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McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

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Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#381

Post by trasz »

mc32 wrote: post #260
throwaway290 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IANAL but Russia is legal to do business with with exception of certain corporate entities and individuals. There's a deny-list, not an allow-list. Unfortunately, since the latest war the deny-list has grown substantially (making it a bit difficult to ensure you aren't accidentally servicing someone involved with a sanctioned entity), combined with political pressure this prompted some businesses to go an extra mile…

Russia has uniformed soldiers in there conducting war -illegally, if wars are other than illegal, or at least not sanctioned by the UN and also committing war crimes. But I don’t think it’s terrorism. Terrorism usually has a few criteria: not a regular army, and typically don’t use heavy military equipment but rely on guerrilla tactics and aim to terrorize because they are incapable of taking over a territory —becaus…

According to Russia it’s a “SVO”, not a war. Which means they are not soldiers. Ukraine keeps treating them in a humane way, but technically they could be just shot on sight. Russia wouldn’t care anyway, they don’t even bother to pick up corpses.

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#382

Post by dotancohen »

The_Colonel wrote: post #374
dotancohen wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Thanks for repeating Russian propaganda word for word. > In reality... So, you are completely disregarding Russia's point of view, even though they stated it clearly, and are substituting your own interpretation of events. What makes you think that you understand Russian motivations any more than Russia itself? From Russia's point of view, NATO is encroaching. How blind must one be to disregard that?

Yes, I am completely disregarding Russian propaganda talking points. Remember how all the way up to February 23rd Russian Foreign Ministry maintained that the West is hysterical and obviously there won't be any invasion? > From Russia's point of view, NATO is encroaching. So again, how does Ukraine fit into that when Ukraine was nowhere near being admitted to NATO?

  > Yes, I am completely disregarding Russian propaganda talking points.
But falling hook line and sinker for the Western propaganda talking points? Your bias is showing.

  > Ukraine was nowhere near being admitted to NATO?
At the 2021 Brussels summit [1] NATO stated that "We reiterate the decision made at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance with the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as an integral part of the process".

So the process has been in the works since at least 2008, and recently reiterated. I was able to find that with 2 minutes' googling knowing none of the important keywords.

Honestly, I have no side in this conflict. I don't live in Russia or Europe or any NATO country. I'm just concerned how passively people are taking the sides of their government and selectively disregarding some information yet accepting other information without question, depending on who is spoonfeeding it to them.

[1] https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_185000.htm?selectedL...

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#383

Post by The_Colonel »

dotancohen wrote: post #382
The_Colonel wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I am completely disregarding Russian propaganda talking points. Remember how all the way up to February 23rd Russian Foreign Ministry maintained that the West is hysterical and obviously there won't be any invasion? > From Russia's point of view, NATO is encroaching. So again, how does Ukraine fit into that when Ukraine was nowhere near being admitted to NATO?

> Yes, I am completely disregarding Russian propaganda talking points. But falling hook line and sinker for the Western propaganda talking points? Your bias is showing. > Ukraine was nowhere near being admitted to NATO? At the 2021 Brussels summit [1] NATO stated that "We reiterate the decision made at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance with the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as…

> But falling hook line and sinker for the Western propaganda talking points? Your bias is showing.

Such as?

> At the 2021 Brussels summit [1] NATO stated that "We reiterate the decision made at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance with the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as an integral part of the process".

And there wasn't any progress in this matter since 2008. It's still not even part of the MAP process.

> I'm just concerned how passively people are taking the sides of their government and selectively disregarding some information yet accepting other information without question, depending on who is spoonfeeding it to them.

Weird that you say that while repeating Russian propaganda word for word.

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#384

Post by ineedasername »

thriftwy wrote: post #363
ineedasername wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Countries can have a booming trade without being a client state. You are under the misapprehension that 1) A small country must make itself subservient to a larger more powerful one. And 2) It cannot have close ties with more than one large world power. Germany for example has very strong economic interests with both the US & Russia, and until the Ukrainian invasion there wasn't too much of a problem with that. The U…

Kazakhstan has at least threeway close ties and it does not cause problems. They are also not subservient. They're just profiting from having stable relations with larger neighbours.

I think that supports what I'm saying? Countries do no have to pick a side, they can have have (or should be allowed to have) prosperous relationships with Russia, US, Europe, China, etc.

Ukraine got on the bad side of Russia because it was trying to do just that. It gained leadership that was willing to develop stronger ties with the West and Russia perceived it as a threat, annexing Crimea as stage-1 in their plan to eliminate Ukrainian sovereignty.

Instead they might simply have played nice, continue being the region's key supplier of natural gas/oil/etc., Used those proceeds to develop other areas of it's economy... You get the idea. Their leadership's nostalgia for empire building is, ironically, getting in the way of them building an economic empire. Their scientific tradition should have them at the forefront of new breakthroughs alongside other large nations. Instead, we get a fruitless invasion and another generation of isolation.

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#385

Post by lotusmars »

KptMarchewa wrote: post #335
lotusmars wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interest rate is already back to 14%[1]. Russian economy recovered super fast. Ruble is already stronger than before war (around 64 RUB for USD). Basically sanctions are a joke made for Biden to shout once before American public attention shifts to Amber Heard trial or some other spectacle of the day. [1] https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/russian-central-ban...

>Ruble is already stronger than before war This is completely irrelevant if you can't sell it for USD.

Where do you get this? You can buy USD officially at most banks. Tinkoff for example sells it for 67, which is once again even lower than before war.

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#386

Post by lotusmars »

rasz wrote: post #373
lotusmars wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, Moscow is fine and you can buy foreign currency freely now. This is a delusion based on Western politians' loud promises which never came true. We were promised crushing sanctions that would reduce Russian economy to 1980's style rubble with black market of foreign currencies. It's all just a load of hype. It's important to set this clear because most of HN commenters seems to be under impression those sanctions…

Can you buy a new car with all this money?

Yes. It's more expensive than before, but there's a thriving market on Telegram with prices fixed in EUR/USD. Also Chinese cars sales are growing and soon market will be flooded.

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#387

Post by throw-ru-938 »

trasz wrote: post #380
throw-ru-938 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russians are in fact allowed to buy USD (provided the bank actually has the physical dollar notes). The earlier prohibition on buying foreign currency has been relaxed.

They aren’t. They can buy virtual USD, but can only physically withdraw up to $10k per year. And if they receive USD, they are required by law to deposit 80% of it within three days.

> They can buy virtual USD, but can only physically withdraw up to $10k per year.

This applies to withdrawing cash from bank accounts. AFAIK there is no limit on exchanging RUB cash into USD/EUR.

> And if they receive USD, they are required by law to deposit 80% of it within three days.

This applies to companies doing exports, not to private citizens. (Although admittedly citizens don't have many ways of getting dollars.)

(Source: I'm Russian and still follow the news from there)

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#388

Post by thriftwy »

ineedasername wrote: post #384
thriftwy wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kazakhstan has at least threeway close ties and it does not cause problems. They are also not subservient. They're just profiting from having stable relations with larger neighbours.

I think that supports what I'm saying? Countries do no have to pick a side, they can have have (or should be allowed to have) prosperous relationships with Russia, US, Europe, China, etc. Ukraine got on the bad side of Russia because it was trying to do just that. It gained leadership that was willing to develop stronger ties with the West and Russia perceived it as a threat, annexing Crimea as stage-1 in their plan…

Ukraine tried to pick a side by dumping Russia. If they stayed reasonably multi-vectored and out of the discussions to join the EU/NATO, they'd be swimming in Russian money to that day.

"Continue being the region's key supplier of natural gas/oil/etc" is not enough for Russia.

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#389

Post by rabite »

antifa wrote: post #332
rabite wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They won't be able to sell them at all. Putin has already said that any companies that leave Russian markets as a result of the current conflict will have all their assets nationalized. This is what happened to McDonalds in the Donbass -- they're still operating and called "DonMaks". The experience is extremely similar to a normal McDonalds. The only thing that is obviously different is the fries. https://www.instagr…

What about the fries is different?

They're just normal fries, made fresh from potatoes. McDonalds fries are a result of a process of many steps.

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#390

Post by thereddaikon »

vetinari wrote: post #377
thereddaikon wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could be mistaken but with the exception of Germany seizing the gazprom terminal, I think all of the other seizures have been to specifically sanctioned individuals. Of course in Russia they have a oligarchy so they probably see sanctioning a person the same as sanctioning a company.

There is no such thing as a yacht owned by a person; even if you wanted to operate some small one, you would create SPE (=special purpose entity, i.e. a company) for it. So they were owned by companies. Yachts are operated as businesses, especially larger ones. And it is not just about yachts and airplanes. There were freezed accounts in usd and eur, i.e. the primary motivator for switching sale of oil and gas to rub…

I understand how the ultra rich operate. There is still a difference between seizing personal assets that are in shell companies for tax reasons or what have you and seizing capital of real companies that do real business.
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