This is the best story I have read all morning, by TIME’s Simon Shuster in Moscow. It involves a crushed chessplayer rebellion and a Kremlin puppet who believes Jesus Christ is an alien “and that Earth is set to collide with the planet Nebiru, killing us all, if mankind does not cleanse its ‘aura’ by playing more chess.” And it really happened.
It all recalls the quote that Ryszard Kapuscinski used to open his great book, The Emperor:
The Dolphin, desiring to sleep, floats atop the water; having fallen asleep, he sinks slowly to the floor of the sea; being awakended by striking the bottom, he rises again to the surface. Having thus risen, he falls asleep again, descends once more to the bottom, and revives himself anew in the same fashion. He thus enjoys his rest in motion.
If only the journalism students of Moscow put quotes like that in their calenders.