It is indeed, Putin's great luck that he came to power just as oil and gas prices began their spectacular rise after 2000, resulting in huge windfall profits for a country that is still essentially a banana republic with oil and gas.

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We've seen them too: banana and orange facials, spicy acne masks, olive oil cleansers and more.

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Other options include frozen or regular yogurt topped with dried fruit and nuts, a big slice of banana bread and milk, or even a bowl of pasta tossed with olive oil and parmesan cheese.

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In Zambia, say, a poor person is defined as someone who cannot afford to buy at least two to three plates of nshima (a kind of porridge), a sweet potato, a few spoonfuls of oil, a handful of groundnuts and a couple of teaspoons of sugar each day, plus a banana and a chicken twice a week.

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