No. We shouldn’t ban Russian Art. Here are some items we shouldn’t sanction – (2)

Part 1 of this article is here

2.  Technology Products Used By Normal Civilians

Technology has played a part in the Russia-Ukraine war. Many tech companies including Apple and Google has suspended their business in Russia^[1]https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/01/tech/apple-russia/index.html  ^[2]https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-pauses-all-ad-sales-russia-2022-03-04/ .  Such action should definitely be applauded. However, in my view, some tech products have become a must in human life. Banning them will be like banning water and foods (though there is a distinct difference: Without water, you will die; without a cellphone, you won’t die, I will explain why some items shouldn’t ban even though there is such distinct difference later). In addition, there are also some misuses of technology during this war. I want to offer my point regarding what parts have gone wrong.

Digital war: A Misuse Of Cyberattack

In March, many news reported that Ukraine is conducting a cyberattack on Russia. An engineer, Nikita, said he and his hacking team are publishing Russian credit card details online. “I published like 110,000 credit cards in the Telegram channels,” he said, adding that he wants to inflict economic harm on Russia….However, he stressed that he doesn’t hate all Russians and he’s grateful to the Russians who are helping Ukraine^[3]https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/23/ukrainian-coders-splitting-their-time-between-day-job-and-cyberwar.html. While most of the people focus on the fact that digital war is necessary to confront Russia at the moment, I want to point out that you can conduct a cyberattack toward Russia government given that you are having a war, but you conduct a cyberattack toward average Russia civilians. As you said, you don’t hate all Russians and you know that there are some Russians who helped Ukraine, then why do you attack these innocent Russians? With regard to the 110,000 people who you published their credit card information, are they Russian oligarchs who in the sanction list? You don’t know, do you? Let me give you a simple lesson about the possible consequence of publishing average Russians’ credit card information. Malicious organizations or individuals can exploit these credit card information. Do you want your credit card information to be exposed to a stranger? No. Then why do you publish innocent Russians’ credit card information? Conducting a digital war against Russia is not an excuse for such actions. First, you don’t even know whether these Russians who randomly became your victims support Putin or not. Second, even if they do, you still shouldn’t make them the victims under your attack, because they never give orders on anything in the war – they are not criminals. Third, even if they do give orders, the thing you can do is forbid them to make money by actions such as economic sanctions, not exposing their credit card information (Do you see the U.S, Ukraine, and many national governments which have power expose a criminal’s credit card information to the public? No). Only a government and individuals who have ties with the government should be the target in a war between countries. This is a crime, and governments should forbid such actions.

Computers and Smartphones With Averaged Price

Since the onset of Russia’s invasion, Apple and many tech product companies has stopped their business in Russia. In a Twitter post, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov requested the chairman of ASUS, Shih, to withdraw ASUS from Russia^[4]https://twitter.com/fedorovmykhailo/status/1501840895221583879 . A few days after, issuing a statement, ASUS declared that it suspend its business in Russia as ASUS routinely abides by international law and there are challenges across the supply chain, logistics, and banking^[5]https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4472823 . It’s no doubt that many companies have to stop their business in Russia to prevent funding the war. However, given that laptops and smartphones have become essential items in people’s lives, for example, you can’t make money by doing your job with a laptop or applying for a job with a smartphone, or you can’t graduate without completing an assignment with a laptop, I think it’s a must to keep computer and smartphones with average price be available in Russia for basic human need.

I must emphasize that I don’t object to the withdrawal of many tech companies, including Apple. What I object to is the withdrawal of the essential tech products with average price, which doesn’t include Apple as Apple is a high-price brand. First, these products are essential to people’s lives, and buying such items at an average price is not a luxurious behavior but simply a must-do for the functioning of one person’s life. Second, while there are some Russian smartphone brands and computer brands in Russia, it is difficult for these Russian brands to get components such as chips to continue manufacturing since many chip companies including Intel have stopped their exports to Russia, and they can’t build chips on their own, either (Both ARM, the leading architecture of designing chips, and TSMC, the major chip manufacturer, have stopped doing business with Russia). Hence, it meets my second and third principles; in my opinion, continuing to provide these essential products will be a better decision. There is an example that worthies noting: IKEA. IKEA has stopped all business but maintained the operation of the shopping center Mega to ensure that Russians have access to their daily needs and essentials such as food, groceries, and pharmacies^[6]https://about.ikea.com/en/newsroom/2022/03/03/ikea-pauses-operations-in-russia-and-belarus . Though not having a computer won’t make you dead, computers and smartphones with average prices are essential items to people’s life as the examples I listed, too. Therefore, we shouldn’t ban such items. 

There is no doubt that “if Russia wants a laptop, Russia can build one on its own”, and the tactic of stopping to provide such products to help with the operation of the Russian government is nothing wrong, either. It’s equally true that since we ban many computer components and Russia don’t have a fab to manufacture its own chips^[7]https://www.pcgamer.com/global-tech-industry-begins-halting-sales-to-russia/ , it will be difficult for Russia to make computers on their own. However, Russian government officials can continue using the current laptops in their hands; if there is something broken, there are so many technical staffs can help to fix it. If there is no cure to the laptops of key government officials, they can take the laptops of other unimportant personnel away. Since ordinary individuals can’t just force someone to hand out his/her computer, banning such essential items will hurt ordinary Russians mostly but hurt the Russian government slightly. It’s good that we take government officials’ tech products away, but we shouldn’t hurt ordinary Russians, especially if we take away ordinary Russians’ smartphones, what they have is the propaganda news broadcasted on TV in their homes.

3. Academic Publications, Online Education Platform, and Essential Softwares For Academic Use

Academic Publications And University Admissions

In a news report, a young Russian said, “What are we going to do with these publications, university admissions, and conferences that we’ve been rejected from because we are Russians?…….. Those who want to publish and are affiliated with Russia have been asked to withhold applications, though they have not yet been officially withdrawn. ^[8]https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/3/18/what-do-russians-think-about-the-war-we-asked-five-young-people” Such rejections are actually discrimination toward Russians while having little impact on Russia government. As I explained in Part 1, ordinary Russians don’t have voices in their government’s decisions. 

Online Education Platform and Essential Software For Academic Use

A market-leading online education platform that has many valuable courses from world-renown universities – Coursera – has been unavailable in Russia since the invasion started. This will hinder the development of Russian students because they can not access these valuable courses. In addition, some essential software such as Matlabs are also essential items for students’ studies and should not be unavailable due to political matters. Again, ordinary Russians have no voice in their government’s decisions.

There is one challenge if these platforms decide to provide access to Russians: The unavailability of the SWIFT system, though the decisions from these platforms are not made based on the unavailability of the SWIFT system but based on the good intention of avoiding making profits in Russia while not considering the learning need of average Russians^[9]https://blog.coursera.org/coursera-response-to-the-humanitarian-crisis-in-ukraine/ . If the platforms decide to reopen the access to Russians and face such a challenge, I suggest that governments should work with such platforms to temporarily enable an alternative payment method that governments can accept on these platforms given crypto is prohibited by the E.U, too^[10]https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/eu-targets-crypto-wallets-latest-round-russia-sanctions-2022-04-08/ . I do think crypto is a good alternative since it doesn’t represent Russia or any country. However, if governments have concerns on Russian oligarchs may use the crypto wallet to move their money out, governments should seek a way to make online payments in these education platforms available. In addition, I understand there are some concerns in using crypto which is not related to the war for some companies at the current time, with regard to such concerns, I have to emphasize that that’s why I only suggest enabling it temporarily in Russia.

Note: The items I listed are the only items I agree which that should not ban based on the principles. Many items pointed out in the news I cite but I didn’t list should be still kept on the sanction list.

Items Which We Should Stil Ban, despite there have been some disputes

After discussing what are some categories which we shouldn’t ban, let’s talk about what are the actions/items we should still ban, despite there having been some disputes. 

Sell Luxury Products To Russians In Countries Other Than Russia

Some Russian influencers have complained that they were rejected to purchase Chanel and many luxury brand products even in countries other than Russia^[11]https://www.insider.com/russia-influencers-cut-up-chanel-bags-protest-sales-ban-sanction-2022-4?. An influencer Litvin said she had to sign a document at a Chanel outlet declaring that she didn’t live in Russia and wouldn’t wear the bag on Russian soil ^[12]https://www.insider.com/russian-influencers-irate-barred-from-buying-chanel-goods-2022-4 . Following the prohibition, another influencer Marina Ermoshkina protested with a statement, “Chanel is just an accessory. An accessory that at some point decided to humiliate people, my compatriots, decided to discriminate against people on the basis of nationality, which I will not tolerate.”  While many people have dissatisfied with the protests of Russian influencers for the reason that “Russians should oppose their government” and “Ukrainians are dying”, some of them even ignore the fact that what these influencers protest is that Russians have been rejected in countries “other than Russia”, I do need to point out, these Russian influencers are indeed right to some extent. Just as Maria said, “discriminate against people on the basis of nationality”, this looks like discrimination.

Though I said this “looks like” discrimination, this is not discrimination, and it’s not because of the above reasons that many people stated. I want to skip the explanation part of why it’s not because of the above reasons but many people have a tendency being not able to use the same answer to treat same arguments only under different events or in ignoring what I said earlier or are very forgetful even they just read it a few minutes ago, so I will repeat the explainations^^. As I said, Russians don’t have a voice in their government’s decisions, and that’s also the reason that Ukrainians are dying shouldn’t be the reason for discriminating against average Russians. So what is the reason that such actions should still be forbidden and shouldn’t be viewed as discrimination?

In the news I cite, a representative for Chanel said the brand complied with “all laws”, including trade sanctions, and indicated that this is why they have a process to confirm the residency in order to make sure the sold items will not be used in Russia^[13]https://www.insider.com/russia-influencers-cut-up-chanel-bags-protest-sales-ban-sanction-2022-4?. Abiding by laws – this looks like a decent answer, and Chanel is right because the U.S and the E.U both has imposed sanction on the export of luxury goods (though many people didn’t consider that fact that there is a law); nevertheless, laws should be changed, if laws support discrimination. So this reason is not good enough, and why Chanel can’t provide a good-enough reason is that Chanel simply follows the law but doesn’t know what is the reason that such law is created, just like many of you. This brings us to the important part: What is the reason that luxury goods are banned. Let’s look at one of the EU’s laws: Under EU’s regulations, it is prohibited to sell, supply, transfer, or export, directly or indirectly, luxury goods to any natural or legal person, entity, or body in Russia or for sale in Russia^[14]https://www.morganlewis.com/pubs/2022/04/update-extensive-sanctions-on-russia-focus-on-luxury-goods.  Notice the word: “indirectly”, this word means you can’t intentionally sell an item to an individual or organization when you know the purchaser will resell to an individual/organization in Russia. This prohibition is as same as the prohibition of artworks which I discussed earlier; given the high price and valuable nature of the luxury goods, the purchase of luxury goods may also be a way for Russian oligarchs to keep their money safe, just as what they did with artworks (though the outcome of such purchases will be very small if we compare the average price of luxury goods to the total wealth of one Russian oligarch). The consideration of preventing Russian oligarchs to utilize luxury goods as security boxes is why selling luxury goods “indirectly” has been prohibited (If it’s not because of this reason, this reason should be taken into account for future sanctions regarding luxury goods. But considering the sanction items by the U.S and E.U focused on high-priced products^[15]https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/03/15/eu-expands-sanctions-against-russia-to-ban-luxury-goods-and-energy-investments , I guess that must be the U.S and the E.U’s reasons). Accordingly, such prohibitions are not discrimination. By the way, I hope luxury brands and Russian influencers can understand such reasons, especially brands should learn to understand why by asking your government and be able to explain it to Russians instead of saying “We abide by the law” because the laws are discriminating them – that’s how they should felt but didn’t figure out because they just felt the action of forbidding them to purchase an item is discrimination but did not find the main problem should be the laws; most of the people don’t have the ability to find the main problem, including you.

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Chrissy Slora

The articles published in this website are all written by Chrissy Slora. Chrissy Slora aims to make people learn about how the world can be better and provide her intelligent and wise insight by writing about various topics from technology to issues happening in the world. Follow her on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin