VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- When blackouts hit the residential districts of Russia's largest Pacific seaport, as they have for up to 20 hours a day and even more this week, people learn to cope.
Mothers cook, boil drinking water and heat bath water for their children on propane camp stoves. Babushkas hobble off to the store the moment the power blinks on and the elevator starts working, to avoid lugging a duffel bag of onions and sausage up as many as 15 flights of stairs on the way back. Families spend their evenings playing cards, and book lovers simply despair: You go blind trying to read after dark by candlelight.
The U.S. West Coast is facing a shock that one wouldn't wish on anybody -- rolling blackouts in the San Francisco Bay area, electric bills that may triple in San Diego, threats that power suppliers will go broke and leave people in the dark. But it is not alone.