Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Tucker Carlson posted a short clip of the Russian subway system. His grocery shopping and fast food visits there can be viewed on TCN if you are a subscriber, but someone posted the grocery shopping short (or maybe part of it?) on youtube. I'm interested in any comments about these, especially those who have had experience living in Russia.
(By the way I heard that Tucker met with Edward Snowden and may air the interview at some point, not sure if true.)
Well, it looks like Tucker is visiting "Ashan" in Moscow while going grocery shopping ( which is a French chain,) and it's a behemoth of a food store, which can be compared with Menards, but full of food of different varieties, instead of home improvement stuff.
Not all food is all that great there, starting with bread, because by now Russians learned how to put all kinds of chemicals in their food as in US, and this includes bread.
But a lot of food is of decent quality as well, starting with the scrumptious sea food section, where a lot of products are not frozen, but actually fresh.
When it comes to prices, you need to keep in mind that salaries are much lower in Russia as well than in US ( even though they are somewhat higher in Moscow than in many other places in Russia.)
So they say that medium salary in Moscow is approximately 79,557 rubles, which is about 864 dollars.
At that, keep in mind that "medium salary" means just that - some people make 30,000 rubles ( minimum salary per month plus-minus,) and some make 200,000, so the "medium" between them all comes to 79,557 rubles per month.
And with this kind of salaries, the food can be actually pricey for plenty of Russians, as cheap as it looks to Americans. And if we'll start comparing non-food items, I am pretty sure they are more expensive in Russia than in US.
When it comes to metro ( Moscow subway,) it's true that it's as gorgeous as Tucker showed it.
You can see the rest of older "classic" stations here - some built in Stalin's times, some a bit later.
As you look at the public walking in and out of trains, you see mostly Russians and some Asians from former "stans."
Russians do not import people from other third world countries, and that's why you don't see ghettos or favelas in Moscow.
Neither do you see the graffiti, because Russians frown upon "art" that they don't consider art at all. Their culture is old - fashioned European way, so when they DO allocate certain places for the "street art," it better look like art for real, or else.
If graffiti show up not in the specially-allocated places, they are immediately removed, and those caught are fined.
So that's to address couple of simple things that Tucker showed in his videos.
Overall life in big Russian cities is much nicer than in big American cities in general.
But when it comes to SMALLER cities/country side, then it's a different story.
Tucker also has another video where went to a McDonalds that was shut down and rebranded after exports were cancelled. The cheeseburger, fries and coke all tasted exactly the same as McDonalds, and actually looked a little better. Basically the sanctions are having a minor effect.
After the sanctions went in place the Ruble became even stronger than Bidens inflated dollar.
I lived in Moscow around 2008-2009 when the Ruble was 22 to the USD when I arrived and it fell to 29 Rubles/USD by the time I left. At that time, it was expensive to live in Moscow but now with the Ruble at around 90 Rubles/USD, Moscow is about half the cost to live compared to where I live in the USA (Phoenix).
Moscow was clean and safe when I lived there. I will say that Tucker's description I thought was an exaggeration of how nice it is in Moscow especially when you consider the lower incomes there compared to in the USA but Moscow is safer than almost any US city.
I am from one of the Soviet republics.
If you went there to visit, picked any city and tried a simple salad, your world would be turned upside down. You guys have no clue what a tomato tastes like. I’m not even gonna mention the rest of the veggies that go into a simple salad.
I went in 2007 and was amazed how tasty food is, but then I was puzzled, what have I’ve been eating in the states all this time?
I’m not a fan of their politics and never will be, but the food over there is on another level because of the products are less packed with fillers and all sorts of chemicals, but also because the culinary culture is a lot older and richer.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
