But, to quote Anton Chekhov, "Mother Russia is vast," and the vast majority of its people — including more than a quarter who reside in rural areas — do not live in Moscow, St. Petersburg or Vladivostok. They are divorced from the opposition figures of the cities and want what so many people the world over want: to have enough money to eat and drink, enough to find a place to live and to be left in a quiet peace. Whether we accept it or not, opposition to Putin is small and (at least geographically) contained. And those members who are not in jail or tired of arrest threats, like Soviet dissidents before them, cannot seem to agree on how to bring free and fair politics to Russia.