Marshall is now on a counterattack in a juicy contretemps that serves up lessons for families grappling with wealth transfer.

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After Mr Khodorkovsky's arrest, many western fund-managers in Moscow told anyone who would listen that the problem was merely a private contretemps between the tycoon and the president, from which Yukos would emerge unscathed.

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Some Russian liberals see this contretemps as a foreign-policy turning-point.

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This particular contretemps is over the design for a memorial for Dwight Eisenhower.

FORBES: Why Ike? Was He Such a Great Leader That He Deserves a Memorial?

White House spokesman Bill Burton minimized the contretemps, saying people are entitled to disagree in a democracy.

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