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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRussia bans agricultural imports from west -don't tell me the West thought it could impose sanctions
without facing sanctions themselves.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/06/russia-bans-imports-eu-us-sanctions
<snip>
Russian government officials have been told to draw up a list of western agricultural products and raw materials that will be banned or restricted for up to one year, according to the decree published on the Kremlin website.
In tacit recognition that Russian consumers will bear the cost of the import ban, the decree also instructs officials to come up with measures to stabilise commodity markets and prevent food price rises.
The import ban follows a threat of retaliation from Russia's prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, in response to the grounding of the budget airline subsidiary of Aeroflot as a result of EU sanctions. Russian officials are reported to be considering banning European airlines from flying to Asia over Siberia.
Food has also been caught up in political tensions between Russia and the west. In recent days Russian food safety authorities have banned the import of Polish fruit and vegetables, while McDonald's cheeseburgers and milkshakes are being investigated by a regional branch of consumer protection agency Rospotrebnadzor.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)What's amusing is how Putin justifies his "sanctions".
They're banning food and saying it's unsafe. In many cases, they don't even say it's retaliation. They just say the food is unsafe.
malaise
(269,144 posts)ieoeja
(9,748 posts)TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)Then they'll be safe.
riqster
(13,986 posts)Russia imports food because it needs to. This is a classic case of shooting one's self in the foot, and it will come back to haunt Pooty-Poot later on.
ieoeja
(9,748 posts)1. Piss off the Ukraine, also known as the breadbasket of the region.
2. Refuse everybody else's food.
The totally fringe in this country were always complaining about the United States "paying tribute" to the Soviet Union because we had to keep them fed throughout the Cold War. This seems like the oddest boycott ever.
Igel
(35,337 posts)First, the facts that Russia is limiting or banning a bunch of imports. It often does this to express displeasure with the little people.
Second, there's the rather strange and unfounded claim that this wasn't something people realized would happen. There's a reason that countries don't like sanctions if they have trade with Russia. And it's not "imports from Russia" that they're concerned about.
The very fact that a country says, "Russia's our third largest export country" as they frown at trade sanctions rather entails that they know that their exports will be hit. And possibly hard.
Entail: "to cause or involve by necessity or as a consequence.
The only reason to overlook something that's entailed is if you don't understand cause and effect or logical implications. The sanctions-imposers did understand it. The writer of the OP ... He wanted to insult and outrage rather than understand. Not uncommon in some op-ed writers.
Iggo
(47,563 posts)Those clever bastards.
pampango
(24,692 posts)If Russians go hungry as a result, I wonder if Putin will accept responsibility for that?
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)Yeah, no, that almost always ends well for Russia.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)Never mind it will hurt the people of Russia.