'The long baggage of suspicion'(playing chicken w/ the Rooskies)

Richmond Times Dispatch ^ | 2-17-03 | JOHN DILLON

[putupon]

MOSCOW -- You may have missed it, but the United States and Russia went to war last year - over chicken.

It has been a bruising battle of bureaucracies that started with a six-week embargo of U.S. poultry by Russia. It banged up profits in Virginia and other poultry-raising states and left East Coast cold-storage buildings crammed with frozen birds awaiting an international thaw.

[Voronin]

Now here's a story. Back before the great Russian crash of 1998, it used to import about american chickens (thighs/legs) to the value of $500 million per annum. When the rouble crashed, US chicken stranglehold was broken. It was cheaper for the average russian to buy local produce. With winter oncoming and a budget crisis, there was a real possibility that people would starve in the harsh russian winter. Russia asked for food aid to keep its citizens alive. The US offered... chicken. No, not for free. The chicken was offered under the stipulation that it be sold on the open market where it could undercut local produce, the US administration undwroting the loss just to keep the US share of the Russian chicken market. This killed any chance of Russian producers of filling the void therefore continuing the dependence on imports. The world press was filled with warm stories about how the West was 'helping Russia' with foreign aid. The EU wasn't much better. 'Free trade/Foreign aid', my uncle...

VRN

[struwwelpeter]

"Okorochki Dzhodzha Busha" probably were the cheapest and best sources of protein for Russians during the darkest of the post-Gorby days. But times change.

Russian and Ukrainian producers have learned to do it themselves, and spread rumors about "gormony" in US products (not true, but added water and lax fecal standards is).

A friend worked at the Tyson plant in Fayatteville, Arkansas. Their flagship. Russian inspectors were astounded by the contradictions in the USDA inspection system, and especially by the "fecal bath" chilling process. In Europe, cool air is used, while the US uses a water bath. Supposedly there is a 1 gallon per bird overflow (suuuure), and chlorine is checked and maintained over 100 ppm (not actually a benefit). And in frozen products, 12% of the weight can be "added water" (excuse is "it's a by product of the chill"... right... every rubel and grivnya of US chicken has 12 kopecks of pink water. Spasibo.. nyet!)

No one should blame any country for NOT wanting Tyson chicken. I wouldn't either.

But that said, the skinny, yellow "tsiplyonki" they sell at the market here in Ukraine aren't fit for a dog. Pork on the other hand, is ok. Shashlyki rule!

[Voronin]

Thanks for the extra 'fo. The whole sordid episode highlights for me how much of a push over Yeltsin was for X.42 and more so the self-congratulatory semii-informed articles tellling us all how we 'helped' the Russians (as if only to keep our hearts warm at night). Is life still pretty grim there in the Ukraine? It's just that we never hear anything about the place since the gave up their ICBMs, save the rather frequent pit disasters.

Maybe when things get better and they are earning a bit more, they can indulge in some

Western decadent madness ;)

VRN