New York Irish bars join LGBT community in boycotting Russian vodka

[William769]

http://media.irishcentral.com/images/419*279/Russian_Vodka_NYC_Protest_SWIFF.jpg

New York's Irish bars have a message for President Vladimir Putin: target Russia's gay community with draconian new laws and we'll target your vodka in payback.

On Monday some of the city's most prominent Irish bar owners freely poured bottles of Russian vodka into the Manhattan drains in protest over shocking scenes of violence and abuse that have been captured on video since the passing of the controversial 'gay propaganda' law.

According to SFGate, Paul Hurley, the well known president of the United Restaurant and Tavern Owners Association, held up a bottle of the popular Russian brand Stolichnaya, then shook his head and called for a city-wide boycott of all Russian spirits and liquor.

'All these vodkas here, we're going to throw them out,' Hurley told the press. 'We feel enough is enough.'

Hurley urged the public to drink American-made alcohol instead, adding that the boycott was the first step toward pressuring Russia to change its policies toward gay people.


http://www.irishcentral.com/news/-New-York-Irish-bars-join-LGBT-community-in-boycotting-Russian-vodka--218656531.html

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Good for them!

Last edited Thu Aug 8, 2013, 02:55 AM - Edit history (1)

ETA:

While some Stoli production does take place in Latvia, it's not a 100-percent Latvian product. As Stoli's CEO Val Mendeleev acknowledged in response to the ban, some of the production does take place in Russia (that's the reason some of the bottles have "Russian Vodka" on the label, while others have "Premium Vodka&quot .

---snip---

To Dan Savage, the creator of the boycott, that's not good enough. "SPI is a Russian corporation, Stoli is a Russian vodka. And while it's nice that SPI is willing to market to homos who are lucky enough to live in Austria, the US, and South Africa, what has SPI done in Russia?," he said in response to Mendeleev's letter. Savage hasn't commented on Mozaika's pleas just yet.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2013/08/gay-latvians-want-gay-people-stop-boycotting-stoli/67905/ (hat tip: Spider Jerusalem for the link)

[William769]

2. I have always like "Danny Boy"

I like it a lot more today.

[dbackjon]

3. Good for them!!

[Cha]

4. Excellent! Irish are my

peeps!

Quote from PBO last night on Leno about this..

Jay Leno also brought up the recent crackdown on gays in Russia, comparing the country’s treatment of homosexuality to the way Nazi Germany persecuted Jews. President Obama said he has “no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.”

http://theobamadiary.com/

Mahalo, William~

[William769]

6. That was a good interview.

[DevonRex]

5. OMG WOW!! That is huge! Good for them.

Good for LGBTs and good for us all. I wish I bought something from Russia regularly just so I could stop. But I don't.

[William769]

9. Huge. Yes.

[HappyMe]

7. Good for them.

[William769]

8. Thanks. I had not seen that before.

[HappyMe]

11. Good gracious, William.

Where have you been?

[William769]

12. Thanks.

I have folk Irish music that I love to listen to. I just may go ahead it get it on my website. When I do I'll send you the link.

[HappyMe]

13. That would be nice, thanks.

[joeybee12]

10. Cheers!

knr

[Zorra]

14. That's so nice. I wish I could hug them.

Here's to the Irish

[appleannie1]

15. Some PGH bars are doing this also.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/video/9161271-some-local-bars-joining-worldwide-russian-vodka-boycott/

It seems to be spreading nationwide.

[William769]

16. Good! Thanks for sharing.

[Cha]

17. Great, appleannie!

[Spider Jerusalem]

18. Stolichnaya is distilled in Latvia.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2013/08/gay-latvians-want-gay-people-stop-boycotting-stoli/67905/

[William769]

19. And the ingredients are from Russia.

The owners Russian.

Just saying.

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. The owner is exiled from Russia.

Russia’s liquor industry has been a thorny political issue since it was privatized after the fall of the Soviet Union more than two decades ago, and the international success of Stolichnaya has made the brand a primary target of the Russian government for renationalization. In 2002, Russian customs officers seized $40 million worth of Stoli vodka produced in a Kaliningrad factory, and Shefler has been in de facto exile ever since.

“[Shefler] was forced out of Russia over 10 years ago and has been in courts around the world as the Russian government has tried to get the brand back,” SPI North America president John Esposito says. “Hurting Stoli in the U.S. is actually probably going to make the Russian government happy, given that they’ve been fighting us for the last 13 years. They’re probably going to be sitting there chuckling.”

Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/08/05/the-faulty-logic-of-the-russian-vodka-boycott/#ixzz2bKh6UC00

[William769]

21. And the family is still there & where do you think they get their money.

Plus there is a nice profit made from the ingredients that come from Russia. Now if you want to buy into thew story hook line & sinker about him being forced out of Russia, why does he still do business there?

[Spider Jerusalem]

22. The company is headquartered in Luxembourg

[William769]

23. And?

[Spider Jerusalem]

24. And...

boycotting something that isn't made in Russia and isn't made by a Russian company in order to protest Russia is misguided and stupid. There is a Russian Stolichnaya, but it's distilled and bottled by a completely different, state-owned company and has nothing to do with SPI Group. (This is because of an international trademark dispute.)

In a nutshell, the Russian government charges that the original state-owned Stolichnaya brand, which dates back at least half a century, was unfairly privatized in 1997, when the rights were sold to the SPI Group for $300,000, according to a 2006 Bloomberg report on the “vodka wars.”

In 2002, a new entity was created in Russia, called FKP Soyuzplodoimport and backed by the government, to stake the Kremlin’s claim over the famous brand. But that company lost out in 2006 in a New York court, which ruled that SPI retains the rights to its trademark — at least in the US market.

When contacted by GlobalPost on Friday, FKP Soyuzplodoimport declined to comment on both the boycott and the disputed brand. On its website, however, it asserts its claim over the Stolichnaya brand in rather terse language:

“The Government of the Russian Federation from July 4 2002 grants FKP Soyuzplodoimport the rights of use and disposal (without concessions) on the behalf of the Russian Federation more than 17 brands of traditional Russian vodka and spirits, including Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya, with the goal of securing the economic interests of the Russian Federation in the sphere of intellectual property”

The Russian rival Stolichnaya is produced at and distributed by the Cristall distillery in Moscow, along with the dubiously named Putinka vodka.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/russia/130802/vodka-boycott-gay-rights-stolichnaya

[William769]

25. Well I guess your mind is made up.

All the people boycotting this is wrong (and that's a lot).

Just discount what I have said, that's ok. The boycott will go on.

Have a nice day.

[Spider Jerusalem]

26. Yep, it's wrong.

And hey, I've shown you that a) the vodka sold as "Stoli" in the USA isn't the same as the vodka sold as "Stoli" in Russia, isn't owned by the same company, and isn't produced in Russia, but none of those pesky little facts actually matter if your misguided and ill-informed boycott makes you feel good, right? After all, your mind is made up.

[Vinnie From Indy]

27. Well, of course, you are absolutely correct about the provenance

of the vodka being sold in the US. It is not Russian made nor is it owned by a Russian company. Lighten up! We're Americans! Saudi Arabians blow the shit out of our twin towers and we beat the holy hell out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Yemen seems to be next! The point is that in modern America it really doesn't matter who did what to who, the only thing that matters is that somebody take an ass whuppin'

Seriously though, don't feel too bad for the folks that are getting unfairly hammered by this boycott. They almost got away totally free with stealing the Stoli brand during the rise of the Oligarchs. At the end of the day, they may actually end up spending what the brand was worth after they stole it for 300k.

As far as the Irish go, they love the underdogs! Their history has insured that! To them I offer a hearty SLAINTE!

[IrishAyes]

28. Why bother with vodka anyway

When there's enough Guiness in the world to float a battleship?

[Scurrilous]

29. K & R

[Little Star]

30. k&r