This description is of Russia in 1992.
--- On Tue, 12/2/08, John E. Norem <jnorem at cox.net> wrote:
>
> Certainly, in Mr. Brent's view, Russia /feels/ the
> same: drab, careworn, suffocating. He describes the
> unrelieved crumminess of all Russian manufactures that are
> not weapons or space stations. Empty restaurants run out of
> menus, their strange meats unpierceable by the average fork.
> He attaches special meaning to the arrival of Russian Vogue
> in 1998, a sign that high-end consumerism had arrived for
> the lucky few. But one day he witnesses how Western markets
> mix with Russian illiberalism: The patrons of a Stefano
> Ricci clothing store are hustled out as men with submachine
> guns take up posts at the entrance. A billionaire has come
> to shop, it turns out. Russia remains a country of men, not
> laws.
>