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Closing off domestic markets from superior foreign competition always leads to poor quality. This was in Econ 102 for me. It works the same way in cars as it does in food. So does state subsidized food staples (bread, etc.). I have yet to hear - from any Russian that I know - that food quality has increased since Putin banned European food.
90% of food produced in Russia. I do not see quality problems, you can easily find good quality products. I see only the problem of price. But price is always increasing. Before and after sanctions. The government will not stop inflation, since small inflation (5-10%) reduces a burden on the economy.
Remember that you are what you eat. All those nights at the fair and I never gained weight and at times I lost some pounds. I felt better too for the most part.
I believe that food is only building material. For example, I'm not afraid to eat genetically modified organisms or something like that. But food must be safe (it should not contain poisons or excesses of limiting concentrations of substances).
It seems Pakistan and India have problems and nuclear weapons...
It seems that the case is complicated.
February 14, an al-Qaeda-related group carried out a terrorist attack in northern India. 15 soldiers were killed.
February 26, India destroyed a training camp in the north of Pakistan.
Today, Pakistanis have shot down 2 fighters of the Indian Air Force and possibly a Mi-17 helicopter.
Both sides have closed the airspace over Kashmir and are preparing to kick each other at the same time.
Iran also will not stand aside.
Choice is very large. Vkusvill have good quality (for example) or some small shops. We sometimes eat at specialty pastry cafes. It is tasty, but it is more expensive.
You should only buy in specialized stores if you want to get good quality.
It's easy to check on the reviews of the mentioned by you store chain, and I can see that people are saying that in spite of exorbitant prices and claims about "healthy organic foods", the quality is still questionable.
Of course. As I've said before - Russia is sold to transnational corporations, where anything real Russian, anything that actually the country and its genuine abilities can offer, is stomped out ( like the aforementioned "Mishka kosolapyi.")
This was the whole design of the nineties, and it's currently in action. Putin just negotiated the better terms for the ruling class than the first wave of the oligarchs - that's all. And if things don't go his way, he starts rattling his weapons.
I did not say that. I know that products were of good quality. But at the same time, I know a riddle: "This is long, green and smells like sausage." Answer: "Train from Moscow." I do not know when it started, but good products were in short supply in Soviet times.
This whole "train" thing ( i.e. the food shortages, when people from the near-by regions were forced to go to Moscow ( which was supplied better than anyone else,) started by the mid-end seventies, somewhere there. But then again it's not "Socialism" per se as I understood with time, it's the RUSSIAN thing.
And the RUSSIAN thing is, you have a bunch of idiots in the government, and NO ONE is allowed to say a word of how things need to be done, it can't be argued, because only people in charge and ONLY THEM know better. And if you dare to argue ( even for the sake of these very people,) you will be dutifully prosecuted.
After all my conclusion is such, that Socialism was actually right for Russia ( for RUSSIA specifically, because every nations has its own background, national characteristics and so on. Socialism, for example would be very wrong for America, the very basis on which it has been born and operated for centuries.)
But anyways, people in Russia are absolutely correct when they point at Russian oligarchs and question "where did your capital come from? If you want to create your business, why don't you create it with your own ABILITIES, with your own brains, instead of simply expropriating country's natural resources?" People are definitely questioning why Russia doesn't have the capitalists of Steve Jobs/Bill Gates types, but specifically the ones whose wealth is based on simple thuggery/expropriation of natural resources. And this is a reasonable question.
I too happen to think that natural resources should belong to the NATION, not to some "corporations" with thugs in charge. ( Same goes to the heavy industry and everything that belongs to the sphere of the national interests.)
You want private business? There was the whole light industry for that in the Soviet Union, but the idiots in charge of course "knew better," enforcing their dead dogmas on the general population, dogmas like "there can be no exploitation - i.e. hiring by a private entity ( without which the private sector can't exist.)
Only the STATE could exploit you see, only the state, only the "supreme ruler," and no one else. And this was increasingly the situation from Khrushev's time on, so of course by the 70ies the country ended up with a lot of shortages - be that food or any other household wares/clothing.
The stupidity of these rulers made their system collapse, but what has changed since then?
Nothing, really. Russia ( yet again) has a group of people in charge ( represented by Putin) who "know better than anyone else how to rule the country," and don't you dare to argue.
Now of course they rule with the different ideology in mind - i.e. the capitalism, but the idea is still the same.
It's one way, and one corporate/oligarchic way only.
And the "people" of course have to believe in their "supreme ruler," who leads them to the happy future of "capitalism" now instead of the "communism" all the same.
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I think you are exaggerating the problem. Agriculture has been actively developing over the past 5 years.
And I think that you listen to the official propaganda too much.
You need to start paying attention more to what people who are actually IN the agriculture (and know it inside out) have to say.
And they are saying that these huge agroholdings ( owned by nobody knows whom, since their owners can't be traced through the off shores) bring the quality of agricultural products down, and in the process kill the Russian rural population. Now THEY need to move to Moscow, in order to survive, whereas back in Soviet times they only had to TRAVEL to Moscow in order to buy food.
But since YOU are in Moscow now, you can't relate to their problems any longer, or can you?
I have to admit, I also like Russian sweets. But... because I live on the other side of the "front line", one has to like them and eat them secretly -when eating Mishka Kosolapyi and things like that, the windows must be covered with curtains. Otherwise, they start to suspect you of being a pro-Russian person. lol
(Where do you even buy them? And where are they made?)
Yes, boycotts, most of them, are just plain stupid. So are embargoes, so are sanctions.
My first question would be - why the HEAD OF THE COUNTRY ( i.e. Mr. Poroshenko) who constantly whines to the West about the "Russian aggression," runs HIS PERSONAL BUSINESS in Russia ( i.e. the country-aggressor")???? Because this very brand "Roshen" of chocolate IS his business ( since he is an oligarch.)
How this is even possible?
They sell such Russian and Ukrainian stuff in a few 'not-so-prominent' supermarkets and stores. So they are from 'round the corner'.
How is the quality of that Mishka? And where is it made? Ukraine? Moscow? What fabrika ( producer) specifically? Is it all written in Russian or what? Or is it some export version?
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For example, I'm not afraid to eat genetically modified organisms or something like that. But food must be safe (it should not contain poisons or excesses of limiting concentrations of substances).
