Business As Usual
French president Emanuel Macron announced “We are not at war with Russia” making it Business as Usual for French countries as noted by Eurointelligence.
We are not at war with Russia. Emmanuel Macron’s statement has a certain authority. Given that he has had at least 19 telephone conversations with Vladimir Putin since the invasion, it also has some credibility. This is at least how the French companies invested in Russia read it. They continue to stay there despite the war in Ukraine, the sanctions, and the real possibility that things could get a lot worse. Macron, the guarantor and mediator of peace, and French companies as a manifestation of this trust.
Insolvency in Russia can be invoked if the management stops leading the company, for example because the management left Russia. McDonald’s, for example, closed 847 restaurants in Russia, totally leaving the country from a business perspective. The Russian government has renamed all the previously McDonald’s branded restaurants as Uncle Vanya. They are still delivering burgers, but under a Russian name and leadership.
French Companies Still Doing Business
- Auchan, the French supermarket chain has 300 stores in Russia.
- Leroy Merlin stayed with its 112 stores selling homeware and gardening goods.
- In a letter to suppliers, the head of the Russian unit of Merlin said that their sales have even significantly increased since Russia invaded Ukraine.
- Decathlon has stayed open with its 80 stores throughout Russia.
- Business as usual is a sign of French confidence, not turning Russia into a pariah state because of its president’s decisions to invade Ukraine.
Sanctions?
There are sanctions and there are sanctions.
President Biden can and has enforced them. But there are allowances for medical supplies. And there is no way to force locally owned franchises to close.
CBS News has a List of Companies Still Doing Business in Russia.
Still Doing Some Business
- Abbott
- Pfizer
- Hyatt suspends development but not business
- Marriott
- Amway
- Duncan Donuts
- Cargill continuing to offer what it called “essential food and feed facilities”
- Nestle on March 9 said it had suspended capital investment and advertising in Russia, but would continue to sell “essential” food products in that country.
- General Mills — the Minneapolis-based maker of Cheerios and other packaged food— has a joint venture with Nestle
- Herbalife Nutrition
- Koch Industries’ wholly-owned subsidiary, Guardian Industries, operates two glass production plants in Russia that employ about 600.
- Chicago-based global advertising agency Leo Burnett has an office in Moscow, and its Russian clients include Russian digital-services provider Rostelcom
- Patreon, an online service that lets internet content creators earn money, continues to operate in Russia. “I don’t think individual creators should have to pay for the misdeeds of their authoritarian leader,”
- Fast-food giant Subway said it would redirect any profits from its Russian operations to humanitarian efforts, noting that roughly 450 outlets in Russia are independently owned and controlled by local franchisees.
- Oilfield services firm Halliburton gets as much as 2% of its revenue from Russia, according to a J.P. Morgan estimate cited by Bloomberg News.
Boycott Subway Calls
Subway continues to profit in Russia#BoycottSubway pic.twitter.com/LEISNvbU2b
— Reed Dundant Parody Account because REDUNDANT? 😉 (@DundantReed) March 18, 2022
Calls to boycott Subway grow as company continues doing business in Russia https://t.co/4ASWtpr2eb
— Cat, Reigning Typo Queen👑NO DMs (@typocatCA) March 18, 2022
Boycott Hyatt
Boycott @Hyatt
How much longer is the company still going to do business with Russia? Dont be a coward! #boycott #UkraineUnderAttack #WarCrimes #StopRussia #StopPutinNOW #boycottHyatt— Ana R 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 (@AnaRocky1) March 9, 2022
Cryptocurrency Companies
Also note Cryptocurrency Companies Resist Pressure to Close Russian Accounts
Coinbase CEO
7/ In addition, we are not preemptively banning all Russians from using Coinbase. We believe everyone deserves access to basic financial services unless the law says otherwise.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) March 4, 2022
9/ Sanctions are a complex issue, and the situation is changing fast, so we’ll keep working with law enforcement and governments, and will take more steps as needed. We’ll also of course keep working to enable crypto services for the people of Ukraine who are in need of help.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) March 4, 2022
Kraken CEO Jesse Power
2/6 That requirement could come from your own government, as we have seen in Canada, in response to protests, bank runs and attempts to flee the country.
It could come from foreign states, like the US, as a weapon to turn the Russian populace against its government’s policies.
— Jesse Powell (@jespow) February 28, 2022
4/6 Our mission at @krakenfx is to bridge individual humans out of the legacy financial system and bring them in to the world of crypto, where arbitrary lines on maps no longer matter, where they don’t have to worry about being caught in broad, indiscriminate wealth confiscation.
— Jesse Powell (@jespow) February 28, 2022
6/6 Besides, if we were going to voluntarily freeze financial accounts of residents of countries unjustly attacking and provoking violence around the world, step 1 would be to freeze all US accounts. As a practical matter, that’s not really a viable business option for us.
/🧵— Jesse Powell (@jespow) February 28, 2022
“6/6 Besides, if we were going to voluntarily freeze financial accounts of residents of countries unjustly attacking and provoking violence around the world, step 1 would be to freeze all US accounts. As a practical matter, that’s not really a viable business option for us.“
This post originated at MishTalk.Com.
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Mish
bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the
Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. Live footage of the bombing in the documentary link below.
leaked stories from the Pentagon have exposed the lies of mainstream
media about how Russia is conducting the Ukraine war in a bid to counter
propaganda intended to get NATO into the conflict”
of the past weekend, in 24 days of conflict, Russia has flown some
1,400 strike sorties and delivered almost 1,000 missiles (by contrast,
the United States flew more sorties and delivered more weapons in the first day of the 2003 Iraq war). …”