“Since he invaded Ukraine, Putin has been canceled, and the effect on global politics has been extraordinary. Private companies have proved willing to make decisions that affect their profit margins, and the sanctions against Russia have united Western leaders. By creating a “them,” the past two weeks have strengthened “us.” “
The idea that western companies are pulling out of Russia as a form of virtue signalling is ridiculous. The fact is they are pulling out because they must due to sanctions and Russian counter reactions.
Mcdonalds for example pulled out. Russia has suggested that it may break "trademarks" to continue to operate McDonalds independently and keep (innocent) people employed.
The delusion of many westerners is the idea that Putin is at odds with Russia as a whole and that Putin or Russia can be "canceled."
Russia is not Libya or Iraq. It is practically a third or a quarter of Eurasia with a continent's worth of natural resources.
If Russia wants to practice autarky (economic self-reliance) it can do that far better than most countries on Earth.
Second the idea that "Putin" is at odds with Russia. According to polls Putin has somewhere around 70% approval.
Most of those opposed Putin are even more against western neoliberalism than Putin.
They are pulling out because Russian economy is going to crash and people will no longer be able to buy the products from these companies anyway. It is just not profitable for them anymore and if you can get some points for showing how socially responsible you are, is just extra.
There are not leaving because the Russian economy is going to be seriously hit. Many of them would still be viable and profitable in a serious economic crisis.
There are leaving because the sanctions make it either impossible or not worthwhile to continue operating, and because they are facing huge pressure at home and are fearing that the cost of being 'cancelled' at home would be worse than the cost of closing shop in Russian.
It seems this is a very American (western?) propaganda driven narrative. I wouldn’t be surprised if these sanctions in the medium term ruin the United States. China is the winner and Russia & India will also benefit. I hope not, but it seems possible.
No, this seems wishful thinking. Russia's GDP is only 4% of EU's GDP. The sanctions will be felt all around the world but not as severely as in Russia.
Does Putin STILL have 70% approval? If so, I wonder if many Russians are fearful that perhaps the "anonymous" opinion polls aren't really so anonymous.
On top of that, the west and the mainstream media are obsessed with finding the next villain of the month to report about (Putin), since the hundreds of millions of readers are now no longer scared of Covid (The previous villain).
So once again fear and outrage sells and generates more clicks to their articles, and the mainstream news media goes ahead and pushes more of its propaganda onto a war that should not have happened in the first place.
Maybe we should expect China to do the same to Taiwan.
Up until a few weeks ago he was always respected as much as possible in spite of his shortcomings.
He was right up there with any of the previous Russian or Soviet leaders who shrewdly managed to avoid anything like a mobilization of armies to invade a neighboring country the least bit reminiscent of WWII.
Now even if Ukraine is completely conquered and regardless of what becomes of Zelinskyy, there will always be some leader of Ukraininan descent who is more respectable than Putin.
I hate the cancel culture of the woke left. If there is a silver lining to it, it is that it is being used against Putin and his goons. I truly do not think, apart from the hair-trigger cancellation machine of the left, that we would have been able to respond so quickly to Putin. But that still doesn't justify (to me) the existence of cancel culture in the West.
Where was all of this cancellation when it could have done some good - like before Putin invaded?
This is at best virtue signalling, by companies that kowtow to the communist government of China that is conducting ethnic cleansing in Tibet and East Turkistan.
I hate how the media is trying to twist and contort the definition of cancel culture. A guy like Putin can't really be cancelled. He's so rich and powerful that him and all his descendants will never need to work again, and never have to worry about any basic needs ever again. Cancel culture is the sword pointed at the common folk, who will go hungry if they wrongthink. Not surprised to see the news media FUDing this, as the crackdown on speech amounts to a huge power grab for the managerial class.
Thought it was clear that I was using "go hungry" as a euphemism. Plenty of regular average joes have lost their jobs due to saying something that isn't politically correct.
