Mad Russian’s Beef

Always appealing to the media’s roving eye, Russian ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, above, ripped apart a Big Mac and trampled on it Wednesday in Moscow to slam home the point that he doesn’t like Western fast food and wants parliament to limit imports. “This is not real meat,” he said as he tore into the burger. His tirade might be sour grapes. Zhirinovsky recently opened a small grocery store in Moscow, where right-wing polemics are dished out along with meat and his name-brand vodka. Undaunted, McDonald’s is expanding rapidly, one of the few places where Russians still line up for food.