War is always devastating.
I doubt the Ukraine/Russia situation is politics only. When so, Ukraine fighters would not give such high resistance.
In my book: Freedom is the most important. Sometimes one has to fight for it. If Ukraine would stop fighting, Russia will take over the entire country. We all know what freedom means in Russia. By law, one can (and likely will) go to prison for decades when voicing something that is not backed by Russian state-controlled news agencies. I donno what you are accustomed to in your country, but freedom of speech is something that is highly important for a prosperous society. Interestingly, I've seen a few different interviews with peeps in the Krim. Those living there and voted for Russia back in 2014, now saying: I wish I never done that. Since it's just a few handfuls of peeps in these docu's, I can't tell if this is a general sentiment, or careful moderated hence I don't make conclusions. However, knowing the work by these peeps creating these docu's, I give the content a high-quality mark.
They should force negotiations and send humanitarian aid instead of weapons
This is not happening in your view? In my view, this is happening big time. It's for a reason why so many politicians are having almost daily calls with the leaders of both countries.
Tg channels
Euhm, do you have access to these? Are those that don't have access to these Telegram channels in Ukraine or also in your country? Interestingly, the founders/owners of Telegram had to leave Russia since otherwise, they would've ended up in jail. They didn't want to play ball with the state/KGB, sharing all information with them. It's for a reason why the servers of Telegram are not in Russia, but in Europe. Anyways, just an interesting observation.
The EU and EU member states started to ban unwanted Internet sites on a DNS level some years ago. At the start of the Ukraine war the EU imposed bans of Russian media not only on the DNS level, but also extended the bans on social media, messengers, search engines, cable tv providers etc.
The EU is also preparing legislation to break into encrypted messaging and was secretly working on a ban of Bitcoin.
New EU legislation targets unwanted content on social media (Digital Services Act) and if implemented would require Internet service providers to immediately and proactively filter and delete "illegal content, hate speech and disinformation", while allowing hate speech against Russians at the same time.
All these pushes to regulate and censor content on the Internet are highly problematic, inherently susceptible to power abuse and can be perceived as an attempt to take away freedom of speech and intimidate normal citizens.
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-03-09/card/eu-orders-removal-of-russian-state-owned-media-from-search-results-social-media-reshares-Nxb4WXbCaQnCUMmL9Mvk
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-facebook-instagram-temporarily-allow-calls-violence-against-russians-2022-03-10/
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/23/europe-looks-to-crack-open-data-encryption-on-messaging-services.html
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/eu-nearing-agreement-on-new-rules-forcing-big-tech-to-curb-illegal-content-hate-speech-and-disinformation/ar-AAWusCl?ocid=uxbndlbing
https://news.coinxhigh.com/2022/04/22/eu-officials-considered-bitcoin-trading-ban-to-enforce-proposed-mining-ban/
Thanks for these links. I'm aware of most of them.
Freedom is something that I value a whole lot! Freedom of Speech as well. Though I also value Respect a whole lot. These days, quite a few individuals seem to not value Respect at all, resulting in whatever we see around us. But not only that, the internet fuels the rise of sub-groups that endanger societies and democracy. Because of that, governments want to control. But not only for this reason, also they have the idea that many individuals in societies need to be protected to not fall victim: eg financial scams; misinformation or blunt out verifiable lies. The latter seems to have become the norm since mister Trump showed the world how often one can wave things away as a lie whilst showing proof of the opposite. And what do we see? Too many people keep on believing and following such individuals.
These are problems in our societies today. Somehow these need to be addressed. Personally, I don't believe in censorship providing the solution. Though I understand why a certain form of censorship is now being implemented. I don't condone it though, but I understand. Having said that, in my country, all views and opinions have a platform, even on national TV and radio, regardless of the censorship that happens on the internet. Even on the internet, in my country hardly anything is not accessible.
Agree, war is always devastating.
When I say politics, I mean game for politicians bcs they will go out unharmed physically, though, their egos will be somewhat broken. Ofc that it is also economy, actually, economy is at the first place...
Don.t think that R wants to take whole UA, just Donbas so it can have corridor to Crimea. Also, it would be tampon zone towards NATO countries.
Yes, we all know what is happening with freedom in R, but it was like that since...forever. But what is happening with freedom in Europe? Canceling entire country,its civilians, its artists, its history important persons, even its cats?!? Think you can agree that freedom of speech means that every side has a right to be heard and seen; Is there something in Europe that says different that western narrative? Are there Russian TV stations that are on cable so one can here both sides and decide what to believe? Is there freedom for R civilians to be able to buy things and walk free in western countries? Denying someone its own financial resources just because is "wrong" nationality is faaar form freedom.
Regarding the Crimea, just like UA, there are people who don.t want and who want to join with R. Only referendum can give answer to that Q.
Regarding negotiations, in psychology we have term double-bind communication. It means that with your words you give one msg and at the same time on nonverbal level you are giving opposite msg. So, which one you believe more? Words or behavior? Should I believe that US and EU really want negotiations while sending enormous amount of weapons? At some point, think yes, but after fulfilling their own agenda first. Let.s not be naive, US is gaining a lot of money from this war, unlike EU, which is actually in attempt of suicide.
Don.t remember details, was long time ago, but @vikisecrets for example can tell about censorship bcs in Serbia, so far, I can reach any IP.
We differ from 'opinion' regarding what the leader of R wants. In fact, the reality shows this guy wants more than Donbas. His generals say so themselves. His missiles show as well.
Cancelling R? Freedom? I think you put things in the wrong perspective. The western world didn't cancel R just because it wants to. As a matter of fact, the western world did a lot of business with R for a long long time. Allowed, many peeps from R to come and live in Europe (the rich and the poor). Enjoyed the R culture and whatnot. However, in times of 'war' things happens, including cutting off R for business. I predict, when peace is made in one or the other way, the western world will pick up with R more or less from where it left it before mister P decided to start a war (trying to cancel Ukraine, to use your own words). Basically what I'm saying is, please don't confuse wartime with normal times.