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Apple bows to Kremlin pressure to remove leading VPNs from Russian AppStore — Novaya Gazeta Europe

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Apple bows to Kremlin pressure to remove leading VPNs from Russian AppStore — Novaya Gazeta Europe
77 comments

  • God forbid Apple take a 0.01% hit to their profits to allow the flow of factual information to people stuck in Russia under a monstrous dictator.

    • The vast majority of russians support imperialism and a majority hold genocidal views (they would never openly agree to this, but on an outcome basis they do support eradication of Ukrainian culture and not only).

      Even to this day, every russian with a smartphone has access to uncensored youtube available within 10 secs on their phone.

      Not saying what apple did was right, just pointing out the "lack of factual information" narrative is largely incorrect. It's more a lack of respect for the rights others, nihilism and overwhelming supremacism; no VPN or technology is going to solve this.

      • I'm not talking about the people happily living in self-delusion. We have plenty of those in the US too. Free information channels are still important and can be a crushing loss to the people who do care about reality.

        • There is different people in different countries. No question about that. And free information channels are definitely very important. My argument is that in the case of russia, this factors don't really come into play in a meaningful way.

          Information channels even after the full scale invasion are available and easy to access, it was less restrictive before Feb 24 2022, but the difference is somewhat marginal. Access to information isn't going to magically change the imperialist, supremacist mindset of the overwhelming majority of russians.

          It's not an access to information problem, it's a social and cultural problem. I've lived there for 10 years (in addition to living a decade in north america and many years in asia), the imperialist/genocidal mindset has survived 3 regimes (Tsarism, USSR, authoritarian capitalism) with very different technological currents and economic structure profiles. It's not going away just like that.

          Full disclosure: I am Ukrainian, but I would argue you can come to the same conclusions by taking a critical look at their history, current attitudes (even among the "liberal" opposition) and broad worldview.

          Just wanted to share my thoughts. Re-reading my posts, I think I come off a bit more pushy than I wanted to.

      • The vast majority of russians support imperialism and a majority hold genocidal views (they would never openly agree to this, but on an outcome basis they do support eradication of Ukrainian culture and not only).

        That's a major simplification. The fact that russians do not stand against a genocidal war doesn't mean that the vast majority do support it.

        • I disagree. While my statement did not include any kind of elaboration. This is not a simplification.

          At the very least a strong majority (and I am being conservative) support the annexation of Ukrainian territories and elimination of Ukrainian culture and language in areas under occupation. On the quantitative side this is confirmed by various polling initiatives that use different methodologies (including in-direct polling with attempts to estimate preference falsification).

          On the qualitative side, you can look at genocides committed in the last ~100 years by the russians (and there are several, includes less well known ones) and review the attitudes towards these crimes among various socio-political groups (not necessarily in a purely quantitative manner).

          I have one interesting anecdote. Currently among the "liberal" russian opposition there is a big debate around a 3 hour YT series about the 90s in russia.

          One bit topic that was completely excluded was the actions of russians in Chechnya; the creators (Navalniy's organization) said it was out of scope.

          During their intervention in Chechnya in the 90s, they killed approximately 5% of the civilian population; it would be like if 7.5 million russian civilians were killed.

          Don't get me wrong, a relatively small % of russians would openly admit to that they support extermination of Ukrainian identity (still 10s of millions). But even among the reminder, there is a strong undercurrent of supremacism, a desire of expansion that de facto is support for genocide.

          • So what exactly do you think a russian citizen can do to opose the war? Are you aware of the people protesting with blank peaces of paper being taken away? Or even high ranking people "falling from the balcony"

            Do you also think that North Koreans support and enjoy their way of living?

            There is a long way from not having much choice in oposing something to actually supporting it...

            • Outside of the political sphere, life in russia is nothing like in NK.

              I am aware of the such protests and of public condemnations that result in jail sentences and even acts for sobotage.

              Realistically, there are three options 1. Do nothing (understandable) 2. Leave the country (not available to all) 3. Join rebel forces and/or engage in sabotage (this takes a lot of bravery, and people have dependents). [1] is the only realistic option for most.

              That being said, I never claimed that the situation for those russians who oppose the full scale invasion (and genocidal imperialism in general) is not dire. Nor did I claim that every single russian is a genocidal imperialism.

              I did claim that at least a strong majority (if not an overwhelming majority) are genocidal imperialist and provided some high level points with respect to quantitative and qualitative approaches.

              I strongly disagree that my statement is a simplification and I tried to explain why.

              Your welcome to say I am wrong or claim that the current situation is influencing my thinking (don't forget, in my OP I did mention that I lived in russia for 10 years, this was before the invasion of Georgia) but you can't say this is just a quick simplification; "a stereotype driven by a stressful situation" or something like that.

          • I've been recently banned for putting links that lead to russian sites, so I'll reference the sources by name in italic.

            On the quantitative side this is confirmed by various polling initiatives that use different methodologies (including in-direct polling with attempts to estimate preference falsification).

            AFAIK it is neither confirmed nor refuted. I don't know how one would interpret results where 91-93% just refuse to talk to a sociologist and 4-5% more abort the interview when asked about something related to the war. That's the results by Russian Field, one of a few agencies that publish these numbers. They do interpretation of these results, but they differ from month to month: you can numbers from Feb 2024 to prove your point, I can put numbers from May 2024 to prove mine.

            On the qualitative side, you can look at genocides committed in the last ~100 years by the russians (and there are several, includes less well known ones) and review the attitudes towards these crimes among various socio-political groups

            That's a bold point implying that history defines the attitudes for a whole nation for decades. There were a lot of atrocities made in the name of Russia in the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine, towards Circassians, Germans, Tatar and Georgians (probably forgot something). But for some reasons, russians want to exterminate only Ukrainian identity, conquer Baltics and befriend Georgia and Germany. That's a political/propaganda surface, not a historical one.

            Talking about qualitative research, there's a publicsociologylab group that conducts interesting narrative research. Their last project is concerned with the view on the war from a non-central city. They conclude that people do ignore the atrocities and view them as something that is alien to them. The only question they ask is whether it is worth it to go to war for $10k + $3k/mo.

            I hope that I was able to draw a picture where Russia is not a country of pests that should be exterminated. It's a complex evil system that could be built anywhere in the world, even in Ukraine or the US.

            • I of course didn't mean to imply that a strong majority of russians are interested in the destruction of only Ukrainians. The russians hate the Baltic nations with a passion (particularly "liberal opposition-mind" emigre russians) and others nations too of course. There is enough hate to go around.

              Regarding, the quantitative side, I have read several Russian Field reports, for the latest one that I can access (May 23 to June 2) the results speak for themselves. Regarding non-response, there are methodologies such as list-based polling that can at least partially address this issue. The results once again align with what I mentioned earlier, albeit with a relatively small estimate for preference falsification (~10%) that moves the spectrum from an overwhelming majority (70-80%) to a strong majority (60-70%). To be honest I've given up using quantitative results as an argument, I find that any and all polling (no matter what methodology, topical focus) will always be dismissed unless it portrays russians in an innocent light.

              History does not define a group of people. But there is also the matter of the timescales. 100 years? Sure, but almost everyone alive today is likely going to be dead by then. 30 years? 50 years? I have a life to live. Historical essentialism is the domain of professors living in NATO countries who do not have to deal with russians outside of sociological research, conferences and the academic equivalent of shitposting online.

              A complex evil can indeed happen anywhere; there is nothing unique about russia in that sense. It can and has happened in Ukraine too (and not only in the 20th century). However, there are also practical consideration; reality if I may call it so. Uruguay is not going to land its marines in southern India and force locals to eat their steaks and send them to a torture basement if they refuse. Botswana is not going to send its navy to blockade Malaysia in order to strangle their economy.

              And with respect to russia, the reality is that the non-central city that you reference will always (in our "collective" lifetimes, not necessarily for the next trillion years) choose the path of evil. Some might do it because they need money, other might do it due to conformism, another group might be very excited about seeing their country expand and exterminate the local language and culture. Some might simply not really care, they have their own things to worry about, right? But the practical, on-the-ground outcome will be that this town (just like all russian towns/cities/villages) will always be a source of evil for the countries that have the misfortune having russians as their neighbours.

              And if you think I am being emotional or whatever (I've held these views since 2014, many Ukrainians were uncomfortable with my argumentation; all before Feb 24th of course), I will ask you to answer the following question:

              Since my argumentation is allegedly based on historical essentialism, a misinterpretation of quantitative data, a biased view of qualitative data, a lack of empathy for russians (perhaps even understandable in your view), how and when will russia change from its current state?

              With respect to the "when?" question, I will literally take anything other than "sometime in the future", next 10 years? next 50 years? next million years?

              The "how?" is the more impactful question. If a strong majority of russians are not genocidal imperialists, then it would make logical sense that russia would stop with its genocidal invasions, no? So how will we get to that point?

              • Let me first address the accusations of me accusing you being emotional and whatever. We're having a respectful conversation I hadn't hoped to have it in the first place. I don't like your views, I may only sympathize with you. Thanks for that.

                The hate you are talking about is not inherently inside Russia's population. This hate is channeled by propaganda. As with Georgians and Turks: there were periods where everyone hated them, now they are friends. Fingers crossed the same will happen with ukranians soon, but I lost any hope that it will be reciprocal. Still, it is and will remain for decades a problem for the world.

                how and when will russia change from its current state?

                The current state is perpetual but silent war that exists, but somewhere far from themselves. The government finds this state to be the most favorable to them, but it draws a line between the government and the economic elites. I'd give it five to twenty years to resolve. No more than Putin's lifespan, but also it should be resolved by the upcoming Third World War.

                But the question itself contains a subtle implication. You think that Russia is a threat to the world or neighbors because how easy it starts the war with its neighbors and how violent its rhetoric. While I agree, I would also add to this the efficiency of Russian government, if by efficiency we define the government's capability to save and multiply the resources of the very rich. My biggest fear is that other countries will implement the similar approaches.

      • The vast majority of russians support imperialism and a majority hold genocidal views (they would never openly agree to this, but on an outcome basis they do support eradication of Ukrainian culture and not only).

        Don't pretend there's any difference to yourself in this though. Just different allowed targets.

        Even to this day, every russian with a smartphone has access to uncensored youtube available within 10 secs on their phone.

        You have access to whole ass uncensored Web yet I'm certain you don't know shit about siege and ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, while the 3 mediators there were (and formally still are) USA, France and Russia.

        And the USA representative publicly said they won't allow ethnic cleansing days before it happened. And, say, in case of Ukraine they well knew months before and were very loud with warnings. And after said ethnic cleansing they immediately started talking the way it became clear that they supported it. And no sanctions have been put on Azerbaijan (which is also a big proxy for Russian strategic exports and imports, but that's unimportant, of course).

        So being Armenian I say shut up.

        Also no, vast majority of Russians don't support anything such, they are just in apathy because kinda big protests were not successful in changing the government.

        I'll add that when those protests were happening, "the West" mostly supported Putin by recognizing his stolen elections, just like they did during Chechen wars and, of course, with opposition to Yeltsin's fascist tendencies. Cause there were lots of money to be made in Russia for politicians making those decisions.

        Any such moralizing westerner should go to the frontline and replace some Ukrainian life in the total number of the dead.

77 comments