>it's very useful for the Russians to withdraw money in Turkey as well.
"This product makes it easy to illegally bypass international sanctions" is not the compliment you think it is.
"This product makes it easy to illegally bypass international sanctions" is not the compliment you think it is.
I say that a very disgruntled Russian who hasn't had a sane, predictable life since 2020.
There is a _bit_ of hope you'll do something about it.
You're a feeble Internet nerd whose position is an aberration of history.
I'm sure you'll selectively apply your morals rather than having enough intelligence to understand what you're advocating.
This is pretty reprehensible and you should be embarrassed.
The one single issue is what happens to the nukes.
It's a shame you can't hear how pathetic you sound in your idealogical prison / echo chamber.
The price of energy would become unaffordable for all of Europe and spike across the globe. The additional pressure would create additional conflict and suffering for everyone.
I'm struggling to find any reason other than blind hatred for your genuinely stupid and brain dead position.
Nobody is scared of this Kremlin talking point either, the market would stabilize fine.
I'm happy to pay more in order to not fund the Russian terrorist mafia state.
Like, uhhh, wanting to stay alive and not go to jail? Is that a good enough reason?
The oligarchs could arrange to put something extra in the breakfast one day. Or there could be a chance meeting with a window.
Seems that it is has made it politically more difficult, if not economically so.
I’m asking because how on earth can you claim that? I’m close to the ecosystem involved and the sanctions work incredibly well. They’re not sufficient and there are bypasses but that doesn’t mean they don’t work.
Sanctions work by reducing growth and the economy of its target—usually a pariah state—over time by reducing growth year over year, which compounds (negatively) over time to make the target less and less influential.
> I say that a very disgruntled Russian who hasn't had a sane, predictable life since 2020.
And the alternative to economic sanctions would be… ?
Bitcoin may not be the end all solution, but it's a great current option.
Those many everyday Russians punish people (Ukrainians mainly, Europeans in general) for someone else’s decision (Putin’s power trip).
I also wish to remind you that hardship in Russia does not compare to hardship in Ukraine right now.
I say this as someone with relatives in both countries today.
It doesn't work that way. Putin is not working in a factory building tanks and artillery shells. He is not in an office programming which cities ballistic missiles will hit. He is not piloting bombers or manning guns shooting at Ukraine. He is not sitting in tanks ravaging through Ukrainian countriside, he is not in cellars raping and torturing civilians, he has not personally committed any of the tens of thousands documented war crimes in Ukraine. Millions upon millions of "ordinary Russians" choose to do this every day. Without the majority of Russian society actively working to carry out Putin's ideas, or passively sitting on their asses and trying to pretend they have nothing to do with it, Putin would be just a raving madman without any influence on the world like Hitler in his final days.
USSR collapsed when "ordinary Russians" simply stopped following orders. They were told to go there and do this, and they said NO in large enough numbers that the leaders were simply unable to do anything, because eventually even police and military stopped listening them. Russia has not yet reached this breaking point, and millions upon millions remain Putin's willing executioners, and bear the guilt that comes with it.
Every day, Ukrainians put their lives on the line, and hundreds die, in a desperate attempt to stop the curse on the world that Russia has become, while "ordinary Russians" are unwilling to even stage a large protest.
The sanctions target the wrong ones.
As for "unwilling to even stage a large protest", there's simply no one left to organize it. Those people who could do it are either in jail, in exile, or dead.
I’d say yes. That’s the point of the sanctions. And somebody should be tracing that Russian money on the ledger and getting the ill gotten properties traced and arrested.
Of course Russians don’t deserve economic hardship, but they don’t deserve to live in an autocracy either. And Ukrainians don’t deserve to be invaded. The lesson here is probably that the “great man” theory of history kind of ignores the everyday people whose lives were ruined by leaders who didn’t have to deal with the worst consequences of their decisions.
It doesn’t look like any of these get accidentally launched onto Kremlin. Or turned against conscription. Or used in any kind of resistance.
There are people there that are sacrificing their lives. Only for some reason, they are sacrificing these lives on the wrong side. On the side of supporting the dictatorship.
Of course no one wants hardship for everyday Russians, but we should be able to say the same about everyday Ukrainians, many of whom have had their whole lives upended.
The war is continuing because of only one man on the planet, and since violent options are off the table, functioning sanctions are the next best thing.
There is an argument to be made that sanctions don't work. Maybe they used to in the long distant past, but they don't now.
Russia doesn't give even half a fuck, Iran gives negative fucks, North Korea gives no fucks, and China is turning the sanctions back against us, to name some prominent examples.
I appreciate the west's desire to settle diplomatic problems using something other than war, but sanctions aren't the solution (anymore?).
Every day that these sanctions against Iran, North Korea, and Russia are in place those countries fall further and further behind. Every day their economies become less and less competitive
Sanctions as they are right now don't work, and that is a problem.
Given that this thread concerns whether the legitimate use cases of Bitcoin outweigh the illegitimate ones, I think this is an argument strongly against the position.
Why beat around the bush? The reason we’re playing the sanctions game, or the proxy war game, or any other bullshit games nations are playing is because the alternative is worse.
It feels like this is a wedge across the community here at HN right now.
If the goal of the technology is to draw sovereignty from math and implement it in a way that's useful, then the capacity to trivially bypass legacy bugs (such as illubrication occurring in places where states assert their boundaries) seems like an enormous and meaningful compliment.
Maybe you think those are features and not bugs, but that's a different discussion (one I'm happy to have and about which my heart sings true).
Bitcoin ATMs used to be on the rise where I live many years ago. And I could make purchases. Now they are all gone.
Seems like the people adopting crypto don’t have many choices.
For a regular human in the real world they will make very rational economic decisions in their best interests.
If the ATM fees are taking 20% of my money, of course I'm going to look for alternative systems of payments. If I can't use my Russian Rubles, of course I'm going to use BTC.
Which actually is a huge compliment because it means that government permission is no longer required to spend your money how you please.
Otherwise you're implicitly suggesting that Russia is somehow able to weather these sanctions only because bitcoin exists, or that bitcoin should be "reigned" in some way to make it compatible with arbitrary foreign government sanctions.
Either it is a democracy and the majority of the population is on board with it - explicitly or by ineptitude - or it is a dictatorship and they are cumplicit by inaction.
If we were discussing nazi party sympathizers in 1940 you wouldn't be even giving them the benefit of the doubt; the truth is, many people got onboard with what was going on because it wasn't with them directly. They got on with the party because it was what every one was doing at the time.
Turning a blind eye to the atrocities performed by the leaders your motherland elects when you lived there just because you got out is the worst cowardice I can think of.
That is how these things work.
I understand this may be a shock to a US citizen, as it would be for me if I ever lived in a country where truth, facts and people interests matter little to nothing. And yes, I've also been in the military, so I was also coached in the art of defending the right of people having diverging opinions from my own.
Thats why when countries have mandatory drafts, you cant just say "no thanks, I didnt vote for it".
That has been used to justify a lot of atrocities throughout history. Which is to say, if you're using that to justify an action, you'd better take a dozen steps back and take a couple months to think about what you're doing.
Yes, it has. Because it is basically true. Thing is, there is a huge difference between what separates you from your enemy from the things you may have in common, but totalitarian governments tend to point to the differences (that are few) instead of the points in common (that are many).
So, if your government, your fellow men, mistreat a woman in Africa in some military operation, is that acceptable? Does that make the news? No. If your government, your fellow men, take decisions to invade/bomb/starve a country, is that acceptable for you?
Lets just say it isn't, because if it is, you're just an ahole.
Do you benefit* from the prosperity bestowed upon you by such government - such as using roads, having healthcare or basically being a productive member of the society? Lets assume you do. What is the difference between the government you tolerate for yourself and the government that mistreats a woman in Africa, or that bombs a syrian family, or that kills by -just being absent - thousands in Sudan?
None.
Isn't it the same government? How aren't YOU against of that?
> you'd better take a dozen steps back and take a couple months to think about what you're doing
American? Either that or a bot. Either way if you can't tie your own shoelaces OR you're living for the first time the fear of a 3rd world war, please refrain yourself.
What, did you expect to be morally above any other faction labelled as a "terrorist"? You aren't. I, as a citizen of a NATO country, obviously avoid countries where myself can be confused with the actions of my government. That is common sense.
You may argue "but I didn't agree with X or Y decision" - yes, but did you present yourself to scrutiny? Did you try to change things? Did you do any meaningful action to actually change the political course? Of course not, like most of us (myself included) don't. But don't try to skip on the responsibility - you, your people as a whole are responsible for the actions of your government.
Geez, are you *that* dense? Or just american? Cuz just being american would explain a lot.
And killing of enemy civilians is called "war". I like you keep post-1950's ideas, but the rest of the world hasnt caught on yet.