Thursday 31 May 2012

Are these tobacco stooges reporting from Moscow?

Were this a report from Western Europe, accusations would fly. According to this report, Moscovites have endured sweeping anti-tobacco measures, including the closure and actual demolition of properly registered small shops, and a general prohibition on smaller shops selling alcohol or tobacco. Kiosk owners have protested at the measures, which have been brought in far more quickly than the drip, drip process adopted here, with tobacco sponsorship, sales restrictions, a display ban and a smoking ban coming in all together.

As everywhere, big business wins out as smaller enterprises feel the brunt of these measures:
The laws also go against the agenda of supporting and protecting entrepreneurs recently announced by the government, which has appointed a federal ombudsman for the preservation of businessmen’s rights.
Neither the Moscow Department for the Protection of Businessmen nor Opora Rossii, an organization aimed at uniting and supporting small and medium-sized businesses, agreed to comment on the issue.
But what's this?
Tobacco companies agree with the store owners.
Shouldn't that be the other way around? Doesn't the tobacco industry always lead the agenda with the shops meekly following in its wake?
Source
No ... for whatever reason, this report is telling it like it is. The shops are at the coal face, with anti-tobacco and anti-alcohol measures directly affecting their enterprises, without evidence that any tangible health benefits will result. Well done, Moscow News.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The tobacco control industry - which is what it is - a well financed and highly professionally honed propaganda, hate and fear-mongering based machine padding the pockets of the few at the expense of the many - has succeeded in one thing - which is creating the artificial illusion that tobacco control is equivalent to God - while anyone not in compliance with their propaganda is a tobacco stooge, equivalent to the devil. With that in mind, they've managed to create this artificial way of thinking that is not reality based and as a result, the true roots of economic depression, national loss of sovereignty and individual loss of freedoms, rights and liberties has been made invisible and that which would otherwise be obvious, made obscure. At the rate they are going, the tobacco control industry will destroy Russia the same way it has already decimated UK, EU, US, Canada, Australia and anywhere else it's woven its evil little trade and distorted goodness into evil and evil into virtue. Since when is dictatorship telling people how to live their personal lives and restricting freedom of choice ever going to result in anything virtuous in the long run and not result in total calamity as the final outcome. Destruction of the world is coming and all so a few elites at the top of the pecking chain called tobacco control can pad their pockets while claiming noble actions to cover their deceits. Tobacco control is actually one of the biggest con jobs ever pulled off in history.