In my book Wagnerism, I mentioned the existence of a Russian mercenary group called Wagner, little imagining that it would grow in magnitude to the point of threatening a coup. Exactly what role the composer Wagner played in the formation of the group Wagner is uncertain. Luke Harding, the Guardian reporter who has written extensively about the organization, asserts that Dmitry Utkin, its shadowy founder, took inspiration from the "Ride of the Valkyries" scene in Apocalypse Now. Utkin also seems to have a fetish for Nazi iconography, and he may view Wagner in the same light. The precise facts of the matter will probably never be known, but a new chapter in the story of Wagner's endless political-cultural aftershocks will eventually have to be written — not, to be sure, by me.
I'm not sure how often Wagner has appeared on the front page of the New York Times. One other instance is below.
