11 May Turn from the West
Did you see…
communists to-the-bones men and women, were spotted eating fast-food ( first McDonalds opened in 31 January 1990), putting the track suites with high-waisted ankle length jeans, showing more skin in short sexy dresses with funky punky hair, watching Hollywood movies — special thanks here for a new list of “superhero” nicknames — you might have guessed, the Joker was the most popular one. “THATS TOO BRIGHT!” — Grey and black wear was thrown away, sent to a Point Nemo; tossed deep back in the shelves, taped, sealed with the lock…stamped with “zippidi-duh-dah never ever again”
*Point Nemo – place where decommissioned spacecraft go to die
McD in Moscow 31 Jan 1990. Nothing to add…still doubt how Soviet nation loved Western lifestyle? Well at least its documented– the Q to Donalds
do it...in American way
So were we[Russians] forced to quit out culture? To do that ‘treason’…– Nah, all made it possible for our “hand-in-pockets”[easy] turn towards Western beliefs and ideas.
“one for all and all for one” — that collectivism looked so promising and worked very well — since 1921– especially for peasants, as they could finally stood up for their own interests against the elite; With the Communism manifest the land was belong to those who worked on it — peasants, + they were often paid more than the top management, even surpassing the boss’s bank account. A HUGE PLUS!
But time passed and many relied on automatic ‘installed’ upgrade, as usual — this knowing attitude of Russians to think everything heals itself and no one needs to be guided through lil details — as believed “people are just smart enough, they got it, understood, and if not now, with time they will figure it out, naturally”. Huh, so sloppy on the results of ‘rookie’ news exchange in the masses that usually trace new ideas puzzling into…. ideologies, beliefs, lifestyle — destiny.
So that been said, despite that rapid economic growth at the very start, in 1960 this decades-working communistic ideas fell weak; suffering a big loss, especially in agriculture, medical sectors… This hasty words cant explain much of a REAL FAIL the USSR dwellers were taking in…But for fact, and its clearly seen now, in the eyes of many, the Marxist’s concept — which pumped-up the nation after a long monarchy regency — stopped working. (USSR to RUSSIA)
“Vkusno — i tochka”( translated as “tasty — and thats it”)replaced McDonalds at the right spot where it was. St Petersburg (Russia)
“Mak.by” another local food chain that replaced McDonalds in Belarus. Minsk (Belarus)
Iron curtain fell, "Pizza Hut" opened
Mumble around, calling names to blame for bad course of the Soviet’s reign — with grumpy talks Perestroika kicked off; the “iron curtain” finally fell. New ideas came from the West, at first to ‘rescue’ — as they say, back then — brazenly supported by former USSR president (Gorbachev). Yeah, something that will never EVER be forgotten in Russia — the “Pizza Hut”advert…
to be continued…
*iron curtain” — locked-down principle, the time when it was incredibly hard to travel abroad (government closed their borders) exception was for work travel.
Point break...
The record-scored sanctions, frozen golden reserves abroad, expelled from import export… — with the whistle sound, chair spinning somewhere in the US: “WHAT’s now…we canceled all your sh*t and took over your funds. WHAT’S LEFT ?”..
WEST on RUSSIA:
_placed about 16500 sanctions
_froze — or about to confiscate — the gold and financial reserves that Russia has abroad
_wiped out in the diamond trade
_blocking almost any import and export deal with most of EU countries, even uranium import could be added in that list soon.
And all this TSUNAMI of economic and political troubles piled up in 2022, just couple years ago!
All the tech tools and products that lots of Russians couldn’t live without were and are still blocked!…still hardly pulling through the day :P. Knocked down the whole society that was already mentally off, full of cuckoos. Not joking, this situation left a big scar in trust of EU good and words, broke a moral and rational compass of non-experienced XXI generations (Gen Z, Gen Alpha — born in 21st century): many quit on living, committed crimes, left the country and their families for good.
Many actually left to Israel, with words “we are pacifists and want to live in the country that not invading or attacking anyone!” ..and TA-DAhmm! — they picked Israel…ISRAEL?! So guess their “pacifism” is a two-side coin, especially when risking the offshore bank account for staying in Russia…
I personally lost many tech tools (and currently keep dealing with the web hosting and other issues), could not longer receive and save financial assets (from network), stressful twist in local currency towards $ and € (in Russian banks), and lost an access to my student bank account that I had in Germany, but I never had much money on it so cant complain.
I, basically, gave up on what I had abroad but others, indeed, have their right to rescue theirs pockets instead of giving up what was earned and stand by against the western coalition.
Eventho Apple.org said they do not sell anything in Russia, no one said that Apple products cant reach the bear’s land …iPort is one of the retail companies that sells gadgets in Russia: some Cali’s gadgets still in the market but cost more now (since the spring of 2022).
"Think different" or Chose the side
“Time to suck it up!”: comfy settings, easy-use tech instruments, all made in& assembled abroad had to go: iPhone apps, meta social media(insta, fb, etc.), twitter, youtube… Was challenging even to look for yet alternatives to replace it.
Most of us [Russians] thought of how easy it was for ’em[West/USA] to trick us with this “think different”(Apple tagline) tools on top of other western tech instruments: simply blocking one setting to crash the whole system, all at once ?! This was enough to derail that easy-pay, easy-travel, ‘all-set’ daily living in Russia: no access to social media, cancel the apple pay/paypal and other online payments/accounts, cut-off credit/debit cards (Russian banks), tourism and business abroad got tougher and over the odds for Russians…
And more ironically….,um all this hustle shouldered just after this Covid’s lockdown which was too quickly forgotten at the stroke of midnight on 22nd of Feb 2022 — when Russian troops started the military operation on Ukraine.
Don’t take me wrong, Russia is not totally isolated and has some Westy hesty* goods, including some Hollywood movies, fast foods, clothing brands (left then returned the next year),…but surely not at the same volume as it was before 2022.
Westy hesty* — goods from the West
What's NOW?
ON A DUTIE to break WESTERN-CENTRIC international model
The cultural turn from East to West, separated by tinny tiny headings, and therefore, not showing much struggle … That back-and-forth change seems quite smooth and quick on paper — well, I tried — but in the reality it took so much time and effort to cope up and mix different views, even on basic things.
30+ years after that ridiculous “Pizza Hut” advert…
Sluggish relationships with the US, on the harsh terms with the UK (as usual), zero trust or in total ignore with most of EU states. What’s now? Heading to 2025, when the diplomacy is on the loose, gripped on the double standard within the fear of losing own values…the future might not be so “peace” promising. And thats solely on my observations not based on state media channels.
Note: What Russians see and hear — they are TO BLAME for everything; all the world’s sins and troubles, called as a BARBARIANS who has no values, cast away for not valuing the ‘right’ things (according the um…the West). Language is a HUGE barrier here: Russian language is not really known and spoken abroad, and English is not used much and understood in Russia.
Who is on the same boat with Russia?
Being kicked out from that so-called “chosen” circle (civilised garden) Russia made 180° turn from the Western side(not 360° as some German minister(s) want*) , threw the ball to bond with Asia, Middle East, and Africa.
So far Russia seems to have no gamble on an alternative deal with the EU or the U.S. Complicated political tensions fuelled by its populist shift to the East and it’s unlikely for Russia to swing the pendulum towards and away from the Western side like Turkey does with the West. NO offence, Turkey does it jewelry.
Crusading more projects with China, India, North Korea,… focus on BRICS, military goods, substitute import and run its own industrial ecosystem — the first tasks to do on the list, and so… lets see how it goes.
360° turn* — turn all the way around and face the same direction as you were. Annalena Baerbock (Minister for Foreign affairs of Germany) once said- “Vladimir Putin must change his course by 360 degrees” — oh hey, what math do they learn in EU??
From West to Russia
Food
MacDonald’s — 1991 -2022. Closed about 850 restaurants (now its Vkusnoitochka , Вкусно и Точка )
KFC — 1993 -2022. Had about 1000 restaurants that is now rebranded (now it’s Rostic’s brand)
Burger King — 2010 – infinite life expectancy. 800 restaurants remain opened and not planning on taking their buns out.
Starbucks — 2007 -2022 . Closing about 130 stores (now it’s Stars Coffee brand)
Costa Coffee — was never as popular in Russia as Starbucks but still had about 32 stores mostly operated in airports and train stations (in Moscow and Kazan). Spill their beans for 14 years, 2008 – 2022. Not sure how it rebranded now in Russia.
Coca Cola& Pepsi — 1980 1st time sold in Rus. Yeah even Cola left!? Cans and bottles can be found in small subway shops and tobacco shops. Supermarkets had to replace them with local brands.
Hotels
Hyatt — 2009 – currently paused new developments and closed offices, yet there are big hotels that still operating in full pace.
Hilton — since 2008. Paused operations (development and investment) but branded hotels are still operating.
InterContinental — 1998. From 2022 did froze its development in Russia but doors of that hotel are openned. As much as i know.
Marriott — in 1997 . Seem to pause their plans and investments in Russia also but many hotels are still going at their service duties across the land.
The Ritz-Carlton Moscow — still operates with a new name ‘The Carlton Moscow’,”
Raddison — 1957 – currently operates and never mentioned to live Russia, their businesses continue.
Belmond (Grand Europe)– one of the oldest one hotel brand. Apparently opened in 1875 and still works.
Sokos, Four Seasons, BWH, Wyndham — in 2022 announced to stop their businesses and fly out of Russia.
Clothes
Sport brands : Nike. Adidas, Under Armour
Fashion: H&M and Zara, Prada, Hermès, and Gucci
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