Folks,

There is an interesting author, Martin Cruz Smith that has been writing novels about different eras in the Soviet Union / Russia. The "hero" of each of these stories is the same dectective.

The list of novels I remember is:

Gorky Park , Soviet Union in the 70's, corruption
Polar Star, Soviet Union, 80's, international trade
Red Square, Russia, after the fall, mafia and corruption
Havana Nights, late 90's, the state of Cuba after the Soviet Union

and the point of this....

Wolves eat Dogs, Russia and Chernobyl, trade in fissionable materials

Supposedly Smith has very accurately depicted the situations and politics of each of these eras. In Wolves eat Dogs he speaks of the dead towns and motorcycle thiefs that escape into the high radiation areas.

What an awful shame over there. We hosted a 9 year old girl for a summer a while back from Belorus. Her mom was pregnant during Chernobyl or just after. This girl has had 5 hip surgeries already among other health issues. All the land around their town is still contaminated, but they have no where else to grow any fresh vegetables.

Chuck