I’ve seen Moscow on the internet! Everything is tinted grey, it’s always cold, and there’s a Red Army choir constantly singing in a minor key (usually the Volga Boatmen song). Nobody ever smiles and there’s no vegetation, just concrete and vodka-drunk veterans. If you sit down on a public bench (look near the Kremlin - every single bench has a view of the Kremlin) for more than 5 minutes someone in a long coat will come and sit down next to you, their breath misting in the air as they heave a heavy sigh, offer you a cigarette before lighting one for themselves, and then hand you an unmarked brown envelope from their coat. They rarely speak, unless they need to give you a terse update about what The Americans are doing.
Oh right. Silly me! I don’t know any of it, because totalitarian fascist communist putler of the Muscovy Horde is keeping me in the dark, unlike the enlightened west where you have freedom of speech and free press. Makes perfect sense
It’s amazing Xi and Putin even let us talk to each other. Hey, I’ll DM you a site where you can watch clips of Winnie The Pooh and Dobby. But make sure nobody catches you watching them! I feel so sad thinking about how impoverished my life is being unable to talk about these Western cultural treasures openly at work.
for real. 1 week of “oh shit they invaded for real, wait to know if they win immediately”, then 2-3 weeks of “lord zelensky is fighting for democracy” “russia is an evil country”, and they were all brainwashed before a month, and convicned ukraine would win after putin secretly agreed to withdraw troops from kiev as part fo the peace agreement which ukriane broke again.
Which honestly shocks me a bit. We weren’t as isolated and cut-off as DPRK just recently. Surely people had at least seen Moscow on the internet?
I’ve seen Moscow on the internet! Everything is tinted grey, it’s always cold, and there’s a Red Army choir constantly singing in a minor key (usually the Volga Boatmen song). Nobody ever smiles and there’s no vegetation, just concrete and vodka-drunk veterans. If you sit down on a public bench (look near the Kremlin - every single bench has a view of the Kremlin) for more than 5 minutes someone in a long coat will come and sit down next to you, their breath misting in the air as they heave a heavy sigh, offer you a cigarette before lighting one for themselves, and then hand you an unmarked brown envelope from their coat. They rarely speak, unless they need to give you a terse update about what The Americans are doing.
Oh right. Silly me! I don’t know any of it, because totalitarian fascist communist putler of the Muscovy Horde is keeping me in the dark, unlike the enlightened west where you have freedom of speech and free press. Makes perfect sense
It’s amazing Xi and Putin even let us talk to each other. Hey, I’ll DM you a site where you can watch clips of Winnie The Pooh and Dobby. But make sure nobody catches you watching them! I feel so sad thinking about how impoverished my life is being unable to talk about these Western cultural treasures openly at work.
Even before the war, I think most people just assume that Russia never evolved past the 1940s
Russia really went from reasonably well known, if somewhat memised country into “Mordor (here be dragons)” in few weeks in 2022.
for real. 1 week of “oh shit they invaded for real, wait to know if they win immediately”, then 2-3 weeks of “lord zelensky is fighting for democracy” “russia is an evil country”, and they were all brainwashed before a month, and convicned ukraine would win after putin secretly agreed to withdraw troops from kiev as part fo the peace agreement which ukriane broke again.
Westerners genuinely believe that Russians haven’t evolved past the Stalinist Soviet Union.
If only