Talking to room service, Edward Snowden covers the mouth piece of the phone and shouts across the room.– How would you like your steak?– Medium rare, I answer.– And to drink?– Water.– Still or sparkling?Sparkling.– Wait.He laughs.– There's actually more. Vegetables or mashed potatoes?– Vegetables.

The choice of two left shoes of the former Soviet Union is, since decades, history in Russia. On my way here, I passed Cyrillic letters that were perfectly readable, even without any knowledge of Russian. Brands like McDonald's, Starbucks, World Class Gym, Michael Kors and United Colors of Benetton are like a universal code language, making everything understandable, whether the signs are in Moscow, Stockholm, San Francisco or Bangkok. If you think you can measure totalitarian tendencies, freedom of speech and rule of law in a country, by the standard of the cars, the number of restaurants or Stella McCartney's latest spring collection, you're fooling yourself.