KIEV: Bon Vivants Vexed at Their Persecution

ODD THINGS HAPPEN ON THE BANKS OF THE DNIEPER. A former colleague of mine from Roll Call, Ethan Wallison, sends a somewhat humorous dispatch from Kiev regarding the plight of some French-Lebanese ex-pats who find themselves ridiculed by the native press corps.

From Room 12A:

[Omar Harfouch] has a girlfriend called Musa ("muse"), in addition to his other girlfriend: his ego. (In interviews, he says things like, "Musa is fascinated by me, and I have taught her so much about life." Musa is 19, last I checked.) He claims to own and to have preserved Maria Callas' hair.

But that's not why people laugh at the brothers Harfouch, Wallison reports.

Someone torched Walid's Bentley! (I ask, was Paris Hilton's new billionaire boyfriend anywhere near the car? ...) And Walid, who was planning to run some scandalous photos of President Yushchenko's son in his gossip magazine "Paparazzi," claims that the torching came by order of the government to silence him. Some in Ukraine's press corps think that Walid torched his own car as a publicity stunt. The situation has now devolved to where Walid is suing Ukraine's interior minister.

If Kiev doesn't work out for the brothers Harfouch, they could always move to Washington and start a luxury magazine here. There's certainly room for another one, right?

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