So after everything we've seen in the past two weeks - mcdonald's mcdonald's - my guy - is what's getting things done. I mean i'm literally blown away. Look. Russia has been basically flattening ukraine for the past two weeks.
People are homeless millions of refugees. I mean we got people going as each other grandma's picking up ak-47s. We got a grandma in ukraine that dropped a russian drone with a pickle jar. I mean we have this insanity going on right now, billions of dollar on this war.
We got the entire world going into world war iii mode cold war. Coming back, i mean what the hell is this and it seems like the only thing that has a little bit reversed. The trend and starting to sow some chinks in putin's economical armor is the mcdonald's, the mcdonald's. Now, what the hell are you rambling about tom? Well, look! It's 8 a.m.
So it's a little bit early, but my brain is already at 150 because look what we're seeing right now is just insane. So you probably heard of the past week or two weeks that companies have been leaving russia and a lot of these pro-russian analysts are basically saying well, you know we're going to be without gucci bags and prada bags and audis and mercedes, but you guys are going To be without wheat and gas and oil, so i think you guys are probably going to suffer more than us and they've been pretty much adamant in their position. So far, basically, you know what you want to play this game. Let's play this game, however, now now for the first time, we have some chinks in this armor and the catalyst is no less a mcdonald's he's just cutlet of bulky.
The hell is going on so a few days ago, we heard that mcdonald's is basically shutting down its operations in russia and i've actually tweeted about it. Because look i didn't estimate how important that would be for russia. Those of you who are not russian would never understand how big of a deal that is, and mcdonald's is not just a mcdonald's in russia. A mcdonald's is a huge deal in russia if you were born, let's say: 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977 and onwards.
If you keep going down, you understand exactly what i'm talking about. There's two things from my childhood. I would never ever forget number one was the 1986 chernobyl explosion. This thing will scar me for life, even though i had nothing to do with it as a kid.
I would never forget the horrific feeling that i had still have. I have goosebumps every time i mention chernobyl. The other thing is opening the first mcdonald's in moscow when they opened the first mcdonald's in moscow. You have to understand this.
Was people talk about the berlin wall falling down for russians? The start of this new, the collapse of communism and the start of this new kind of order was the first mcdonald's it's not about the berlin wall. For us, the first mcdonald's gerbachov, it was insanity. People lining up for hours, i'm talking to you bro 12 14 hours in line to eat a mcdonald's people. I the insanity of how important that was for russia. I can't even describe to you now over the years. Obviously you know russia has been completely open and nobody. You know it's a freaking mcdonald's right, but now they hit a nerve and i don't think anybody knew how monumental this is going to be, because when they said they're shutting down mcdonald's in russia, it's the first time, we've seen actual results, and this is insane. It started the whole discussion on the internet.
We have politicians basically debating whether you know we can make our own mcdonald's blah blah blah and this and that so, a few days ago, russia comes out the russian national. You know state-owned agency information agency. Tas basically came out with this news article saying: hey guys, you know russia can actually reopen mcdonald's if they just cancel international trademark laws. If russia essentially nationalizes all the assets mcdonald's has in russia.
As far as you know, real estate machinery, whatever employees and they just take ownership of the mcdonald's ip intellectual property, trademarks, the gold arches, whatever they can just reopen it - that started look we now have as of this morning, russia's richest man, his name, is vladimir putin. Vladimir putin is one of uh. I guess you would call him an oligarch right, he's the richest guy in russia and he's the owner of the main nickel company in russia. I think he's worth like 22 or 23 billion dollars.
I mean he's a very wealthy individual and i'm assuming that he falls in the same category that all the rich people in russia fall into, which is basically, you know. Putin is at the top of the food chain, so you don't openly go against putin. That's you know that's kind of the cost of doing business. I guess in russia right definitely not in public, i'm not even talking about in public, even in private you've seen what putin did to his head of uh to his head of intelligence, how he berated him for saying that maybe they should consider negotiations before invading ukraine.
If you haven't seen that clip go look it up, it's pretty insane, so it was really terrifying. It was like a scene from a star wars movie. So now we have vladimir putin, the richest man in russia coming out publicly and saying hey guys. We should not be nationalizing anything because you're going to send russia back to the dark age.
He said specifically 1917 because 1917. Where was the russian revolution in the bolsheviks? They basically confiscated everything and they, you know there was no more private ownership of anything. Everything became publicly owned and studied basically saying if we do this we're sending russia to the middle ages, because no investor in history will ever invest money in russia. Everything that happened so he's basically saying everything that happened so far is completely reversible.
Everything that happens so far is reversible. If we work out things with ukraine and the u.s, we can probably go back to how things used to be in a year, because your money talks walks. It's just saying this is all about money right now. If we just you know, fix it, everybody will be fine, but if we nationalize we nationalize, we will never never ever get investors trust back again. It's like cheating in relationship right, if somebody cheats in a relationship that trust is forever gone, it's impossible and it's basically it's an emotional response. If we do this right now, we're gon na hurt ourselves even more because we will forever be kind of earmarked or or tainted as a country that nationalizes foreign businesses - and you can't go back from that, but that whole thing was already known. The fact of the matter is this comes out on the heels of the mcdonald's controversy, so it took a mcdonald's threatening to leave russia for a russian oligarch to go on the public media and say something that doesn't directly align with how putin presented things. I mean.
No russian oligarch is going to go on the newspapers and say putin's didn't put in that. You know it's it's. You know, what's gon na happen to him, but even to come out like that and to provide a contrarian view against the official policy of the russian government on newspapers and in the public eye. It's for me personally.
It seems like the first in the economic armor of putin and his government, because it seems that it's working, so it took a mcdonald's and mcdonald's to get this started. At least i don't know how it plays out, but a mcdonald's, my guy, at the end of the day, it just proves you that everything is emotional at the end, unbelievable by the way they do this right. If you start nationalizing, there's no going back nationalizing. That means nobody will ever put any capex capex being capital expenditures in your country ever okay.
How would you the risk is just insane if you do that's it. Foreign investments, bye-bye, if you do that, but it took a mcdonald's for this discussion to start my goodness. Barbara tuckman was right, go look up. Barbara tuchman.
She wrote how many of the world's most horrific slash, important, slash. Cataclysmic decisions were made on the heels of emotional reactions, not some geopolitical called analysis. She has a lot of examples like, for example, she talks about how louis the french you know the french king was basically preoccupied with mary antoinette, possibly cheating on him, and that's why he completely missed the fact that the revolution was brewing under his nose, but he Has she has many examples she passed away in 1989. So i'm sure a lot of you go look up barbara tuchman and read about this thing, because this mcdonald's thing is just proof that the lady was right.
Counterpoint: China has no trademark law and does not respect international trademark law. American companies invest billions of dollars a year into China. Putin can confiscate Western assets and ignore international trademark law and there will be no long term damage.
Nationalizations, expropriations. Sounds like something that started in my late 20s under an individual by the name of Chavez, a great friend of Vova BTW.
Peace jets!
McDonalds said that they are leaving temporary till May, I believe, all of their employees will still receive their salary. Same did all of the couturier companies.
We don't privately own anything in the us either. They nationalized everything by tax code.
Talked to my buddy in Russia yesterday, he said that gas prices went down at gas stations. Regarding food supplies, he said that they are packed and there is no sanity between people that they will run out. Bank CDs are paying over 20% now, but money have to be be in Rubles
Sooooo Russians will now be even more healthy than fat Americans. Win !
born 1978 in USSR – Coca-Cola has same effect :). But the influence of oligarh to Putin is overrated in west
McDonalds have nothing to do with this. There are tens of companies stopping operations in Russia so to take one of those companies and saying that it is responsible for something is a nonsense
If Levi Strauss pulled out sales would it be the straw that broke the camels back?
McDonald's is poor people food you can't mess with the people's bread 🍞
Over the last 8 or 10 years I have learned to not believe anything the MSM tells us since they seem to lie constantly and only report what boosts their agenda. Since they are saying Russia bad and Ukraine good I can't help but second guess that. I guess this is what happens when the MSM lies and lies over the years.
When I mention McDonald’s and its importance to Russians Americans are usually quite confused 😂 Great video!
Wow that story about the McDonald’s was amazing Tom. I remember being told whilst I still lived in Prague about how music posters were traded around like gold dust during communist times there, I don’t think us westerners will ever truly be able to understand the degree of suffering that went on behind the iron curtain.
Lezensky( NATO's pawn) shouldn't have insisted to enter NATO! He is an inexperienced fool !
You had me check my calendar… It's not April fool day 😅
Potanin said it two days ago. And he's already backed off a bit from that statement today.
also, If McD is so important in Russia, why is there no lines in McDonald's right now?
(there're huge lines in Ikea and h&m for a few days before they left)
every paper tiger has a line in the sand… apparently this one is represented by a mcdonalds. even china has mcdonalds…
Anybody found the name of this Barbara Tuckman's text, I cannot find it seems interesting
I get emotional whenever I watch Ukraine and Russia war, I worry about the Ukrainian and Russian people, and now Mcdonalds, nIke, Ikea, Zara, Iphone, etc, are leaving Russia
I have just reviewed all the companies that sanctioned Russia and it seems really large, from the look of it you can't buy anything western
Nationalization of foreign and native assets would be PERFECT FOR CHINA who would love to see this. Putin would loos so much by doing this and weaken himself like no other weapon could. Economics… it's a crazy scary thing. China's Xi is probably sitting back with some dim sum just waiting to see if Putin has really lost his mind enough to do something like that.
Great vid, thank you!
To your point about emotion: I've always believed this invasion was Putin's emotional decision and obviously the ukrainians defence is rooted in emotional love of country, freedom and protecting their loved ones. But emotions and adrenalin drain away, and eventually both sides will become so exhausted with all the killing and maiming that they will mutually decide to end this thing. Kiev is such an iconic city in the Russian mind that I've never believed the Russians will bombard it or destroy it in street fighting. Time wii tell if I'm right obviously.
I just almost spit my water onto the keyboard…"Katleta vv Boolke!!:
Seem to me like the Russian won this one. Now they can live longer and healthier without McDonald's.
What is this? THIS is Russia fading from its perch. Russia is going to become a failed state as long as Putin remains.