There is a new article about Moscow at Travel and Leisure magazine online. Of course Travel and Leisure is not the best place to read about Russia politics, so I won't even go into the details of the article, which for some very strange reason decided to comment on Putin's politics and freedom of speech. (What the? Isn't this a travel magazine? The first paragraph of the article are is quoted below.) However, I will mention the related
slideshow of photos of Moscow. It includes some great pictures such as the bar at the
Moscow Ritz Carlton and other general art and fashion photos highlighting the new Moscow which would especially shock people like
Fred Thompson who still thinks Russia is the Soviet Union.
Quote:
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A billion is the new million in Moscow—and that loud, loud money tends to drown out the other story happening here. I'm back in town for a week from New York, and most of the conversation centers on cash and muscle: whose bodyguard was beaten in a police cell, whose birthday party cost three million, what's the going price for membership in the Zolotaya Molodyozh (or "Golden Youth"—a figurative status: it's currently $5 million by the time you're 25, $10 million by the time you're 30, and no one works nine-to-five for the money). Maybe it's the Communist legacy, or the fact that the people in power have been too busy stealing from the masses to concentrate on much else, but since the 90's the definition of luxury here has been all about armed entourages and boardrooms with thrones—a hand-over-fist grab for status, money, and bullish, unsubtle power. And for an outsider looking for the style or soul of this city, it's been all too easy to spend $800 for a mediocre hotel room and not find much to appreciate beyond Silver Age classics, Stalinist architecture, and the entirely accidental charm of old women selling wildflowers in the metro.
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Link to rest of the
article on Moscow.
Slideshow of
Moscow photos.
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