I remember when the sanctions started and Western fast food, media, and social media were all pulling out. Someome quipped “oh no, Russians will be the healthiest and happiest people on the planet. How awful.”
Well, it’s about economics, not hurting ordinary russians. Doing business in russia gives them money, which helps them pay for the war. It’s as simple as that.
But Burger King sells to Russians and repatriates some of its profits back to the US. If BK leaves Russia then Russians will spend their money on other restaurants, presumably ones which do not send profits overseas (due to the sanctions) which paradoxically means more money staying in Russia.
If the restaurants close then there will be some momentary unemployment but there’s a war going on so unemployment helps smooth over manpower issues. That’s also ignoring the possibility of a Russian entity stepping into BK’s shoes like they did with McD’s and just running the place without the trademarks.
They don’t even have to respect trademarks anymore because of how much Russia is sanctioned. They can just keep running their own Burger King with the only difference being that the real BK won’t see any profits and the money will stay inside Russia.
Worst case scenario for the west is that the Russians just rename the chain “Burger Tsar” or something and continue as normal. Russians still get their treats, BK gets no money.
It is about economics. If Burger King leaves Russia, they’re still leaving the restaurants, distribution networks and the employees behind. They’re not going to sit idle just because the brand left, rather they’re going to keep going under a new name, just like how McDonald’s did.
What effect does that have on the Russian war effort? None.
Is it effective? Especially since McD’s leaving the country has just resulted in the Russian suppliers and restaurant owners running the place on their own with the same recipes.
Are the Russian people going to be angry at the lack of clown/king related branding?
that’s because Americans just want to be angry at each other about something. Ultimately the American obsession with culture war stupid bullshit comes from the fact that the American constitution is an objectively stupid foundation for a country and its checks and balances prevent any actual politics from getting done so to differentiate themselves politicians have to focus on nonsense
this has also effected other countries that have too much american news
I don’t really know a way forward other than just getting rid of the United states as a legal framework and starting a new country entirely from scratch there is really nothing salvageable about the way american democracy is structured and it needs a redesign from the ground up
Without American fast food, Russians will have to resort to eating rotten maggot-infested meat. It will be like a million Battleship Potemkins all at once.
IDK I would be pretty happy if shitty body-ruining fast food and proprietary Spyware like Microsoft left my country, I would like my shitty neofascist government sliiiightly more (I am Italian, sadly) if instead of sucking on uncle Sam’s hairy balls they would kick harmful corpos out
I think the narrative these people are trying to push is that these companies get dollars flowing into Russia, they buy roubles, and Russia uses the dollars on the international weaponry market. I don’t get why this would be a problem, since Microsoft still does the same shit I assume (most Russians definitely use Windows)
also if they left then the burger kings in russia would just stay open. It is not a complicated business to copy when you already have the equipment and staff. It’s as simple as continuing to sell burgers
Burger king could end it’s francisee relationships but the burger shop is already in russia
They outrage is such a great example of western exceptionalism. The existence of western consumer businesses in the countries of the non-Aryan jungle is supposed to be an immense benefit to these places and their departure must necessarily be disastrous for them. Nowhere is the idea entertained that Russians are perfectly capable of creating their own shitty burger restaurants to replace those if the west.
You're missing the point. For BK to operate in Russia means dollars flowing into Russia, because BK needs to buy Rubles. Dollars that Russia needs to buy arms on the international market, because nobody is accepting Rubles.
This is true. However, if I owned BK, I’d see this as an amazing business strategy, although a quite unethical one (but as we can see, multi million+ dollar companies aren’t the most ethical either way). I mean, now the literal government has an interest for it to stay in business, they may even start to promote the brand.
Except BK is an American company. They wouldn’t operate in Russia if they weren’t making a profit. So their net effect is to have money flowing out of Russia.
It’s like that 80s news footage of the first McDonald’s opening in Moscow where they’re like so-true ”finally those filthy commies get to enjoy our superior Western treats”
Then they interview someone who says it wasn’t really worth it to stand in line and pay so much lenin-laugh
Man your historical revisionism is almost endless at hexbear.
I grew up in a navy/embassy family, so moved around every 3-5 years onto new postings. At an embassy posting in Stockholm, it was common for the attaché-community to pair newly arrived families with someone who had been there for a while. My mum thus got paired with a newly arrived Soviet wife-of-an-attaché to show her the ropes of diplomat life. This lady was on her first posting (it was quite common for Soviet embassy staff to have a LOT of newcomers for fear that they would get to used to western life style and seek asylum) and she was showing this lady where to do shopping in Stockholm. I was joining as I was too small to be left at home on my own.
So we walk into this supermarket and the Soviet lady sort of walks in, stops for a second, then walks through the one-way gates and stops again. And then she bursts into tears.
Diplomat life is hard on partners - so tears in the opening days aren’t that uncommon. My mum pulls her to the side and starts saying the usual (“I remember when we started”, “it’ll get better” bla bla) and the Soviet lady says basically “you don’t understand! I’ve never, ever seen so much choice and food and my life”.
She wasn’t crying because she had left home. She was crying because she was realising how fucked up home was - and remember this is someone who was sent out as a diplomat so reasonably well connected at home.
The West had a reason for its exceptionalism back then. Compared to many places it still does. In others, of course, we need to wake the fuck up - China is a great example, where there is definitely no cause for a feeling of exceptionalism. Russia, oh boy, yes we can still feel exceptional.
Go on then, dismiss me with your hexbear memes and be gone.
if it was so bad why did the CIA report that the average russians diet was better than compartively an americans?
‘I get to have 8 different brands of pepsi-cola im so free’ isnt a compelling arguement lmao, neither are annecdotes from your neo-liberal scum family.
listen up kid my dad worked in a european embasy and he said the people we bombed where poor so think again COMMIE about how many freeDOMS we have as a result of our rape of the third world
What sort of nonsense response is that? Anyone can poop out any anecdote they like to support their position and say “I know it hurts so it’s easy to reject”.
Give me a break. No system is perfect and the discussion isn’t about perfection vs horror. It’s about a series of tradeoffs and the tradeoffs done in the west broadly resulting in better outcomes, on average, for the population there than they did in the Soviet Union. For China nowadays, I’m less certain. Definitely in the big Tier 1 cities, life is on par with Western outcomes, for some better for some worse.
I’m just saying, it’s ironic to use that example of a diplomat as opposed to how many people live paycheck to paycheck barely able to make ends meet or are actually homeless, I doubt those people are crying in joy when they walk into a Walmart
I think you’ve missed my point entirely - that could be my fault.
The example illustrates that even for those well-connected enough in the Soviet Union the sight of a western supermarket was enough to make them weep (this was ‘88).
I brought this example up to address the false belief that people in Russia weren’t all that impressed with western products (like McDonalds) back when the Soviet Union existed.
I don’t know how you’re managing to connect that with how people live today and their experience of walking into Walmart.
Finally, this didn’t take place in Harrods but in ICA in Sweden. Hardly a luxury shop - just an average supermarket.
The idea of communism (extremely simplified) everyone has the means to live and people at “the top” don’t get special privilege on that, obviously almost all actual implementations turn into dictatorships so the point is somewhat moot, however the fact a well connected diplomat in a communist country had to live in the same conditions as other non-well connected people would be a positive, not a negative, they’d see and hopefully be able to improve the lives of everyone as they understand what it’s like.
Compare that to a majority of the rich and powerful in America, they’re so ridiculously disconnected from the average experience that they literally do not understand at all what it’s like for those with less.
Ah, with that I broadly agree. But I do feel the goalposts are shifting.
In the case of “was it right for the west to feel their system was better than the Soviet one” my example simply illustrates that a western supermarket in ‘88 reduced someone from the Soviet Union to tears.
But that’s really misdirecting of the overall issue right? That’s why I brought up homeless or very low income people in America as a counter-example.
Sure capitalism brings us some good things because of the profit incentive driving some to continue pushing the envelope (there’s pros and cons, don’t want to get too in the weeds) but there’s also massive inequality, compared to the ideal of a communist or socialist perspective where sure it might not be as shiny or you don’t have as many options, but you’re definitely housed and fed.
I agree but I wasn’t trying to address the overall issue. Certainly no more me than the people I responded to, who used the example of shitty junk food joints to claim the people of the Soviet Union didn’t look with envy on the choices offered to the western citizens.
In theory the communist system is fantastic, in the same way the society described in The Culture is. There just hasn’t been any implementation that got close to that ideal and certainly the median citizen seems better off in the west.
I guess the main thing they might have been talking about is how a lot of the “west culture” will only trumpet the “good” aspects of capitalism and downplay any/all negatives.
Like it’s cool we have McDonalds and many other fast food places available, but so many of them are bottom of the barrel quality/health wise and therefore it’s really not like it adds a ton of value to our lives over if we didn’t have to worry about having healthy food provided to us, even if we don’t have the choice.
Mostly splitting hairs at this point, I think we broadly agree :p
Better outcome is when everyone is homeless and dies from preventable diseases due to unaccessible healthcare, BUT they have a choice of 50 different shampoos.
And the horror is when everyone has a roof, is educated, in good health, but has to munch on the disgusting government provided nutritious food. 😡
They should feed the homeless free borgors in USA and Europe instead, and just leave the great Mother Russia. Burger King is fucking mediocre in India.
They’re very mediocre in Canada. But that said, they’re cheap as hell compared to their counterparts. And I’d argue, in many urban centers they definitely are feeding the homeless, just charging for it lol.
You can get two cheeseburgers, fries and a drink for $6. You can get a pack of nuggies for $3. You aren’t getting that sort of bang for buck at any other commercial fast food place around here. Something like that would easily cost close to $10 if not more at mcdonalds.
I always tell my wife if I was homeless, she’d find me begging for change at the intersection closest to a burger king.
Well, I would prefer cooking raw materials myself if I were that poor. For $6 I could cook myself a day’s worth of food in India, but that probably cannot be said about Canada.
Yeah it’s been a bit tight. Like surely, for $6 you could definitely get more food at the grocery store, but being that poor often involves not having the proper equipment or space to really cook anything. But yeah, our grocery store situation isn’t pretty right now. Fresh and healthy foods are expensive.
Depends on what you’re eating. Even in the most insanely priced areas, beans and rice tend to be pretty damn cheap, and North Americans do not eat a lot of rice or beans or chili or other cheap foods that are staples in lots of Asian diets.
How does this make sense? They lose money from giving away free burgers and lose money from leavig Russia. Why would they do this? This is like when George Michael throws a banana away for every dollar he steals from the cash register
Borgors are not very healthy, and these big brands induce a capitalistic slavery mindset among non-rich people. Burger King exports USA culture as well.
I simply don’t get this mentality. I’m sure you do realize, that companies such as Microsoft still operate in Russia. You think all people over there are running Linux? Aside from how unbelievably stupid your take is, guess they are traitors too. But you’ll still keep using their OS and Office suite for millenia to come.
MS stopped selling licenses last year and blocked the ones operating this year (non renewal). But I get your point, only not all the big companies stayed
What exactly did they block? You can still buy any Microsoft product in Russia, your online subscriptions are still billed in rubles, you can pay them from any card Visa or Mastercard accept. As of now there are no problems at all with Microsoft products in Russia.
Sorry, don’t get your point. A company may say one thing like Burger King said they will dump Russia. The reality at least currently with both Burger King and Microsoft is another thing.
Since I’m not living in Russia I can’t tell you what exactly is happening there but I can read what they told the world (with no one telling it’s false)
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Russia did have larger linux adoption. It’s not unheard of for countries to be (in my opinion baselessly) suspicious that microsoft contains american spyware.
If operating in bad countries is a reason to have your little boycott, then not operating in Russia won’t budge the dial because BK will keep operating in the US irrespective.
If operating in bad countries is a reason to have your little boycott, then not operating in Russia won’t budge the dial because BK will keep operating in the US irrespective.
I am also saying that, if one is concerned with “Does BK exist in bad countries?”, the Russia question is irrelevant because BK will always be in the bad country that is the US, making its specific actions in any other context moot as the question is already answered.
They ARE wrong though. They’re acting like we’re only getting mad about one thing at a time. What kind of smug asshole goes on the internet to peddle moral superiority over strawmen?
It’s moreso that the emphasis on issues is very often skewed by MSM to the stuff that matters a lot less, and then the normies all get in an outrage. Does it really matter if BK is still in Russia? They’re not actively working with the Russian military right? The money is flowing out to the glorious USA BK hq no?
when mcdonalds pulled out they just didn’t close the mcdonalds. The buildings and people who work in the mcdonalds were already in Russia there is literally no reason they can’t just stay open
Renamed to McBlyat, serving Big Pickle with Coca Vodka now.
I am almost aure they just nationalized the building and it keeps operating, although with a different menu as McDonald’s no longer imports the ingredients. At least they don’t make money out of it.
If I go to my local McD’s anything I buy there will be made right here in Norway, and I assume it’s the same in Russia and basically any other country they’re in.
You rank BK as worse than McDonald’s? I only ask cause I’ve worked at both, and I would put McDonald’s just the tiniest bit lower than BK. Wendy’s is barely better than both BK and McDonald’s.
Not going to say they’re good, but it is wild as fuck how much of a difference franchises can make. There are several BKs in my city, but a select few are owned by a different franchise than the majority of the others. Their food is WAY better, consistently, than the others, and it’s usually a lot fresher tasting.
McD fries are too soft and when they get cold they are absolute garbage. They almost seem soggy, without getting wet. BK have a crunch to them. At least this is the case in the UK.
I sent my sister a bottle of fry sauce that she’s been trying to find for years (she never thought to check Amazon lol), this is what she sends me back. Told her she was supposed to use it to enhance good food, not make terrible food tolerable. not Mmmm
If BK food in the US is any indication of the quality in Russia, let them stay open. Worst of the worst as far as fast food goes. It’s economic warfare with none of the war crimes! /s
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