Paul
Goble
Staunton, June 4 – There are few
things more certain to provoke outrage among Russia’s “’kvas patriots’” than McDonald’s
and its Big Macs, a Moscow journalist says; but such patriots should know the
500 McDonald’s restaurants now open in Russia provide more than 43,000 jobs
directly and they purchases “almost 100
percent” of supplies from Russian vendors.
While some Russians may still be
upset with the American franchise because it buys its potatoes in Poland and
its relish in Turkey, the Rusrep.ru article says, they should recognize that “even
for those who in principle never eat at McDonald’s (for whatever reason)”
benefit from its presence in the Russian marketplace (rusrep.ru/article/2015/06/03/bidmak/).
That
is because McDonalds provides jobs, buys mostly Russian supplies, and is
helping to improve Russian production in various food areas because of its own
strict rules for how food is to be raised and processed. Many Russian
producers, the article says, find it easier simply to extend those rules to all
their production – and Russians benefit.
The
1200-word article provides more details on this, but what is striking is that
such an article has appeared in a Moscow outlet at all. On the one hand, it
flies in the face of the Kremlin’s “import substitution” campaign. And on the
other, it suggests to Russians that foreign firms cast a positive light far
larger and brighter than many imagine.
The
appearance of this article thus is an important sign of how sanctions are
really hitting Russians, forcing at least some of them to think in more sophisticated ways their relationship
with the international economy. And to that extent, a change in the Russian
heart about Big Macs may presage other, larger changes in the future.
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