Russia's chemical game of Chicken with America. (Putin, weapon, states)

[70Ford]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/wo.../20russia.html

The Kremlin uses chicken as a diplomatic weapon with the United States.

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That's straight from the article. No, I'm not kidding.

Slate had a pretty good write up on it, too.

Americans overwhelmingly prefer white chicken meat. What happens to the dark parts? - By Nadia Arumugam - Slate Magazine

Last January, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin barred U.S. chicken from Russian shores, supposedly because it's treated with "unsafe" antimicrobial chlorine. Although Russia subsequently lifted that ban, in November it prohibited the use of frozen poultry in processed products (again citing safety concerns), effectively preventing the use of American chicken in Russian nuggets—since it's shipped frozen. There's no scientific evidence that chlorination, much less freezing, poses any danger to health, so it's doubtful that safety is the real impetus for the bans. It's far more likely that Putin simply wants Russia to become less reliant on imports. (In fact, he's said publicly that he intends for Russia to be fully self-sufficient in chicken production by 2012.)

[lifelongMOgal]

Great, I say they don't need to import any of our wheat either despite their historical crop failure in 2010. Let us see how long that lasts.

Frankly, the US should be much more self-sufficient with our foods/fuels/generic meds/etc.... too.