody expected him to last any longer than his predecessors. Vladimir Putin has been in high office ever since. The then President Boris Yeltsin […]