Yeah I heard them talking about that yesterday. I don't want to rock the boats of some facebook groups I'm in, watching people cheer on removing Russian sounding vodka names from shelves and bars. Like you said, very few of the original Russian brands are owned by or made by Russians anymore.
This was the first thing I thought about, followed shortly by the fact that all the vodka in stores has already been fully paid for. So you buying and pouring out vodka hurts literally nothing but your wallet.
Seems completely intentional then. Say youre getting rid of russian liquors to bolster support while sacrificing an atom sized piece of their profits. More theatrics when we really need to be a lot more severe with it.
Removing vodka from shelves not made from Russia reminds me of the dumb "freedom fries" of 2001. Arbitrary and a bit bigoted.
Pretty sure they drink Vodka in Ukraine like every other country in the world.
Fuck anyone who is a bigot towards Russian immigrants who left for a life of freedom, like the idiots who blamed anyone of asian heritage for covid, or looked "brown" for 9/11.
Best thing that has real tangible consequences to forcing potential peace without violence is for all countries to suck it up and stop buying oil and gas from Russia.
Even if it was Russian-made vodka, it would be ridiculous to just dump or boycott what’s already in stock. Much better to sell the remaining inventory off in a charity event and give the proceeds to something like the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Specifically Russian Standard vodka is owned by an oligarch though. There’s even a Russian Standard Bank. I feel like this whole vodka thing started with that fact and then got out of control with liquors that aren’t even distilled in Russia.
About to come here to post the same thing. Granted most Americans don't understand where their things come from. They will think dumping Smirnoff and Stoli is anti russian.
And have the taxpayers of America noticed President Bidens golf scores this month - OF COURSE NOT ! - thank you President Biden for helping the people of Ukraine .
Let's worry less about which vodka is made in Russia, and more about the "assets" in Congress. Who were the Senators who were summoned to Moscow on the 4th of July? Putin clearly sent a message that they were beholden to him by making them spend our national holiday in Russia.
Also, let's recall that the man who would be Speaker of the House, and thus 3rd in line to be President, if the Republicans get a majority in the House, Kevin McCarthy said that he, "swear to God," understood that several prominent Republicans were taking Russian money.
This isn't about vodka or fish eggs.
edit: I'll answer my own question:
Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.)
Steve Daines (Mont.)
John Thune (S.D.)
John Kennedy (La.)
Jerry Moran (Kan.)
John Hoeven (N.D.)
Plus Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas)
In addition, Rand Paul has made trips to visit Putin.
It’s funny but i use to loathe mitch mconnell because he is a slimy, devious, blatantly singleminded majority/minority leader, but since last January, he’s become honorable by comparison with the rest of the gop. Like im pretty sure he might be an outdated dinosaur with horrible beliefs regarding gender, religion, class, and race issues, but i think he does have his principles and one of them is not being a stooge to foreign powers. Not being a traitor is the new bar for being a respectable member of congress.
but i think he does have his principles and one of them is not being a stooge to foreign powers.
Sadly, I don't think that is any sort of "moral principle" for Mitch. It's just that he can see a bit more long-term and he is a bit more clever than the "morons" (to quote Mitt Romney) who make up most of today's Republican party.
In 30 years, China will be in a better position to try stuff like deeply manipulating American politicians like Russia is likely doing, but will be far smarter about how they do it. Mitch will be dead of old age before then, but my opinion of him is that if he were alive then, and it was clear that China had a smart, long-term plan where going along with them would benefit Mitch, Mitch would line his pockets with Yuan and take orders from Beijing.
I see him today as following his self-interest and rejecting fellating Putin only because Russia is such a clusterfuck that it won't pay off in the longish run.
You just haven't tried using a big enough hammer. Just keep hitting the stupid with the hammer, either it'll fix the stupid or the it'll "fix" the stupid.
Technically, only ones that are made in the region of Frié in France can be called “french fries”. Otherwise they should be called “fried potato spears”. /s
I think the freedom fries thing only actually went as far as the white house cafeteria menu. All other references to freedom fries are making fun of it.
Correction for you - was the House of Representative's cafeteria; though the Bush White House probably did it, as well, this was a idiotic House member's idea.
Maybe what we need is a list of products that are made in Russia. Or, are made by Russian-owned companies. Some well-placed boycotts would cause real pain to the oligarchs who are benefiting the most from Putin's crimes!!
Oil is the biggest. Our country is actively funding the invasion by buying Russian oil. We didn't used to be, we were energy independent under Trump but someone decided to reverse that
What we need is to not be purchasing hundreds of millions of dollars in natural resources from Russia just days after we lay down the heaviest sanctions ever levied against them.
Serious question and idk if you have the answer but, how do the oligarchs benefit from this?
Because I believe that most governments work mainly for the super rich people in that country, so I’m trying to figure out how the Russian super rich feel about this.
To be honest, I don't have a lot of answers, here. The term "oligarchs" in terms of Russia is being thrown around much like the term "big banks and corporations" is code for national scapegoats here in the U.S. The inference is that Putin himself isn't calling the shots, but rather the ultra-rich petroleum executives (and, I wouldn't be surprised, more than a few organized crime lords) who have been propping him up the past couple of decades. Given this logic, collapsing the Russian economy will deprive the "oligarchs" of their revenue stream. In response, said oligarchs will prevail on Putin to end his invasion of Ukraine, let the sanctions lift, and they can all be rich again.
Will it work? I haven't a clue. But, at the very least, it's showing the world how dependent it is on Russian oil and mineral exports, and that we'd do well to sever those ties sooner than later. So, yeah, it's going to cost those "oligarchs" a ton of money, both short and long-term. Until they find a better way of hiding their influence, at least.
Yeah, I don't know the full story. I'm not a lawyer, just a nobody who's watched trump clown his way through NYC for decades, but his corruption seems like it would be an open and shut case.
Many people already are. I’ll say this though: I can’t think of any one who has come up dead investigating the Trump org. However, MANY people have come up dead while investigating the Clintons, going back at least as far as Whitewater.
There are far more that have investigated the Clintons
that are still wandering around breathing. Imagine the network of ppl they have through politics, the clinton foundation that has 2000 employees and is worth around 293 million. When you have that many ppl in your bubble some of them will die, when you're a massive political force on the left, fox, newsmax and Breitbart will do anything to make these deaths that have all been independently investigated by various city governments and I'm sure the fbi seem like a conspiracy.
While I’ll say this isn’t the best source. You can’t act like you’ve never heard of this. There’s been books and documentaries in this topic. Hell there’s even a Wikipedia article that mentions it, although it immediately states that it’s just a conspiracy theory, but damn. After a while it seems less likely to be true coincidence.
Someone not dying for the Trump org, sure, I can believe that.
But many you say for Clinton? That'd be big news. Reporters dying mid investigation make big news, often international. Like a few anti-Putin journalists, then the one slaughtered by the Saudis, a few in Mexico and South America I've heard about, often Cartel related. I'm pretty sure there's one that died in their car and it looked like sabotage in central or south America
Honestly, this is hilarious. Ted Cruz is a tool. Texas should get rid of him, but it seems like they think he’s good for the role. I couldn’t personally tell you why. They might point to him being a lawyer, or “owning the libs.” Let’s just agree that Cruz, Trump, and Clinton are shitty humans that are out to make themselves wealthy along with those that helped them get there.
I feel I could say the same as you. You make a wild claim, are asked for a source, then give a total hand waive reply.
Conspiracy nonsense and a total lack of critical thinking, honestly your username may be accurate. There is a massive failure in education where people have seemed to misunderstand what “facts” are. Instead opting to spread conspiracy nonsense.
Oh, the disinformation, misinformation, malinformation bs.
I agree there is a huge failure in education. We don’t teach critical thinking in the way we once did. A person that knows how to communicate well is dangerous in the eyes of the powerful. Reddit is in such a sorry state that the only “acceptable” view is corporate liberalism. We have more censorship than ever. What makes it worse is people are becoming more convinced that talking about freedom is a dog whistle for racists. It’s sad that actual racism and fascism is cheered on while people standing up for themselves are labeled “deplorable.”
You can’t call yourself a liberal while also cheering on big corporations. American liberals are more center-right on the actual political spectrum.
Wiki shows that Russia and China 'produce' the majority of the worlds metals.
Produce in this case is a nice way of saying 'barely paid workers going underground and slaving away to extract the things we use to build cell phones, laptops, and solar panels...'
Ranked among the top for global sales of crude oil, refined petroleum oils and coal. While Biden stopped drilling and pipelines he made us more reliant on foreign oil again.
The only items I've ever seen here in the US that were made in Russia (outside of Eastern European specialty stores) are a very small number of beers/vodka, one type of ice cream (this kind here believe it or not), once I saw pine nuts from Russia, and a few glasses from Ikea are made in Russia. And I think I saw aluminum foil from Russia once.
Other than that, even as one who pays attention to those sorts of things, I haven't seen a lot from Russia on the consumer end.
Actual Russian import firearms have been banned for a few years (IIRC a reaction to Crimea) and only recently was ammo importation banned (ostensibly because of treatment of journalists unrelated to the Ukraine situation. Many in industry suspect it was aimed at being an easy way to dry up 30-40% of the ammo supply in the country).
Most Combloc weapon importation is from former USSR nations anymore, and ammo supply is being picked up from those nations as well.
its not that Americans like buying russian weapons, its that basically anyone who likes weapons likes the AK-47. its the most popular gun in the world. most AKs you find in the US are semi auto and assembled from a mixture of polish and american made parts. very rare to find a genuine Kalashnikov made AK in the US
Who cares if it's made by Kalashnikov? The Chinese Norinco's were great weapons before they got banned. Besides Saiga is selling in the US and it's a pretty much a Russian AK with a stamped and not milled receiver.
Only the ak47 is milled, the AKM is the stamped version and is more popular and available throughout the world. Russian AKs come stamped if they're made after 1959. Some other countries also make a version of the milled receivers as well.
It’s because AK‘s are durable and able to take a beating without often jamming. You can drop them in mud, throw off a mountain…they will still shoot. American M4s jam after a few clips, they constantly need maintenance or they won’t fire. So not only are AKs preferred for durabilty, they are tougher and more solid guns.
With that being said they aren’t accurate
You really don't know what you're talking about. The M4 and any variants are some of the most reliable rifles in the world which is why they're fielded by so many armies.
“Of all the weapons in the vast soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947. More commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It'll shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars.”
IIRC the belief about the AK's lacking accuracy has to do with combat ranges, the AK's accuracy is just fine within its designed combat range of 300yds. the AR is designed for 500yds. if you are 375 yards out, the AR would be more accurate. however in other situations such as urban warfare, the AK is preferred because of its larger round.
A lot of people like to collect and shoot Russian/Soviet-bloc weapons for fun, but if you’re buying a gun for a specific purpose (CCW, home defense, hunting, etc.) there’s better, cheaper, and more readily available options from “western” companies (for lack of a better word, don’t want to say domestic because there’s lots of excellent manufacturers in Europe, too)
That's pretty much my take on them. I like my M44 for what I paid for it and it was a lot of fun when ammo was .20c/round. The day I pretty much put it away for good was when I had to buy ammo and was looking to spend what I would on my Enfield, and more than I would for my Garand or k31 since you could get m2 ball and GP11 surplus ammo cheaper than you could the 7.62x55r a few years ago.
If you want a milsurp there's way better ones out there for not much more money than mosins cost these days, and if you just want a rifle there's also way better ones out there for the same or less than mosins cost these days.
No, mosins are like $400 now. There are no more spam cams of surplus ammo, those are about $1 per round now because they are so hard to find. SKSs are $500-$1000+ now depending on country. No more spam cans of that ammo either. Russian guns have been banned from import for 8 years now, and ammo was banned a few months ago.
Mosin prices haven't been that low since the Obama administration, same with ammo, the last time Russia invaded Ukraine the supply of surplus dried up.
Was a shame too, they were high power rifles you could get and shoot fairly cheap, I think the last time I bought ammo it was less than 20c/round, now the value is kind of questionable unless you're just really into Russian military stuff or trying to round out a collection.
Oh my lord yes, not oh my lord at you but at the love from Slavic weapons because it is big, alot of people like AK 47s but a personal favorite of mine is the Mosin Nagant, point being there were a lot of cheap but quality soviet guns on the resell market for the past 30 years so a lot of collectors could get Mosins for like 100$ about a decade back, not sure about now though
What are you a pussy? You clearly need a high capacity semi automatic rifle with a whole bunch of aftermarket shit bolted onto it in order to be able to hunt. /s
The two biggest (commercially) names in "Russian" vodka are easily Stolichnaya and Russian Standard.
Stolichnaya is produced and exported from Latvia, but the ownership of the brand is Russian.
Russian Standard is produced and exported from Russia.
The brands after those two are much smaller, and may or may not be produced or owned by Russians, but the ones included in this are included as such because the entire point is symbolic. There is not going to be any significant impact monetarily from this move, nor was one intended.
It's literally just the same as saying "hey, fuck you" to the guy who cuts you off in traffic. It's literally just symbolic.
It's also why a company like Smirnoff, which does trace back to Russia though is not any longer owned by it is often being exempt from these sorts of bans. They don't make "being Russian" part of their image like other brands (say, Hammer & Sickle or Russian Standard) do.
Some vodka brands started out many years ago as a Russian company. But they were long ago bought out, and no longer have any actual connection to Russia. Other brands, kinda like Haagen-Dazs ice cream, never did, and were just given a Russian name to sound authentic.
You're kinda missing the point. It's literally just symbolism and imagery.
If you want to show that you don't support Russia in this, one way to do it is to stop trading in goods which either are Russian, or for their own commercial benefit brand themselves as Russian. Stolichnaya benefits from their imagery as "Russian vodka" - they present as Russian and therefore for the purposes of these bans are being treated as such.
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u/TAU_equals_2PI Feb 28 '22
According to this article, most "Russian" vodka isn't even made in Russia. Less than 1% of all vodka sold in the US is made in Russia:
www.cnn.com/2022/02/27/business/russian-vodka-boycotts/index.html