A helicopter lands in the streets of Moscow, minutes after the blast

Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov is an establishment politician whom some regard as corrupt. His wife Elena Baturina owns a large construction company in Moscow and sits on the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people. Regardless, Mayor Luzhkov still got the edge.

Just think: In what other major city--let alone one with 15 million people--would it be possible in just 30 minutes to close down the entire downtown to traffic in the middle of morning rush hour to allow safe landing of medical helicopters in the streets? And, while doing it, avoid gridlock of the surface transportation of public and private vehicles? Partially evacuate an underground transportation system that carries 500,000 people at any given moment and is used by some 11 million people daily, and do so without panic or injuries? Continue operations of the entire public transportation system (including the attacked subway), while hosting investigators and the nation's president at the crime scene? Safely reopen the attacked stations the same day, only 9 hours after the attacks, accommodate the 6 PM rush hour after having fully aiding the victims, and all the while collecting intelligence, and reconditioning subway tracks and walls?

In Washington D.C., even a scheduled maintenance of a metro system dozens of times smaller than Moscow's takes an entire weekend. Seattle has been deciding for the past two decades to whether take down a viaduct that's falling apart, or let it fall on the citizens' heads on its own. A small fire at a Nashville movie theater paralyzes the shopping mall and traffic for hours...

Mayor Luzhkov, you may be not the best person in Moscow, but we still love you.