Cold War rivals' kitchen clash

MOSCOW: One of the Cold War's fiercest clashes took place 50 years ago this month, but instead of a conflict in Africa or Asia, the battle of US and Soviet might unfolded in a model kitchen.

The so-called "kitchen debate" erupted on July 24, 1959, when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and US vice president Richard Nixon got into an impromptu argument about the merits of their countries' economic systems.

The two men held their debate amid washing machines, gas stoves and other US consumer goods brought to Moscow for the American National Exhibition, an event that gave many Russians their first glimpse of life in the West.