Ghost MacDonalds West 3rd Street

On January 5, 2021 the franchise owner of the infamous McDonalds across from the West 4th Street sold the building to an entrepeneur seeking to open a nightclub. Covid was in full force and the investors did nothing. Three years later the site remains a ghost, but it will never again be the 3am hotspot for drunken mania and that might be a good thing.

I have eaten in Mickey Ds since January 2008.

On the way to Bangkok the Cyber-Crime Unit stopped at a highway rest stop. The arresting officer asked if I wanted something to eat. I said a cheeseburger and fries. The fries were okay, but the burger paddy was a hockey puck. Never again.

Nyet To Mickie Ds

America is over 5000 miles from the Crimea. Russia basically annexed the peninsula from the Ukraine after the collapse of that national's pro-Kremlin government. The right-wing TV demagogues and the GOP interventionist members of Congress have called for action against the 'invasion' and two days ago the USA retaliated with a non-violent fury, as the fast food chain McDonalds closed its three franchises in the seized territory.

No more Big Macs in Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta with the threat of further closings in the future.

McDonalds released a press statement, saying that the closures were "strictly a business decision which has nothing to do with politics."

Nationalist Russian politicians have called for a boycott of the more than 400 restaurants in Russia, including the restaurant in Moscow's Pushkin Square, which had the highest sales and served the most customers of any McDonald's outlet in 2012.

Those Crimeans addicted to the fast food chain's menu join their brethren in Iceland. That North Atlantic country closed all its Micky Ds after refusing to declare bankruptcy in 2009. Bolivian shut all its franchises in 2002 and Bolivian President Evo Morales attacked Western fast food chains during a February speech:

"The major multinational food companies seek to control the production of food and to dominate global markets by imposing their customs and foods. The only goal of such producers is to generate profits. So they standardize food and drinks, turning them into global foods produced on a massive scale with the same formula. They are not interested in the health of human beings, only in their earnings and corporate profits."

I agree with Preident Morales.

I haven't eaten a pink goo beefburger in over a year.

One economist commented that countries without McDonalds are poor.

"If you want a definition of what the rich world and the poor world are, well, if you can get a McDonald's, you are in the rich world. If you look at where these restaurants are located, it doesn't map on to culture; it maps on to money."

Money to waste on junk.

Another recent change in the Crimea affected thousands of heroin addicts attempting to kick their habit.

Russian authorities have banned methadone, claiming most of it ended up on the black market.

No Micky Ds. No methadone.

It's a brave new world in the Crimea.