Where are Moscow’s potholes?

Do not use the Russian product? It's you in vain.....Try Russian vodka and beluga caviar, buy your girlfriend a fur coat from Barguzin sable .... and if funds permit, try space tourism. I'm sure you'll like the Russian product.

But if you are constrained in the means, you can try to use high-quality antivirus from Russia. It will not be expensive.

 

To get an unforgettable experience and a lot of adrenaline, you must come to Russia on the "Day of the Airborne Forces".

 

Russian vodka is gross.
Try Grey Goose, but I bet you can’t afford it. French vodka kicks ass!
Beluga caviar? Belugas are whales. Were you fed whale sperm all this time?
Many fur products come from China, and I didn’t buy one for my wife because killing an animal for its skin is just wrong, but that’s my personal opinion.
Space tourism is literally behind the corner in the US, several competing companies are working on making this happen.
And yeah, Russian antivirus is an oxymoron.

But, so that your feelings aren’t hurt, I’ll admit, some Russian goods are OK, like natural gas, oil, gold, diamonds, etc. You know, things that you sell in raw forms.

 

You might be run over by a drunk government official or a cop and your family will get $100 compensation with court finding drunk driver not guilty.

 

Not had proper Russian Vodka then, probably a bottle of Smirnoff Red lol.

 

Trust me, I did.
I tried even homemade vodkas, samogon. Good one will give you a good buzz, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s gross.

 

I lived in Vilnius for over a year I had some excellent vodka's from Russia whilst there when I came back to the UK nothing is close even the "same" vodka's taste different.

I can't remember what they were called they were written in Russian lol.

There was also an underground market for Russian cigs they were dreadful lol.

 

You're so behind the curve, Swedish, Finnish, Canadian, American, even French vodka are way better than Russian
https://www.winemag.com/2013/09/12/11-best-vodkas/

Ukrainian vodka (Nemirof) is considered best by this site. What an embarrassment for russia LOL
https://www.tastings.com/Spirits-Categories/About-Vodka.aspx

Oh, and Russia does not make beluga caviar, beluga does

 

Yep, gutting that sturgeon doesn’t require a PhD.

 

1. I do not drink alcohol. Therefore, I will not argue about the quality of vodka. Judging in your words you are consuming vodka regularly and therefore you are an expert in this matter .

2. You should read the textbook of zoology. At least for the primary classes. To not look ridiculous with your comment about whales.

3If your financial situation does not allow you to buy good clothes, this does not mean that other people can also buy only clothes from China.

4. As they say in Ukraine - around the corner you can only pee .... Today, space tourism is only Russia.

5. You probably can not afford Russian anti-virus.

6. Tell this to NASA. Or those who exploit the US nuclear power plant.

 

Does your comment make sense? Or is it a random set of letters?

 

Maybe you're right. I do not drink alcohol. But you, as a person with a long history of drinking alcohol, know for sure about vodka.

 

Yeah, that goes without saying.

 

it's not antivirus, it is the censorship malware integrated into your comp's software.

 

Very funny.

 

hardly Russian, that is a quote from some anti-Russian book by some pro-Western author, for how do you imagine a nation to denigrate themselves like this?

 

what's shocking about the topic, is the west obviously keeps its population blinkered to such an extent there's a need in publications like this one at all... the internet has not dispelled the medieval beliefs so widespread in the west or either taught some folks to google.

 

I got a snap, something went wrong.

That sucks, I might have to scrounge up a couple of hundred thousands of dollars and call Crowd Strike.

 

Hope you didn't get a virus from that Russian crap.

 

so you actually opened the link and read the article?

 

I'm using Chrome Book but I did get a "snap."

If anyone else had a problem the mod squad should delete this thread.

 

Me? No way. My anti-virus stopped it.

 

I told you they had a problem with mud. But look, at least they have cars to handle those back roads.

 

Here's the article from the Duran for those who are having difficulty.

Three weeks ago I flew from New York’s JFK airport to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. I wondered what was in store for me. In his 2015 State of the Union address President Obama had told us that “today it is America that stands strong and united with our allies, while Russia is isolated with its economy in tatters.”

Sheremetyevo airport was a pleasant surprise. Unlike the turmoil at JFK, it was quiet and efficient. My bags arrived promptly, there was only one person in front of me in the customs line and there was no inspection of my baggage. Best of all there were no TSA-like agents yelling commands as in American airports.

Using the airport’s free Wi-Fi, I opened my Uber app and a sleek BMW arrived with something I had never experienced–free Wi-Fi. So this is Russia, I thought as we zoomed past birch forests and factories. Soon we were in typical slow metropolitan traffic. My eyes scanned the road and I noticed something very different from New York – – there were no potholes. Driving to JFK a day earlier was the usual exercise of dodging holes and lumpy asphalt. Yet this supposedly tattered economy didn’t present one pothole on the entire ride into town.

Traveling around Moscow for the next three weeks was an eye-opener. While strolling down wide and clean pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, original art suddenly appeared decorating the side of buildings. The parks are clean and green, statues of literary figures are sprinkled around town and the mayor has erected whimsical archways featuring a happy sun’s face alongside the word: Moscow.

This supposed tattered economy looks pretty healthy from its capital. On my first evening I walked into one restaurant to be told I would have to wait an hour. I went to a restaurant down the street and they said one and a half hours. The people on the street are well-dressed and walking briskly to jobs and appointments as sturdy Skoda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi cars whisk by.

One day I walked into a hair salon for a haircut. The receptionist asked, “Now?” “Yes,” I answered. He studied his computer screen with a furrowed brow. Even though there were seven hairstylists working, he said the wait would be one and a half hours. I said fine, gave him my name and said I’ll take a walk around the block. I then came across another hair salon with five stylists. They said the wait would be one hour.

I was in Moscow to interview a wide variety of Russians: academics, writers, TV personalities, business people and others. They lived and worked all over the city and I spent hours in taxis. I became obsessed in my search for potholes. Over the last two years I had spent over $1,200 repairing my car’s tires and rims after violent encounters with New York’s pockmarked roads. I kept my eyes peeled, but from residential areas to industrial parks to the city center to the suburban fringes, I failed to find a single pothole. In New York the excuse for the cratered roads is the terrible winters. Moscow’s winters are more brutal but their roads are as smooth as silk.

An economy in tatters? It’s true that Moscow doesn’t represent all of Russia, but neither does New York represent all of the United States. I grew up reading inaccurate over-the-top Soviet propaganda about the United States. Now I wonder about American propaganda regarding Russia. Maybe America’s big city transportation authorities should take a trip to Moscow and text photos from Wi-Fi enabled taxis back to their co-workers about how a rough-winter-city maintains their excellent infrastructure. And maybe we Americans should start challenging our leaders’ constant drumbeat of erroneous and negative views of Russia.



James Bradley is a New York Times #1 bestselling author of four books. His opinion pieces have been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and many other newspapers. James has spoken to audiences and appeared on TV and radio across the US and China, Russia, Japan, France, Germany the UK and other countries.
​

 

Two things here. Russia has roughly twice as many miles of road network as the state of Texas. In addition much of that is unpaved. Second, the biggest causes of potholes are traffic and changing weather conditions. Russia doesn't see the extreme heat that much of the US has. Russia has under 2 million cars the US has in excess of 240 million.