Following Russia's military operations in Ukraine, countries such
as the UK, the US, Canada, and the EU imposed sanctions on Russia.
Key Russian banks were blocked from the interbank transaction system,
SWIFT. Both Putin and Russian
oligarchs allegedly part of Putin's inner circle were
sanctioned by the US, UK, and EU. Even historically neutral Switzerland froze assets belonging to Putin and
top Russian officials.
Russian flights have been banned from EU and US airspace.
Big Tech is restricting
the reach of Russian state-owned news outlets. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter,
TikTok, and Telegram have blocked or limited access and demonetized their
accounts of such Russia Today or Sputnik. Twitter has started "fact-checking" and
reducing its reach of Russia Today.
Reddit
has "quarantined" its Russian content.
Namecheap, a domain registrar, has blocked Russian customers. Online
payment systems
Google Pay, Pay Pal, and
Apple Pay have blocked their services affecting causing grave
inconvenience. Netflix won't air
Russian channels on its platform in Russia. Microsoft and Apple have halted
sales of their services and products in Russia.
Sports federations have banned Russia’s teams and athletes.
FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, suspended all
Russian teams. The International Chess Federation will not hold its annual congress or its
Chess Olympiad in Moscow. The International Automobile Federation, which manages
Formula One, canceled its
Russian Grand Prix. The National Hockey League won’t host future events in
Russia and is pausing relationships with Russian business partners. The
International Paralympic Committee won’t hold events
in Russia. Even differently-abled Russian
athletes were (unfairly) banned from the 2022 Winter Paralympics.
Putin was suspended as honorary president and ambassador
of the International Judo Federation. The
federation canceled its events in Russia.
The organizers of the Cannes Film Festival said official Russian
delegations and those linked to the Russian government “will not be
welcomed”. Hollywood studios have paused their film releases in Russia. Russian
opera singer Anna Netrebko was
banned from the New York Metropolitan Opera.
The Mercedes-Benz Group, The Volkswagen Group,
Toyota have suspended car sales and have halted production in Russia.
Home-furnishing giant Ikea is halting production in
Russia. Hosting platform Airbnb has
halted all its activities in Russia. Nike will
no longer sell their products in Russia. The clothes retailer such as Inditex and
Mango have shut down their stores in Russia.
Samsung, Russia's top smartphones supplier, has suspended
shipments to Russia.
Shopping centers around the world and even in
the US have banned sales of Russian-made items such
as Vodka.
The bans aren't restricted to humans, Russian
Cats have been banned from international competition by the "United Nations of Cat
Federations."
Major brands and news organizations have added the hues of the Ukrainian flag to their
logos. Landmark
monuments around the world lit up in the colors of the Ukrainian Flag to display support.
In the coming weeks, expect others to join the mob or be compelled
to join the boycott movement.
So will these sanctions, bans, and boycotts work?
Putin has described sanctions imposed by Western nations as "akin to a declaration of war".
The impact in the long term will be high inflation, higher
interest rates, lower investment, lower growth, unemployment, shortage of
essential items, inconvenience, hardships, and lower living standards
of regular people in Russia.
But the sanctions will have no immediate impact on the action in Ukraine, which are its stated goals.
Russia has been subject to embargoes since 2014, following the
annexation of Crimea. They will find ways to circumvent restrictions, although
private enterprises jumping with restrictions makes dodging much more difficult.
Russia’s allies such as China are likely to increase their purchases
from Russia and perhaps facilitate a channel to supply the goods that are banned.
Sanctions also could have the opposite effect. When a group of
powerful foreign powers gangs up to strangle a nation, it could arouse a nationalist
fervor.
The information vacuum caused by Putin’s media bans and social
media restrictions will enable the pushing of a narrative of the supreme leader
standing steadfast against the hegemony of the west.
The proponents of these coordinated passive-aggressive measures think
they are doing this for moral reasons. In fact, many self-righteous proponents
think that these restrictions haven’t gone far enough.
There are glaring inconsistencies that experts have noticed.
There were no restrictions against China for Covid-19 or their
ill-treatment of the Uyghurs or for muzzling their media? In fact, government
and private enterprises have been tightlipped about China’s record and are petrified
to even utter the words ‘Taiwan’ and “Uyghurs” for fear of upsetting their masters.
There were no restrictions on BLM following BLM-led riots, arson, and looting in the US and beyond?
The boycott mob, particularly big tech, sided with the
powerful in Canada to strike down a democratic Trucker protest against vaccine mandates.
Apart from the contradiction, the question remains can such
measures be applied to countries, organization,s and people for merely going
against the groupthink?
We are living in the age of the mob. This mob gets bolder every
day.
It began with the Big Tech mob.
Their products were introduced for amusement, soon they became addictions
and finally, they had a monopoly which enabled them to become arbiters of
content.
In 2018, YouTube,
Facebook, and Apple imposed a permanent ban on Alex Jones. Jones isn’t
to everybody's taste. Many, including conservatives, regard him as a bombastic
pretender. Hence, even the Trump administration ignored the ban because it was ‘loony
old Alex Jones’
But Jones was merely the beginning, in the following years, the
restrictions grew more stringent. They limited, demonetiz,ed and labeled as
‘misleading’ the content that didn’t adhere to
their groupthink. Finally, they deplatformed a sitting
President. The even used their power to rig the 2020 Presidential elections. Covid-19 saw the most stringent restrictions applied by Big Tech.
The scope of the bans on Russia is much wider than just big tech.
The mob has clearly grown in strength.
Leaders such as Boris Johnson, who was facing backlash
for having parties during the Covid-19 lockdown in the UK, and Justin Trudeau, who
was savaged for applying anti-democratic measures to crush the Freedom Convoy are
desperately looking for a change of narrative.
This applies to Biden who is also struggling on all fronts and leaders
in the EU who were facing protests for Covid-19 restrictions and mandates.
The action in Ukraine has provided them with an opportunity to be
on the right side of a popular issue, hence they cheer the anti-Russian mob and
indulge in empty symbolic support. The issue has been actively promoted by corporate media houses who are actively cheering for Ukraine.
If history has taught us anything, it is that power once grabbed
is never relinquished.
The new mob that comprises of global organizations such as NATO,
national governments, big tech and big corporations have just developed and successfully
tested a weapon of mass isolation.
It is hence, not a question of if, but when this weapon will be
used again for flimsier reasons.
What began with Alex Jones ended at the doorstep of President
Donald Trump
Where will all this end up?
This also appears on American Thinker
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