Free-market-hating politicians (are there any other kind?) want to nationalize Russia’s young hotties (article quoted here in its entirety):
To mark International Beauty Day Nikolai Kurianovich, a State Duma deputy with the nationalist LDPR party, suggested introducing a ban on foreign travel for Russian girls under 21, Itar-Tass news agency reported.
In his opinion, young Russian girls must not visit other countries as tourists, even if they are accompanied by men.
Moreover, Kurianovich asked colleagues to legally reduce rights of Russian girls to marry foreigners, saying it would help preserve the nation’s gene pool.
If anyone reading this was entertaining the notion of a mail-order bride (no, I’m not naming names), I’d advise not dawdling. I’d imagine there are plenty of eligible young men in Russia who’d just as soon not have to compete, who would support legislation like this.
Russia’s Central Eastern neighbor Turkmenistan has already applied restrictions to foreigners who want to marry Turkmen women. An outsider wishing to wed a female citizen of the state has to render a $50,000 tribute to the country’s budget.
Is it just me, or does there not seem to be a big difference between citizenship and slavery in Turkmenistan? Won’t enterprising officials at some point realize that they’d make more money cutting to the chase and holding auctions than they would waiting for foreigners who happened to be pitching woo at their women to come up with 50 grand?
Also, earlier this year the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, declared a war on the “export of Eastern beauty” and ordered his officials to control models looking for jobs abroad.
The La Repubblica daily reported in February that the Belarusian authorities fined girls, tapped their telephone conversations and spied on them, closed down a number of model agencies and even questioned about 500 models. An owner of one of the agencies, Zara, was sentenced to two years in prison for so-called people smuggling.
I guess all those “minders” the KGB used to follow diplomats and tourists around will be employed again soon. ;-)