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Russian social media are full of winking posts hinting that McDonald's will sell operations to a Russian company which it will still profit from "behind the sce

Russian social media are full of winking posts hinting that McDonald's will sell operations to a Russian company which it will still profit from "behind the scenes" (via offshore proxy or some other indirect way). They also hint that this will pave the way for other Western companies currently in limbo: split ownership between controllable proxy and Russian owner. And at the same time shout in Bloomberg how much you condemn Russian invasion to pacify Western public. Can anyone confirm if it's possible? I hope it's Russian desinformation again, but I fear it's possible looking at how "well" Western "sanctions" work (Moscow feels great, ruble is much stronger than even pre-war).

A4ET8a8uTh0 4y ago
Can't confirm and anyone who can, will not. Sanctions evasion is something OFAC frowns upon and comes down on rather heavily. Just few weeks ago banks that were 'offering options' to customers were smacked down[1]: "The US Department of the Treasury in a statement said it put sanctions on Russian commercial bank Transkapitalbank, whose representatives it said serve several banks in Asia, including in China, and the Middle East, and have suggested options to evade international sanctions." So.. yeah. It is possible ( even with total embargo it can happen as NK has shown ), but it comes with risk. If it will be done, it will be done very quietly with as few people knowing as possible. [1]https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/4/20/new-us-sanctions-hit-russian-bank-oligarchs-crypto-miner https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/4/20/new-us-sanctions...
ogurechny 4y ago
It's just one of the possibilities. It's not like corporations aren't full of “government relations” staff whose job is inventing creative names for bribing officials, and creative methods of doing so. Especially in “interesting” countries where it's easy to have an excuse that “everyone does that”. There is technology that can be important for military industry; no doubt it is going to be tightly controlled. There are people who decided it was unacceptable to work in Russia; it was their choice. However, these corporations are not people, nor they are important in the arms race. If we skip the fact that Central Bank severed everyone's ability to do business to control the money flow out of the country, corporations that left Russia made statements about leaving it for the media picture. And flashy media picture is once again really important to hide the elephant in the room — what really powers Russian economy, and how. It's not McDonalds.
kaba0 4y ago
Ruble is definitely not much stronger, it’s just practically frozen so it is not defined by free market rules, but by Russian government made ones.
- rightbyte 4y ago
  I have seen a lot of people write this but I don't understand how. Shouldn't there be a black market rate in that case? Is there one? Some quick Googling gave no articles.
  - roguas 4y ago
    I am almost sure there is such market. If you visit Russia somehow, you are likely to exchange currency with citizen at beneficial rates. Chances are its very similar to pre iron curtain fall - people made fortunes in Poland on such exchanges. Same thing in Cuba, there were two currencies - one local, one for internationals(unsure how it is now).
    - rightbyte 4y ago
      Ye. I mean just cutting out Forex middleman is beneficial. It would be interesting to know the "real" rate to get the scope of the currency control.
    - lotusmars 4y ago
      No, Moscow is fine and you can buy foreign currency freely now. This is a delusion based on Western politians' loud promises which never came true. We were promised crushing sanctions that would reduce Russian economy to 1980's style rubble with black market of foreign currencies. It's all just a load of hype. It's important to set this clear because most of HN commenters seems to be under impression those sanctions actually had intended effect.
      - rasz 4y ago
        Can you buy a new car with all this money?
Markoff 4y ago
> McDonald's will sell operations to a Russian company which it will still profit from "behind the scenes" (via offshore proxy or some other indirect way). so Huawei way of solving sanction issues... let's all pretend Honor is now different entity bought by bunch of unrelated companies
rasz 4y ago
Thats what GM(opel), IBM(dehomag) and Coca-Cola(fanta) did during WW2 in Germany. But I have a feeling it wont fly nowadays with social media and politicians hungry for grandstanding, especially in light of recently passed second Lend-Lease.

A4ET8a8uTh0 4y ago

Can't confirm and anyone who can, will not. Sanctions evasion is something OFAC frowns upon and comes down on rather heavily. Just few weeks ago banks that were 'offering options' to customers were smacked down[1]: "The US Department of the Treasury in a statement said it put sanctions on Russian commercial bank Transkapitalbank, whose representatives it said serve several banks in Asia, including in China, and the Middle East, and have suggested options to evade international sanctions." So.. yeah. It is possible ( even with total embargo it can happen as NK has shown ), but it comes with risk. If it will be done, it will be done very quietly with as few people knowing as possible. [1]https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/4/20/new-us-sanctions-hit-russian-bank-oligarchs-crypto-miner https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/4/20/new-us-sanctions...

ogurechny 4y ago

It's just one of the possibilities. It's not like corporations aren't full of “government relations” staff whose job is inventing creative names for bribing officials, and creative methods of doing so. Especially in “interesting” countries where it's easy to have an excuse that “everyone does that”. There is technology that can be important for military industry; no doubt it is going to be tightly controlled. There are people who decided it was unacceptable to work in Russia; it was their choice. However, these corporations are not people, nor they are important in the arms race. If we skip the fact that Central Bank severed everyone's ability to do business to control the money flow out of the country, corporations that left Russia made statements about leaving it for the media picture. And flashy media picture is once again really important to hide the elephant in the room — what really powers Russian economy, and how. It's not McDonalds.

kaba0 4y ago

Ruble is definitely not much stronger, it’s just practically frozen so it is not defined by free market rules, but by Russian government made ones.

rightbyte 4y ago
I have seen a lot of people write this but I don't understand how. Shouldn't there be a black market rate in that case? Is there one? Some quick Googling gave no articles.
- roguas 4y ago
  I am almost sure there is such market. If you visit Russia somehow, you are likely to exchange currency with citizen at beneficial rates. Chances are its very similar to pre iron curtain fall - people made fortunes in Poland on such exchanges. Same thing in Cuba, there were two currencies - one local, one for internationals(unsure how it is now).
  - rightbyte 4y ago
    Ye. I mean just cutting out Forex middleman is beneficial. It would be interesting to know the "real" rate to get the scope of the currency control.
  - lotusmars 4y ago
    No, Moscow is fine and you can buy foreign currency freely now. This is a delusion based on Western politians' loud promises which never came true. We were promised crushing sanctions that would reduce Russian economy to 1980's style rubble with black market of foreign currencies. It's all just a load of hype. It's important to set this clear because most of HN commenters seems to be under impression those sanctions actually had intended effect.
    - rasz 4y ago
      Can you buy a new car with all this money?

Markoff 4y ago

> McDonald's will sell operations to a Russian company which it will still profit from "behind the scenes" (via offshore proxy or some other indirect way). so Huawei way of solving sanction issues... let's all pretend Honor is now different entity bought by bunch of unrelated companies

rasz 4y ago

Thats what GM(opel), IBM(dehomag) and Coca-Cola(fanta) did during WW2 in Germany. But I have a feeling it wont fly nowadays with social media and politicians hungry for grandstanding, especially in light of recently passed second Lend-Lease.