So Much for Big Mac Peace and Fries

In 1999, New York's golden arch-commentarist Thomas L Friedman posited the 'Golden Arches' theory in his book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalisation. 'No two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald's.' This theory is as simple as it is wrong, considering Russia and Ukraine are at war even as the two countries have their share of Big Mac outlets. With the fast-food multinational deciding to suspend operations in all its 847 outlets across Russia protesting the war - it says the boycott will be till the war continues - so much for Free Market Friedman's Conflict Prevention 101. That McDonald's continued to serve its fries et al in 1999 in Pakistan when the latter started the Kargil War was an unappetising fact left out of both the McDonald's manual of capitalist peace and Friedman's book.

There was much symbolism when McDonald's opened its first outlet in the Soviet Union, at Moscow's Pushkin Square on January 31, 1990 - six and eight years before it opened operations in India and Pakistan, respectively. Before closure, Russians are reportedly lining up to get a 'last' taste of burgers. Reports of hoarding Big Macs are also doing the rounds, one burger apparently even going for 40,000 roubles, the equivalent of ₹23,000. Tom Friedman must not be lovin' it.