Doug Henwood: But you keep talking about how prosperous Moscow is, as if it were representative of Russia. I could talk about all the snazzy boutiques in Soho, too, but that wouldn't be very representative of life in the USA either.
Doug --
If that was the impression I made, it wasn't intentional.
The one provincial city I have visited multiple times (Rostov-on-Don) is an industrial city with river trade along the Don River (which does indeed flow quietly). Walking down to the river from the Hotel Rostov, you pass (IIRC), a large restaurant (no doubt catering to hotel guests); another restaurant a bit further down; a sushi place a little bit off the main road; a big electronics store; an Internet cafe full of teenagers; a rock club (I think, I didn't go inside); a Hugo Boss store and its Russian equivalent, Belaya Rus, again off the main road; another big electronics store; then another restaurant right by the river and an outdoor cafe on the river bank (I had shishkabobs there); and then finally a big shopping center built thrusting out over the river itself.
It's not really "Moscow vs. the provinces." The provinces range from places like Sub-Saharan Africa (like Ingushetia and Dagestan), then places like Samara (Wendy Lyon has been there, I haven't -- I know she thought it was pretty poor, which coincides with its reputation), then places like Rostov or Kazan, then Petersburg and the oil towns, and then Moscow.
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