Courtesy of Mish.
Not many people realize the US is dependent on Russian Soyuz rockets to ferry astronauts to the international space station.
Former former NASA administrator Michael Griffin told ABC News “We’re in a hostage situation. Russia can decide that no more U.S. astronauts will launch to the International Space Station and that’s not a position that I want our nation to be in.”
That bit of news came out late July, and is under review by Russia today.
Chicken, Cheese, McDonald’s in Spotlight
On July 31, Slate reported Russian Response to New Sanctions Could Devastate McDonald’s McChicken with Cheese Market.
Bloomberg reported, Russia Eyes Banning U.S. Chicken
Facing tougher sanctions over Ukraine, Russia said yesterday it may ban imports of chicken from the U.S. and fruit from Europe and is investigating McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) cheese for safety.
“It’s a troubling continuation/expansion of trade as a geopolitical tool,” Gary Blumenthal, president of World Perspectives Inc., a Washington-based agricultural consulting firm, said in a phone interview.
Gary Blumenthal made a sensible comment, ignored universally, as are most sensible ideas.
NASA, Pepsi, Autos in Spotlight
Ealier today, the Russian Itar-Tass news agency reported Russia’s retaliation to foreign sanctions may be heavy.
Russia can and must respond to foreign sanctions in a balanced way, but at the same time the retaliation must be strong enough to let the countries that imposed the restrictions feel its effects, says the director of the Globalization Problems Institute Mikhail Delyagin, in the past an aide to Russia’s prime minister.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday asked the government to consider retaliatory measures in response to western sanctions against Russia, but in a way that would not harm the interests of domestic manufacturers and consumers. The government is now in the process of discussing the possibility of banning European air carriers from flying to Asia and back through Russian air space. The measure was proposed after Russia’s lowcoster Dobrolyot declared it was cancelling all flights due to sanctions – its contracts for leasing Boeing liners of US manufacture had been annulled. Earlier, Vladimir Putin warned that the authorities might take a closer look at who was operating in the Russian energy market and in what way….
