Ben Rhodes

And so Moscow has been the America.

It's been the isolated little island where life has pretty much gone on as normal.

And then now, the last month...

I think this has really cost me premise.

And it's been there all along.

Well, so, I mean, I think that's a really interesting point, right?

Because at the moment, people are still too scared for any kind of mass action.

I mean, there's been reporting that people have been trying to plan protests and rallies, but they're, unless they're sanctioned, like, basically allowed and approved by the government, then people choose not to do it because then, like, it gets a little too risky.

The Associated Press actually wrote about this.

And, you know, it's just like so classically Russian in terms of the bureaucratic approach always making no sense.

So they talked about how in one Russian city, officials blocked a rally due to a tree inspection.

In others, they blamed snow removal problems or still existing COVID-19 restrictions.

And in one location, administrators argued that the reason for the protest didn't exist.

And then there was this incredible piece, you know, I didn't have the team cut a clip today because it's in Russian, but it was produced by Channel One, which is like a state, you know, run news channel there in Russia.

And it was like man on the street interviews.

And it's just talking about like the novel ways people are getting around the Internet not being available and Wi-Fi sucking.

And it was like fascinating.

Wave down a cab the old-fashioned way.

Always carry cash on you.

Download the maps in advance.