Americans have short memories, and don't recall President Obama saying that, while Ukraine is a critical security matter for Russians, it is not so for America, and that we shouldn't allow concern over Ukraine to overshadow our greater national interest. It's a pity that neither his administration nor the two following ones have consistently followed that principle. Our meddling in Ukraine is a large part, though by no means the whole, of the cause of this action.
We confront this now or relearn the lesson from almost exactly a century ago about the compounding cost, in blood and money, of appeasing a despot ruling a country with falling living standards.
> would we have been wiser to have acceded to Russian requests that we abandon the idea of NATO membership and participation for Ukraine several years ago
This happened. NATO membership for Ukraine was all but abandoned after the financial crisis. Years before Putin rolled tanks into Crimea. Had we actually accepted Ukraine in 2008, the last time consultations were seriously held, we'd likely have avoided this mess.
One has to ask, why are some NATO members intent on continued eastward expansion.
If Russia rolling tanks into Ukraine doesn’t show why expanding mutual protection makes sense, I don’t know what would. As a direct result of these moves Putin has all but guaranteed NATO forces in Sweden, possibly even Finland.
In 2016, Ukraine was granted a NATO Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP), comprising the advisory mission at the NATO Representation to Ukraine as well as 16 capacity-building programmes and Trust Funds.
In 2018, Ukraine was officially given an aspiring member status.
In 2021 NATO reaffirmed that “Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance with the Membership Action Plan (MAP)", which is the most traction on the topic since 2008.
In parallel to all this, joint military exercises and arms shipments have been ramped up.
I found this old article from the Ukrainian perspective to be informative:
https://euromaidanpress.com/2021/06/15/the-2021-brussels-nat...
>But the more the merrier - you have another ally you can at least half-count on the safer you are.
This seems to be the critical question. I think that current NATO members are safer without expanding east. I certainly feel that way today! In the future, I don't think conflict is less likely if Ukraine joins NATO and there are more us missiles and troops stationed on the Russian border.
Because the Ukraine does not fulfill the criteria for membership. The article you linked says "In spring 2021, Ukraine pointed out little progress in NATO’s “open-door” policy" and "U.S. Department of State spokesman, noted that the “open door” policy is applicable for states meeting the standard for membership and emphasized that Ukraine should do its homework"
> I think that current NATO members are safer without expanding east.
Well, this may be true but the problem is that this requires a lot of trust. You have to trust that if you do nothing, the other party also does nothing. I understand that Russians are scared and that they are acting out of fear but we (Poles) are acting out of fear too. In the past ~230 years for only ~50 we were not occupied by Russia.
I hope that one day we can talk honestly with Russians and address each others fears, but well, right now we are where we are :(
Stoking protests against the Russian government using the very same tools you mentioned above sounds like a more promising route. Maybe there are still factions inside Russia's political apparatus that are powerful enough to decapitate this government. Not that they will hear "the will of the people", but they may sense an opportunity to take Putin down and enrich themselves, while cutting down on the USSR imperialism nostalgia.
> Remote wipe and brick all iOS, Android and Windows devices in Russia, then cut off their internet and see how they can "live with it". I've seen arguments like "But... but... how can other countries trust FAANG after that?".
If they can do that, the intelligence value of keeping those devices active surely outweighs any advantage of disabling them.
But I don't think that's "speaking Putin's language." To do that would require some kind of military action (e.g. shooting down Russian aircraft over Ukraine at the very least, and maybe airstrikes against Russian invasion forces there). Basically showing some backbone and willingness to risk escalation.
These kinds of more-severe sanctions, while stronger than last time, still show fundamental weakness. In the end, I doubt they'll accomplish anything besides pushing Russia deeper into China's arms.
We have a way to go though - Google generously offered $2M in Adwords credit as a response to Ukraine war. Let's encourage them to do more! (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30476940)
There's a point to be made "if the Russian people feel this, they might revolt against Putin since this is his fault.", although that could easily backfire in the opposite direction "if the Russian people feel this, then that means Putin was right, the west IS out to get us".
Bricking devices remotely sounds terrible for this reason already, let alone the damages regular civilians will feel.
I'm no expert, but this is probably not a sufficient understanding. As I understand it, Putin's successful invasion of Ukraine to annex Crimea in 2014 was deeply popular and helped boost his popularity at a time when that was needed. It may be useful to look at this invasion of Ukraine through the same political lens, which you can't do if you see most of the populace as being unsupportive of it.
That's the depth of my understanding of the situation, though. So definitely don't take my word for it. It is fair to imagine that the attractiveness of annexation to the population is less now than it was in 2014.
It is certainly true that there's significant lack of support, though you said "most" which is much stronger.
Do you think the Chinese government would permit iPhones to then be sold in China?
Worse yet, do you think the Chinese government would continue to allow iPhones to be manufactured in China (where the vast majority of all iPhones sold worldwide are made)?
Apple ceases to exist without China.
What you are advocating is corporate suicide, and that doesn't benefit Ukraine, the US, or Apple.
EDIT:
Also, you are advocating for bricking the mobile phones of approximately 100% of all medical doctors and firefighters and EMS in a country of a hundred and fifty million people.
That would kill more people in 24 hours than have died in the entire Ukraine invasion so far.
Also if people don't already know that remotely updateable device can be bricked by the manufacturer, they're just very ignorant. But yeah, people pop up on HN again and again surprised that Google can just take away everything from them without a moment's notice, so that one is not a remote possibility. People just don't understand technology very well.
Anyway, I'm against bricking phones. That'll not do any good. It will harm communication between disidents, and spread of news/information, too.
> Remote wipe and brick all iOS, Android and Windows devices in Russia
This is the only way that is not direct military action to hit them hard. So why not?
Cutting them off from international trade, refusing shipments of semiconductors and other "dual use" resources, refusing docking rights to load/unload to Russian flagged vessels, refusing travel visas, etc etc are all ways to impose pressure on Russia to cease it's war.
Nukes are unusable, no one wants to be a king of a desert. Turkey killed Russian soldiers and downed their planes. No nuclear response QED.