Russia

Is McDonald's a foreign agent?

A Russian politician proposed labeling American fast food chains like McDonald's and KFC as foreign agents, following recently passed legislation which provides the same classification for international news outlets.

Boris Chernyshov, a 26-year-old Moscow lawmaker in the federal Russian Assembly, described advertisements made by American restaurants for Russian consumers as manipulative and nontransparent about their longterm health effects. The State Duma deputy added that chains like McDonald’s, available across Russia, were contributing to the decline of the nation's cuisine, according to local reports.

The latest measure to classify news outlets like CNN and Washington Post as foreign agents followed the U.S. requiring Russian outlets like RT and Sputnik to register under the same label. Not even three days later, the Russian lawmaker took the tit-for-tat a step further by once again pulling food chains into the feud.

Putin Regulates Cryptocurrencies

On Saturday Oct. 21st—just two weeks after a top Russian banking authority hinted that Bitcoin exchanges would be banned in the country—Russian President Vladmir Putin released five Presidential orders related to the regulation of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

National regulations have been proposed as mechanisms to reduce scams and crime facilitated by cryptocurrencies, but in the case of Russia it may be tied up in the country's alleged plans to launch a national cryptocurrency.

Putin also called for proposals for a special regulatory platform known as a "sandbox"—where blockchain developers can basically demonstrate new technologies or applications to the Bank of Russia so they can be regulated appropriately—before the end of the year.

The biggest threat to the world

Big Question: From Vladimir Putin's expansionist aims to the advances of Islamic State, the news is full of threats to global stability - but what do specialists in war studies think we should fear most?

Is Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), close to Europe via its growth in Libya, the greatest threat to global stability? Or is China's rise more to be feared than Vladimir Putin's involvement in the Ukraine crisis?