How are sanctions going to make anybody more informed?
They dont…That makes no sense. Instead of sanctions, a more effective strategy would be to provide Russians with free VPNs so that they can access western news media.
I'm going to articulate the theory, but I want to be clear that I'm not advocating it.
The general idea is that a war in a foreign country (even a neighbor) is pretty easy to ignore (especially if state media doesn't cover it). If you don't have relative or friends there, you could easily go on believing exactly what the government reports--that it's a limited military operation, etc. You're busy at work, you've got a lot going on, so maybe you should spend some time looking into it, but maybe next week.
However, if the value of your currency drops 25%, and your mortgage interest rate jumps 10% overnight you're much more likely to ask: "what the hell is going on". Those are significant changes that will really impact you. Suddenly you're a lot more motivate to do some research and see what's happening. Maybe when doing that research, you find some of the media of Kyiv being bombed or residential areas in Kharkiv being hit repeatedly by cluster bombs.
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My theory for sanctions is different. My ideal sanctions wouldn't hit the average worker at all. They would hit _only_ the oligarchs and those close to or with a hand on the levers of power. But we don't have access to targeted sanctions that hit the oligarchs hard enough to get them consider taking actions that don't also hit the average worker.
I feel deeply sorry for those Russian citizens who have very limited power over their government, and will nonetheless be hit harder and feel the sanctions more deeply than those closer to power. But I also feel that it's necessary, as a tool to try and minimize the amount of time that Ukraine spends under siege.
Most sanctions are aimed mostly at the oligarchs, and that is good so. But things have reached a point (and may be the sanctions started way to late), at which the whole population needs to be notified of what is going on and it needs to be made clear, that the whole population has a say in how things progress.
The same Russians who are currently using VPNs to post Russian propaganda all over reddit, facebook, twitter and co? If you think Russians are this way just because they don't have access to the guardian, then I have 20 years worth of Russian politics waiting for you. They don't care. They haven't cared when the wars in Chechnya or Georgia happened, they won't care now. The sanctions are supposed to force them to care.
I talk with Russians on several international forums (about architecture and about gaming). Thousands of people there, a big sample. That's the younger, English-speaking generation, BTW.
They believe in the propaganda mostly, celebrate the victories over "nazis" and support Putin.
What happened after Crimea annexation was appealing, and now it's even worse. It's a society brainwashed into imperialism and they want return of Russia as a global power and revenge on the west.
There are some exceptions, but they are rare. Possibly because of fear, I don't know.
They have western media and had for decades. They don't care, it's all lies for them. Also they have almost no influence over what happens. They barely protest and elections are a farce.
So - sanctions aren't targeted at regular Russians. They target the oligarchs that actually run everything in Russia. Regular Russians are hit by collateral damage, and it will be very harsh collateral damage. But I have no sympathy when I hear from my friends in Ukraine hiding in Kyiv metro for the whole weekend and having no contact with their families in shelled towns.
Ultimately the responsibility towards victims of war is more important than unemployed people in invading country.
Russia has been running Goebbels-levels of propaganda to counteract whatever benefit came from access to western media. How much progress has been made since 2014?
That is completely untrue. Until a few days ago, RT was openly available throughout Europe. As far as I know, it is still available in America, which protects freedom of speech in its constitution.
Irrelevant and not even remotely close to what I asked for. This is a story about Tucker Carlson sympathizing with Putin.
It is not a story explaining the reason why Russia felt it was necessary to conduct special military action in the Ukraine. It does not explain why Russia believes they are helping to liberate the DPR and LPR from nationalists and return the borders of the republics.
I can throw you tons of support and understanding for Russia and Donbass from western media, loads of people questioning the supplying of arms to Ukraine and the involvement of the West. But I don't have all day for that.
Let's be reciprocal: please link any Russian media article (that isn't from Novaya Gazeta, where journalists routinely suffer "unexplainable" deaths) that suggests that Putin has ever done anything wrong, you know, without sugarcoating it in any way.
Seems like you’re grasping at straws if you have to resort to digging up 7 year articles to prove your point.
If there are really “tons” of stories explaining the Russian perspective on this matter why don’t you show me ONE recent story that takes the latest developments into account?
> Irrelevant and not even remotely close to what I asked for.
Only if one is too stupid to read it. It's not supposed to show that the Washington Post sympathizes with Putin.
> This is a story about Tucker Carlson sympathizing with Putin.
Exactly. You have not only Tucker Carlson but the whole Fox "News" network and other similar organisations in the USA and in Europe sympathizing with Putin.
> It is not a story explaining the reason why Russia felt it was necessary to conduct special military action in the Ukraine.
Russia didn't feel it was necessary to conduct a "special military action" in "the" Ukraine; it felt it was necessary to conduct a war in [no article] Ukraine.
- Would the majority population of DPR and LPR like to break away from the Ukraine?
No, they would not. They voted in very large majorities to be part of an independent Ukraine. Of course, now they are ruled by Russia-linked gangsters, so it is impossible to know what their citizens would like. Common sense suggests that they would rather be part of Ukraine, somewhat democratic, and relatively rich, instead of part of Russia, ruled by a warmongering dictator, and relatively poor.
I think the answer isn’t so clear cut and dry. The truth is, it’s disputed.
Here are some questions we should ask:
“ Ukraine regards both the DPR and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) as terrorist organisations.”
- Now why would the people side with a government that deems them a terrorist organization? That’s a little strange..
- Why is the official currency used in DPR and LPR the Russian ruble? Again, strange for a people that wish to be independent from Russia.
Why is the official timezone used in DPR and LPR UTC+3 (Moscow time) Again, strange for a people that wish to be independent from Russia.
I struggle to take these arguments seriously. Ukraine regards the gangsters running the DPR and LPR as terrorist, not the people under their undemocratic and illegitimate rule. The time zone and currency were chosen by those gangsters, not by the people.
If your country is always right and the rest are always wrong, that could be a hint. In Western media you'll find voices for and against the war. In Russian media it's barely acknowledged that there's a war ongoing.
Why indeed would any country be "entitled" to have an opinion on Russia invading a country and killing thousands of people. Other countries should just look the other way, that's the only ethical solution.
Stop this bullshit, it's not working.
> the other 200 countries in the world have absolutely no idea whats really going on in that area
Yes, over 200 000 Ukrainian refugees that moved to Poland last 5 days have no idea what is really going on. They left everything on days notice and moved to a foreign country cause they love Russia so much.
> have no idea about this area’s history
even if it was true (and it isn't - history is taught everywhere and Russian version of history is famously biased) - why would history matter? History won't make killing people right suddenly.
> what the locals in DPR and LPR really want
Even if all of them wanted to become part of Russia - why would it matter more than people of Ukraine who want to be part of EU? There's more people outside of the occupied parts.
What you're doing is disgusting. I hope they pay you enough.
Yeah, why whould Europe care about the Austrian painter annexing Czechoslovakia? This only concerns Germany and Czechoslovakia.
Same with Germany and Austria, don't get involved. Germany and Netherlands, just a border dispute. Germany and France, none of your business. Germany and the Soviet Union, why would you care?
It's almost as if we could ignore all the international law we created after WW2, jeez.
The sad thing is that you'll wonder why your state is widely seen as fascist and oppressive, and think of your nation as the victim of the rest, only because they react negatively to your state's questionable foreign policy.
You can have a tyranny and nobody would care for the most part. Be North Korea if you want. Just don't spill it over people who don't want it.
> The other 200 countries in the world have absolutely no idea whats really going on in that area
Ah, but that's where you are wrong, you see: We have something called "journalists" and "reporters", people whose job it is to go there and write newspaper stories or film newsclips showing and telling what is going on. A bit like your Propaganda Commissars, except these people report the truth in stead of what the governmentvtells them to.
> have no idea about this area’s history
Ah. Like how Ukraine has always been a part of Russia, is the Cradle of the Rodina, except at the same time also has always been a hotbed of gay Jewish Nazism, right?
Sanctions do work, cutting off communication with the west doesn't. There 's a feeling that Russians need to be jolted off their seats. I m seeing many of them asking for alternatives for payments or incorporation elsewhere
It's a nice thought but I don't think that this would work in any country.
Generally, the sanctions are designed to try and convince Putin that Russia cannot afford a war against Europe/NATO. They do this:
- by targeting the money of Putin and anybody in Russia with enough money to conceivably have influence over Putin (presumably, these sanctions don't hurt common people);
- by targeting directly or indirectly the financial reserves of Russia to make it hard for Russia to bankroll the army (these most certainly do hurt the common people, too).
I'm sure that there are also propaganda/counter-propaganda operations, but these are very likely to be illegal/covert, so no country is going to publicize them.
They dont…That makes no sense. Instead of sanctions, a more effective strategy would be to provide Russians with free VPNs so that they can access western news media.