‘I have seen the Future and it works,’ proclaimed leftist American journalist Lincoln Steffens after visiting Bolshevik Russia in 1919. By then, of course, the Cheka, or All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Profiteering and Corruption, was already summarily executing presumed enemies of the people in droves. Now, conservative pundit Tucker Carlson is admiring Vladimir Putin’s Russia with equivalent admiration, but a rather different agenda.
Fresh off his fawning interview with Putin, in a series of video shorts, Carlson has marvelled at the Moscow metro, rated the fare at Vkusno – i tochka (‘tasty – and that’s it’), the chain that replaced McDonalds, as just as good, and expressed performative shock at the excellent range of goods at an Ashan supermarket and the apparently cheap pricing.
Of course, it is easy to poke fun at this kind of video tourism. The Moscow metro is, indeed, a triumph of both mass transit and institutional architecture – even the modern stations still being built have a fresh, modern aesthetic, while the older ones tend to be baroque palaces.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in