--- James Heartfield <Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk> quoted:
> "a future in which Russia looks like lots of other
> underdeveloped countries the industrialized world
> exploits for their resources -- a thin glaze of
> expensive Western chains imported for the benefit of
> a
> compliant comrador class while the rest of country
> suffers. Say why it ain't so."
>
> It ain't so because between 80 and 85 per cent of
> Russia's output is not oil
> or gas.
It also ain't so because Sbarro's and Subways are not "a thin glaze of expensive Western chains." For that matter their domestic equivalents such as Kroshka Kartoshka or Russkoe Bistro or anything owned by Rosinter (which I didn't mention since the names wouldn't be recognizable) are not "a thin glaze of expensive Russian chains." One, they are not "thin," -- they are everywhere. Two, they are not expensive. The average income in Moscow is currently $1100 a month, and most Muscovites don't pay rent. They can afford a freakin' five-dollar pizza. A packed Shokoladnitsa coffee shop on seemingly every corner is not "a thin glaze." And sorry, Shokoladnitsa is not frequented by the nouveaux riches, who wouldn't be caught dead in such a place. Shoko is like Starbucks. It is frequented by members of the new middle class.
The only person I know in Russia who doesn't own a personal computer is me, for crying out loud. I'm using my Russian roommate's laptop.
It also ain't so because all the cries of "a new Cold War" and the oontent of Putin's Munich speech are hardly indicative of the Russian elite's being "a compliant comrador class." The Washington Post certainly doesn't think so. :)
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