"Dunkin’ back in Russia after 11 years" by Gal Tziperman Lotan, Globe Correspondent | April 27, 2010
Dunkin’ Donuts is returning to Russia after an 11-year absence, opening the first of 20 stores in Moscow tomorrow.
The chain closed its two Russian outlets in 1999 because of lagging sales and poor relations with a franchisee who was also selling liquor and meat pies. But Dunkin’ Brands, which owns Dunkin’ Donuts, sees opportunity in tea-loving Russia.
“When Dunkin’ Donuts originally entered Russia, there was no coffee culture in place,’’ McCall Gosselin, a spokeswoman for Dunkin’ Brands, said in an e-mail. “Today, the Russian market and Russian consumers are very different, and it is growing at a rapid pace.’’
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Dunkin’ Donuts has more than 9,000 locations worldwide, about a third of them overseas. The chain is in 31 other countries, including China, Colombia, New Zealand, and Turkey. The first international location opened in Japan in 1970. Dunkin’ Brands already has a presence in Russia: Baskin-Robbins, its ice cream chain, has 143 locations there.
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I guess there is no connection between this and Dunkin' being the coffee that brings you the Red Sox.
Also see: Rachel Ray is a Terrorist
Don't drink Dunkin', Ruskie!
Yeah, whatever happened to them anyway, MSM?
"US rules out withdrawal of nuclear weapons; Clinton ties NATO stance to Russia" by Robert Burns, Associated Press | April 23, 2010
TALLINN, Estonia — US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday ruled out an early withdrawal of US nuclear forces from Europe, telling a NATO meeting that any reductions should be tied to a nuclear pullback by Russia, which has far more such weapons in range of European targets.
That is why they want the missile shield. Then they can "win" a nuclear war against Russia.
And we can have and keep nukes that threaten people but Iran can not have one they are not building?
No negotiation of the issue with Russia is in the offing, and Moscow has shown little interest thus far in bargaining away its tactical nuclear arms.
That's odd. I remember something about some historic agreement or something.
Clinton also said the Obama administration wants NATO to accept missile defense as a core mission of the alliance, making it part of a broader effort to combat the dangers posed by nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and the missiles that deliver them.
Anybody use 'em, yet?
The same people making all the fuss about stopping it, huh?
PFFFFFFFFFTTTT!!!!
She said missile defense and nuclear weapons are complementary means of deterring an attack on the United States and its alliance partners.
If I were another nation on this planet I would be making a bomb as fast as I could.
A copy of her prepared remarks, delivered at a private dinner she attended with representatives of 27 other NATO member countries, was provided by her staff. Shortly before she spoke, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference that in his view, the US nuclear weapons play a vital defensive role in Europe and should not be removed as long as other countries possess nuclear weapons....
Actually, he may have a point there.
Related: Netanyahu To The West–Destroy Iran Before Israel Destroys You
Some European members of NATO, including Germany, have said the time has come for the United States to withdraw its remaining Cold War-era nuclear weapons from Europe.
That is SO TRUE -- and not just on the nuclear weapons in Europe issue!!
They cite President Obama’s pledge in Prague last year to seek a nuclear-free world.
Also see: Summing Up Obama's Summit
The Germans were joined by fellow NATO members Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and Luxembourg late last year in requesting that the nuclear issue be put on the Tallinn agenda.
Yeah, but WE DON'T LISTEN to OTHER PEOPLE (unless they are Israel), so....
But
The MSM uses that word way, way, way too often.
some newer NATO members who previously were part of the former Soviet Union or its Warsaw Pact military bloc are opposed to a US nuclear withdrawal. They argue that the presence of the weapons is the surest guarantee of their territorial integrity....
Of course, if you are NORTH KOREA that argument goes NOWHERE!
Of course, this next item gets ONLY a PHOTOGRAPH, readers!
"MARKING A SOLEMN DAY -- Greenpeace activists carried portraits of the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster yesterday outside Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in Jakarta to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident in Ukraine. An estimated 2 million people have illnesses caused by radiation from the disaster, and organizations estimate the accident has caused more than 700,000 early deaths.
Indonesia the only place the MSM could find a protest?
Related: Obama's Mushroom Cloud of a Bailout
Interesting that the newspaper minimizes the flip side, 'eh?
Also see: God Turns Gulf of Mexico Into Gulf of Oil
Just after Obama said drill, baby, drill, huh?
And speaking of the Ukraine:
"Lawmakers brawl in Ukraine over pro-Russia measure" by Anna Melnichuk, Associated Press Writer | April 27, 2010
KIEV, Ukraine --The speaker of Ukraine's parliament huddled under umbrellas as eggs rained down and smoke bombs filled the chamber with an acrid cloud. Then the lawmakers attacked each other, punching and brawling in the aisles.
I would actually find that refreshing if it happened here.
The chaos erupted Tuesday as parliament approved a treaty allowing Russia to extend the lease on a naval base in a Ukrainian port on the Black Sea until 2042 -- a move bitterly opposed by pro-Western lawmakers. Ukraine would get cheap natural gas from Russia in exchange.
Seems like a GOOD DEAL to me.
Russia's influence in Ukraine has surged since the February election victory of pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych, infuriating Ukrainians who resent Moscow's influence and inflaming the violent passions that plague the politics of the former Soviet republic.
The controversy over the home port for the Russian Black Sea Fleet has been one of the most emotionally charged consequences of the breakup of the Soviet Union. After the Soviet collapse, Russia found one of its major fleets based in a foreign country's port -- Sevastopol, on the Crimean peninsula that extends from mainland Ukraine into the Black Sea, about 200 miles from the nearest Russian territory.
Ukrainian nationalists who resented Moscow's long dominance of their land regarded the Russian fleet's presence as tantamount to military occupation. Former President Viktor Yushchenko, who tilted toward the West, had vowed that the fleet's lease of the port would not be renewed when it expired in 2017.
Related: Orange Revolution Turns Red
Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed last week that the lease would be extended for 25 years past that expiration.
As parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn opened Tuesday's legislative session, opposition members threw eggs at him, forcing him to preside behind two black umbrellas held by aides.
Opposition lawmakers draped a huge Ukrainian flag over their seats, a signal they would abstain from voting. Lytvyn defiantly forged ahead amid the falling eggs, calling lawmakers to the stand to make their case on the Black Sea Fleet deal. About seven minutes into the session, a smoke bomb went off underneath the draped flag and another was hurled from the back of the gallery. The chamber filled with an acrid cloud as smoke alarms went off -- unprecedented scenes in the parliament.
The lawmakers' bickering deteriorated into members throwing punches and grappling during the nationally televised session. The opposition bloc Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense said one of its lawmakers was hospitalized with a concussion after fighting with Yanukovych's party.
Outside, riot police kept back crowds of opposition supporters trying to get closer to the parliament building, which was surrounded by Yanukovych supporters. Passions among the thousands of protesters became heated after the vote, but they quickly simmered down. No arrests were reported.
The base extension passed with 236 votes in the 450-member parliament.
Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko vowed it wouldn't last.
See: There She Is....
"Today is a black page in the history of Ukraine's independence. Sevastopol is the first step. The next one will be the Crimea," she told reporters. "Parliament ratified this agreement on a treacherous path. We will change it as soon as we return to power."
Also see: Ding-Dong, the Witch is Dead!
Does she know she lost?
What did not make my printed paper:
Analysts here say the naval base deal will trigger a deeper split in Ukrainian society between the Russian-speaking east and south, and the staunchly nationalist western region. With the Black Sea Fleet deal, Putin can check off another goal as he sets about reasserting Russia's political, economic and military authority over its former Soviet neighbors. Since Russia itself acquired a semblance of stability on the back of high energy prices after the chaotic 1990s, it can afford to use economic incentives to gain obedience from its neighbors.
Of course, the U.S. never seeks to do such things, right, MSM?
Aren't we trying to get sanctions on Iran so they will be "obedient?"
Russian officials have watched in horror as nations once in its orbit have courted greater integration with the West -- in particular, discussions in Ukraine and Georgia on possible NATO membership and increased trade and cooperation with the European Union.
Of course, if Russia were over hear courting Cuba or something, well, that would be different.
Western-leaning Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili suffered a blow to his reputation over the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, which began when he ordered the shelling of a town in a separatist-held part of the country.
At least THIS ARTICLE ADMITS that GEORGIA STARTED IT!
Russian tanks emphatically repelled the Georgian offensive, and Moscow approved the declaration of independence of South Ossetia and another rebel province, Abkhazia -- both governed by Russia-friendly separatists. The West still considers the provinces sovereign Georgian territory.
The recent uprising in Kyrgyzstan that has seen the deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev flee to Belarus was welcomed in Russia, which has agreed to provide aid to interim officials.
Of course they were: CIA Stands By Its Man in Kyrgyzstan
Bakiyev has said from exile that his reneging on a promise to Russian officials to close a U.S. military base there was a factor in his overthrow. The Manas air base, crucial to U.S.- and NATO-led missions in nearby Afghanistan, is staying open -- for now.
Also Tuesday, Yanukovych addressed the Council of Europe, where more signs of his pro-Russian streak emerged....
You picking up that agenda or what, readers?
Also see: Fists, eggs fly amid divisive vote (By Clifford J. Levy, New York Times)
You can read it; I'm done with the NYT updates.
