Posted on 08/06/2014 9:51:07 AM PDT by lodi90
Today, "with the goal of protecting Russia's national interests," Vladimir Putin issued a decree "banning or limiting" the import of food stuffs from countries that imposed sanctions on Russia after pro-Russian separatists shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine. That includes the United States, the European Union, Japan, Australia, and Canada.
Russia, despite once being the bread basket of Europe, now imports 40 percent of its food. And even if local growers and producers step up to fill the gap left by the ban, it will still take a long time and the transition will be rough.
(Excerpt) Read more at newrepublic.com ...
Russians are used to not being allowed to eat by their dictators.
Speaking of Italy:
From today’s NYTimes
Italy Falls Back Into Recession, Raising Concern for Eurozone Economy
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/07/business/international/italy-falls-back-into-recession-raising-concern-for-eurozone-economy.html?_r=0
As I said, Europe’s economy is quite fragile, and more interconnected now than ever before. It won’t take a lot to produce a shock, especially in the smaller countries.
Billionaire Putin tells Russian serfs to eat cake.
Putin got to where he is by being a shrewd kleptocrat. As post #19 indicates, this is more of the same.
“Meat prices in America will fall. Thank You, Vlad, for another benefit of sanctions.”
I would tell you to THINK before you speak, but you won’t, so this is for the benefit of everyone else.
Beef prices aren’t going to fall, because of ETHANOL. And anyone who pays attention already knows this.
~Stupid tactic. Russia is the “small country” here.~
Check your facts. As for 2011 Russia was the top global market for apples consuming 27% of ALL apples exported worldwide.
I don’t have numbers for this year, but being cut off from this market is certainly a nightmare for any apple dealer for sure.
“Putin got to where he is by being a shrewd kleptocrat. As post #19 indicates, this is more of the same.”
Take note of how the name Yelena Baturina keeps coming up in association with Putin’s big schemes.
She is the one who rallied the Oligarchs to pony up Billions to help with Sochi, and she built many of the hotels there.
She is the one behind the big Casino-Resort plan for Crimea, already intending to build at least three big hotels there.
Banning AG imports only creates more demand for all of the land she has been buying up in the last few years.
Now here is some trivia. Guess who Baturina considers to be her inspiration, and a friend. Donald Trump.
Which will help to develop it’s own domestic Ag industry, that suffers against imports now.
And look who just happen to have been spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the last 3 years to buy up Russian Farmland, to set up an Ag empire. Why it’s Yelena Baturina, Russia’s richest woman, and a fairly close ally of Putin.
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Hope she started planting those apple trees 3 years ago.
It appears (from an exceedingly brief internet search) that it takes 3-5 years from planting to get an apple crop you can sell.
I had a friend who spent several weeks in Russia not too long ago. He said if you didn’t like bread, vodka, potatoes, or sausage, you were screwed.
It’s not just apples, it’s a broad range of ag products.
Apples just happens to put a rather large squeeze on Poland. On Aug 1st, that was a warning, today we’ll see what else they have hit.
What was a base of his opinion? Has he visited a supermarket or what?
Russia eats a lot of low quality apples nobody else wants. And those apples just got a lot more expensive. Putin has already put Russia on course for a deep recession. More economic misfires like this and Russia is looking at a 1990s style depression.
You are missing the point a bit.
Land doesn’t do it by itself. No matter how rich Putin’s friends are, an entire industry is not created and productive overnight.
“No matter how rich Putin’s friends are, an entire industry is not created and productive overnight.”
They don’t have to be. Currently, Russians can buy any number of products from non-sanctioned countries.
The laws of supply-and-demand will dictate future development, something we in the US seem to have forgotten, now that our Pols pick the winners and losers.
Also, EU Farm Subsidies are a big part of Gov budgets, and this will put more pressure on those, especially for the small countries.
Apples are but one example, and the growers are already demanding reimbursement for losses.
As I said, the EU is now more interconnected than ever before, and it won’t take a lot to produce a shock. This isn’t directed at us, we are a lot harder to hurt, simply because of economic size. But Poland, or Italy, aren’t.
Bullcrap. I am actually on the ground there and the price is actually lower than it was a couple a weeks ago. I can pick Turkish, Chinese, even Japanese Fuji brand for cheap, not to mention those growing in my backyard for free.
Putin has immense economic power, and he has the Chinese to cover his ass, as they are more than happy to take his energy imports and other exports.
Interesting note from Zerohedge in reference to the Ag sanctions:
15 April 2014:
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev recently announced that Russia will no longer import GMO products, stating that the nation has enough space, and enough resources to produce organic food.
“If the Americans like to eat GMO products, let them eat it then. We don’t need to do that; we have enough space and opportunities to produce organic food.”
http://wchildblog.com/2014/04/21/its-official-russia-completely-bans-gmos/
Babushkas on a fixed income don’t eat high quality apples. They eat the cheap apples with all the worm holes that were just banned. Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, FRiend.
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