By Theodore Shoebat
Four McDonalds have been temporally shut down in Moscow. Russian officials say that their closing has nothing to do with the US sanctions that have recently been imposed on Russia by the Obama administration. But the measure does not seem to be coincidence, nor does the Russian claim that its being done for “health” reasons make sense either.
The main McDonald’s in Moscow has been there since the 80s, and for the Russian government to close it down a short while after the US sanctions, makes it obvious that this is Putin’s way at getting back at Obama.
Also, this could be pay back for America freezing Putin’s Netflix account in response to Putin invading Crimea. John Kerry said:
Unless and until Mr. Putin calls off the annexation of Crimea, no more ‘House of Cards’ or ‘Orange Is the New Black’ for him… The United States will not stand by and reward the annexation of another sovereign nation with a policy of streaming as usual.
Well guess what Kerry, McDonald’s is getting shut down.
One Russian man, Vladimir Zolotsev, a 20 year studying to be a pianist, said:
I am for McDonald’s being wiped from the face of the earth,” said who was near the Pushkin Square restaurant.
The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, said, “Why should they teach us how to cook pies?”
One report gives an account as to the different opinion in Russia on the removal of these McDonald’s restaurants:
The move has been viewed as a political crackdown emanating from widespread anti-American sentiment kindled by the crisis in Ukraine.
Some U.S. businessmen have begun to worry that other classic brands could be next. Inspectors in the Sverdlovsk region on Friday said they discovered a chemical commonly used in insect repellant in batches of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Whiskey and threatened to sue stores still carrying the product.
However, the Federal Consumer Protection Service insists that politics have nothing to do with it and even says that the inspections at McDonald’s restaurants in various regions are unrelated.
“A series of separate legal entities are being inspected, which are connected only by the brand,” Anna Popova, the head of the Federal Consumer Protection Service, told Interfax, adding that the inspections had been planned since 2013.
There appears to be disagreement in the ranks, however. Olga Fomicheva, an official at the Tatarstan branch of the watchdog, told Interfax on Thursday that the region’s inspections were unscheduled.
Russian politicians, meanwhile, came out on all sides of the affair. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the rabble-rousing leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party, on Friday called for a McDonald’s sign in the Moscow city center to be ripped down, ITAR-Tass reported.
“We need to get rid of this sign, this disgusting sign has to go. What gives them the right to teach us how to make pirozhki [stuffed Russian buns]!” Zhirinovsky exclaimed to the few dozen people assembled at a political rally calling for the downfall of U.S. fast food and a return to the flag of the Russian Empire.