Russia's decided to play a tit for tat sanctions game and has imposed bans on importation of foods from the EU and US. My guess is that this is going to hurt them more than the West. They import something like 60% of their food.
BBC News - Russia hits West with food import ban in sanctions row
mrjarrell said:Pravda may mean truth in Russian, but it's never been a mainstay for them.
Well clearly the Russians are starting to get real nervous now.
Just wait until they get another stern lecture from the man boy in chief.
Beings Russia hasnt invaded Ukraine yet...
Technically, he has - the Crimean.
Staples like wheat and some pork, maybe. But people like to eat fruits and vegetables, too. And they like things like chicken, which most of theirs comes from America and other western countries. Russia has never been able to suitably provide for themselves. Even at the height of the Cold War they were having to buy wheat from the US. Pravda may mean truth in Russian, but it's never been a mainstay for them. Take it with a big chunk of salt.
Nope. Just be wary of your sources. Pravda is not a good source for anything except UFO stories and some Kremlin propaganda. Pravda conveniently overlooks the fact that they, Russia, import 60% of their food. Why would a Kremlin newspaper want to make out like they could do just fine without imports? If they are so self sufficient why are they now looking for secondary markets in Africa, South America and other places to buy food from? Cite Pravda if you want. No skin off my nose. Cite Alex Jones and RT if you like. Just don't expect everyone to not take a huge block of salt with it.in other words, don't believe what you read on the internet unless mrjarrell says it's true?
I think it would be safe to say that just because a country imports an item it doesn't mean that country doesn't produce it or couldn't survive just fine without it. Sometimes it's less expensive to import than to provide it domestically, which is/was the case with US chicken.
Nope. Just be wary of your sources. Pravda is not a good source for anything except UFO stories and some Kremlin propaganda. Pravda conveniently overlooks the fact that they, Russia, import 60% of their food. Why would a Kremlin newspaper want to make out like they could do just fine without imports? If they are so self sufficient why are they now looking for secondary markets in Africa, South America and other places to buy food from? Cite Pravda if you want. No skin off my nose. Cite Alex Jones and RT if you like. Just don't expect everyone to not take a huge block of salt with it.
I take ALL news articles with salty suspicion and I think you either missed my point or I did a bad job of communicating: the 60% figure may be fact that has been "spun".
I can find just as many articles that state Russia produces 80-90% of their own food.
Neither figure means that Russia cannot produce everything they need.
Neither figure means that if imports stopped, the Russian economy would melt down and a famine would ensue.
Putin has been trying to stop US chicken imports since 2010, and many news sites said that Russia was already producing 75% of their own chicken way back then and that Putin felt like it was a reminder that Bush started sending it over to help out when the USSR crumbled.
The US imports quite a bit of food also...
Billions of pounds of meat are imported into the US every year, why do we do that when we can produce our own?
Why do you suppose we export poultry to Russia when we import poultry also?
I was taught never to underestimate my adversaries, which is what the Western newspapers are doing, IMO, right now.
Billions of pounds of meat are imported into the US every year, why do we do that when we can produce our own?