russian mcdonalds
As U.S.-Russian relations deteriorate, the contrast between Washington and Moscow reveals just what each nation fears and what their policy priorities are. The United States has taken several symbolic steps that offend Russia, like renaming D.C. streets near the Russian embassy after Putin's political rival. The main U.S. reaction has been journalists and establishment politicians alleging various Russian plots to destroy American democracy and collude with the Trump campaign.

Such allegations do not require any effort, they are not subject to any legal standard of evidence, and they serve mainly to keep the American public suspicious of foreigners so no one asks any questions about how our own politicians have corrupted the judiciary and bastardized the democratic process.

Consider the contrast of Russian symbolic actions in this spat. The legislature has proposed classifying U.S. media outlets and fast food chains operating in Russia as foreign agents, which would revoke some press credentials and impose restrictions on advertisements. Unlike the impotent sputtering of American politicians in "The World's Greatest Deliberative Body," the Russian legislature actually has the wherewithal to give their complaints the force of law.

The targets of the Russian law reveal that Moscow understands the multifaceted danger of Big Macs and soundbites. The law only cites concerns about false advertising and lack of nutrition, which is enough reason to avoid fast food:
"Research has shown that food sold by American fast-food restaurants is damaging to people's health," Chernyshov said. "But ads show only the positive side of consuming these products."
Free trade fetishists might misconstrue the attack on multinational corporations as an attack on the global economy, but so much national decline, of hearth, home, faith, and community, is embodied in fast food culture that Russia is not only right to be wary, but may even be giving a backhanded warning to American consumers.

In the case of media companies, the evidence that prolonged exposure to U.S. mass culture corrodes every form of tradition and social stability is so overwhelming as to be almost incontrovertible. Putin broached the topic of covert and overt American meddling in European elections during his Megyn Kelly interview, and his accusations were quite restrained considering the historical record.

Russian propaganda strikes at some of globalism's most useful institutions, so American politicians have to prevent the message from reaching their constituents. In Clown World the well-adjusted citizen believes Fake News and eats poison, and the natural consequences of those actions will eventually become undeniable. Americans may soon realize that some things are true even though the Russians say they are true.