The Russia Left Behind
Interesting article but this is nothing new.  Russian villages have been dying for centuries- life was always better and easier in the cities.  Putting forward gypsies as examples of a "Russia left behind" is disingenuous at best- gypsies live in their own societies by their own rules all across Europe.<p>Frankly I'm a bit tired of all the negative coverage of Russia by the NYT, The Economist and other respected establishments.  I can drive through the Appalachians or towns in the South or Detroit and describe an "America Left Behind"- but we all know that those places do not represent the USA as a whole.<p>Edit: Russia has problems everyone knows that, I would just like to see more balanced coverage- talk to the middle class that has grown in the cities, the startup people in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities, compare how things are today to how they were in the 90s.