Paging Comrade Waxman. You have a call from Gennady Onishchenko on the Red courtesy phone.
Posted on 07/22/2008 4:01:27 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Russia has threatened criminal action against tobacco manufacturers after accusing US corporations of perpetrating "nicotine genocide" against the Russian people on the behalf of their capitalist masters.
Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's combative chief public officer, said he had instructed state lawyers to explore the possibility of criminal prosecution of tobacco companies in the "service of US state capital". He accused them of causing a health crisis among young Russians by peddling cheap tobacco with high tar levels.
The Soviet-style rhetoric of Mr Onishchenko's tirade and his reputation as a Kremlin attack dog will alarm foreign investors in Russia, who are likely to interpret his comments as the beginning of another state-sanctioned assault on the private sector.
Mr Onishchenko mounted a highly effective broadside against Georgian wine and mineral water in 2006, claiming that they failed to meet health and safety standards.
Russia subsequently banned both products, denying Georgia access to the chief market for its two principal exports. Most observers believe that the primary motivation for the ban was a desire by Russia to punish Georgia for sweeping a pro-western government to power during its Rose Revolution of 2003.
In a rambling interview with the Interfax news agency... Onishchenko railed against the "sinecure" that the global tobacco industry had established in Russia.
"The super-profits of US corporations are being paid for by catastrophic repercussions for the health of the younger generation," he said. ...
Mr Onishchenko also lashed out at Russian businessmen in the tobacco sector, describing them as "flunkies" of foreign and US capital "which cashes in on the nicotine genocide of the Russian people."
"They are pressing for medievally high levels of nicotine and tar in cigarettes to be set for Russia, enabling them to flog the worst-quality tobaccos to the Russian people at legally set levels," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Sendem some double Camel-Marlborough-Raleigh Filter cancer sticks and tell them Pootsie sent them.!
Let them close cigarettes to importation and wait for the revolution.
Did anyone here ever smoke a German cigarette? That is nicotine genocide! I am not sure what they are like now but in 1959-1962 they taste like horse sh**! Germans would trades us many marks for a pack of US smokes. Now, back to the article, Russia sucks mud. Anything to attack the US. I no longer smoke, I quit in 1963, but I do not think anyone has the right to outlaw smoking, that includes anyone in the US. All the anti-smoking laws are on par with global warming, they are for milking money from a idiotic public.
ahhh..American poison is worse than Russian poison...
Of course there is no vodka problem in Russia.
Anyone one who’s ever smoked a Russian cigarette . . . well, I can’t say . . . you need to have smoked a Russian cigarette.
If tobacco is so bad then outlaw it. That shouldn’t be so hard to do in Russia. If the Russian government won’t outlaw it then it must be their fault people are dying from it.
Must be terrible.
Evil US tobacco corporations sending mercenaries to force the poor widdle Wussian yoots to smoke...at gunpoint.
Poor damn Russians, such victims they are.../s
Some years ago, there were some Russians touring the plant where I worked for a couple of weeks. There was a girl translator who smoked. When my boss offered her a cigarette, he asked if the brand he was smoking was one she liked.
She replied, “It does not matter. They are all better here.”
Not just vodka either. Russians have been known to drink anti-freeze to get drunk.
I remember Robert Heinlein discussing which Russian cigarettes were somewhat tolerable. Truds?
From Dr. Strangelove:
AMBASSADOR DESADESKI: “I will have poached eggs. And bring me some cigars, please. Havana cigars.”
AIDE: “That will be all for you sir?”
AMBASSADOR DESADESKI: “Yes.”
AIDE: “Then I’ll see to it right away.”
GENERAL: “Try one of these Jamaican cigars, ambassador, they’re pretty good.”
AMBASSADOR DESADESKI: “Thank you, no. I do not support the work of imperialist stooges.”
GENERAL: “Oh, only commie stooges, huh?”
Papiros, tovarishch?
Da, spasibo brat!
You beat me to it. I've been in a closed space with a guy doing that and that was bad enough. Floor sweepings. From a barn.
When the USSR imploded, you could practically get an AK-47 for a pack of Marlboros.
It appears other on the thread agree with you. Russian cigarettes must be terrible.
“Russia has threatened criminal action against tobacco manufacturers after accusing US corporations of perpetrating “nicotine genocide” against the Russian people on the behalf of their capitalist masters.”
Did they bang their shoe on the podium too?
Nicotine has nothing on Vodka over there.
Oh geez... Let's sue Mexico for growing pot.... etc, etc, etc. They have way too much time on their hands.....and too many idiots in the legal field...trying to make a quick buck and a big name for themselves....
Paging Comrade Waxman. You have a call from Gennady Onishchenko on the Red courtesy phone.
Tambovski volk tebe brat!:-)))))))
She was proud that she owned a pair of jeans when she first arrived. The women at work loaded her up while she was here. I think she had about 2 dozen pair when she left. I wonder if she traded any of those for stuff when she got back.
Oh, and my boss gave her a couple of cartons of Salems too.
70% of Russian men smoke and 30% of women.
Too bad. If Puty says “no smoking” then no smoking.
Owwww. That stuff’s gotta hurt.
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