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Eugene Kapersky is a Russian state asset and literally refuses to use the word "war" in regards to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Banning foreign agents from a

by rabite 2y ago

Eugene Kapersky is a Russian state asset and literally refuses to use the word "war" in regards to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Banning foreign agents from a hostile regime in a time of war is not an attack on free speech. Kapersky is free to speak -- and he has, through public statements from his company. He is not free to do business with the Western world while living in a sanctioned country. The number of times I've seen HN posters rejoice that people are not allowed to even communicate their political ideas because they are x-ist (it's a private company, bigot!) is too many to count. But the minute there's an actual genocidal war being waged by one of the most wicked nations on earth, people are very concerned about the Constitutional right to commercially sell antivirus software from the enemy's borders. Absurd.

Dalewyn 2y ago
>Eugene Kapersky is a Russian state asset and literally refuses to use the word "war" in regards to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. To be fair, western third parties like Japan refer to the conflict as the "Invasion of Ukraine" (ウクライナ侵攻, ukuraina shinkou) and such. Personally, I don't view this as a war because there was no formal declaration(s) of war to be seen anywhere before nor after the fact. War is an act of diplomacy, but what Russia has been doing is anything but.
- StefanBatory 2y ago
  I guess Russian troops genociding Ukrainians are just tourists, then.
  - creshal 2y ago
    Russian tourists are a rather rowdy bunch, but murdering children while in uniform is a bit much even for them.
    - racional 2y ago
      True of most armies -- even the worst we can think of. The architects of war know this, of course. That's why most the killing is usually done at a distance, out of sight and out of mind. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariupol_theatre_airstrike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariupol_theatre_airstrike Which was done (and, judging by the choice of ordinance, signed off on at the highest levels) not despite the fact that they knew there were children present at the carefully selected target; but because of it.
- rabite 2y ago
  "Invasion" is also an acceptable and accurate term. The doublespeak of "special operation" as if it is a police issue in a territory they have right to is what he sticks to. Regardless, Kapersky has plenty of money. If he doesn't support his nation's mass butchering of its neighbors he could easily buy citizenship in a country like Nevis, which puts it up for sale, denounce Putin, and abandon the Russian state. As it is, he is under the control of the FSB, and every dollar he earns generates demand for the ruble and tax revenue for the Russian state.
- consp 2y ago
  An invasion of a sovereign country is a act of war by definition. It's a legal casus belli for the victim to possibly be followed by a official declaration of war but that does not invalidate the war status.
  - Dalewyn 2y ago
    A conflict without formal DoWs issued is not a proper war, FSVO proper. That doesn't detract from the hideous nonsense Russia is engaging in, of course; it's arguably worse than a war because they couldn't even be arsed to say it is one. As much as diplomacy tends to be derided (and I'm certainly among those detractors), I also want to believe diplomacy still fucking means something for the sake of a civilized world.
    - ffgjgf1 2y ago
      Aren’t wars (in the traditional sense) effectively banned by the UN? If war is illegal under modern intentions law what’s the point of declaring one besides self-incrimination? If you invade a country and just call that a “special operation” you can at least maintain some pretense of legitimacy.
      - miroljub 2y ago
        What is happening currently in Syria? The USA hast still some forces there taking control of oil fields in a sovereign country. Can we count that as war?
        racional 2y ago
        Can we count that as war? Yes of course, and I'm not defending it, but it's still totally different in both scale and nature from what Russia is doing in Ukraine. At least on surface appearances the US isn't taking control of the oil and selling it on the market (the oil is owned and marketed by the autonomous Kurdish government which runs the region). And unlike Russia, the US certainly isn't seeking to permanent annex the region.
- The_Colonel 2y ago
  > War is an act of diplomacy, but what Russia has been doing is anything but. No, this is an unnecessary formalism. Why not define war by what is actually happening (large scale armed conflict between states or other large groups) rather than by mere words uttered by somebody? > In his study Hostilities without Declaration of War (1883), the British scholar John Frederick Maurice showed that between 1700 and 1870 war was declared in only 10 cases, while in another 107 cases war was waged without such declaration (these figures include only wars waged in Europe and between European states and the United States, not including colonial wars in Africa and Asia). See also e.g. Red Cross: https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/declaration-war https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/declaration-war > The principle of a compulsory declaration of war has now fallen into disuse. In practice and under customary law, a declaration of war is no longer necessary for a state of war to exist; it suffices for one of the parties to make its intentions clear by actually commencing hostilities. Similarly, a formal declaration of war is not necessary for the application of international humanitarian law.
  - thaumasiotes 2y ago
    >> In practice and under customary law, a declaration of war is no longer necessary for a state of war to exist Was it ever? Under customary law, a state of war exists between any two parties by default. What needs to be declared is peace, which is why so many ancient peace treaties survive.
- simion314 2y ago
  Actually I am convinced that everyone in kremlin have the Diplomacy skill set to ZERO, all of them and their ambassadors, local leaders, duma politicians. And the regular citizens that I interacted with are similar, for example a guy threaten me " my cousin fought in such and such Ruzzian war, he is not with the mafia and drawn a guy because X, do you want to have my cousin kill you? " No sane goverment should run Ruzziancontrol software, even if the guy is a saint(we know is a KGB close friend ) the KGB goons will force him to install spuyweare in an update.
BoingBoomTschak 2y ago
[flagged]
- etx 2y ago
  [dead]
- miroljub 2y ago
  If you talk about North Stream, it doesn't prove US is at war with Russia. It proves US is at war against Germany and the EU.
rubytubido 2y ago
> literally refuses to use the word "war" in regards to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And what? People should say only what you want to hear?

by rabite 2y ago

Dalewyn 2y ago

>Eugene Kapersky is a Russian state asset and literally refuses to use the word "war" in regards to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. To be fair, western third parties like Japan refer to the conflict as the "Invasion of Ukraine" (ウクライナ侵攻, ukuraina shinkou) and such. Personally, I don't view this as a war because there was no formal declaration(s) of war to be seen anywhere before nor after the fact. War is an act of diplomacy, but what Russia has been doing is anything but.

StefanBatory 2y ago
I guess Russian troops genociding Ukrainians are just tourists, then.
- creshal 2y ago
  Russian tourists are a rather rowdy bunch, but murdering children while in uniform is a bit much even for them.
  - racional 2y ago
    True of most armies -- even the worst we can think of. The architects of war know this, of course. That's why most the killing is usually done at a distance, out of sight and out of mind. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariupol_theatre_airstrike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariupol_theatre_airstrike Which was done (and, judging by the choice of ordinance, signed off on at the highest levels) not despite the fact that they knew there were children present at the carefully selected target; but because of it.
rabite 2y ago
"Invasion" is also an acceptable and accurate term. The doublespeak of "special operation" as if it is a police issue in a territory they have right to is what he sticks to. Regardless, Kapersky has plenty of money. If he doesn't support his nation's mass butchering of its neighbors he could easily buy citizenship in a country like Nevis, which puts it up for sale, denounce Putin, and abandon the Russian state. As it is, he is under the control of the FSB, and every dollar he earns generates demand for the ruble and tax revenue for the Russian state.
consp 2y ago
An invasion of a sovereign country is a act of war by definition. It's a legal casus belli for the victim to possibly be followed by a official declaration of war but that does not invalidate the war status.
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  A conflict without formal DoWs issued is not a proper war, FSVO proper. That doesn't detract from the hideous nonsense Russia is engaging in, of course; it's arguably worse than a war because they couldn't even be arsed to say it is one. As much as diplomacy tends to be derided (and I'm certainly among those detractors), I also want to believe diplomacy still fucking means something for the sake of a civilized world.
  - ffgjgf1 2y ago
    Aren’t wars (in the traditional sense) effectively banned by the UN? If war is illegal under modern intentions law what’s the point of declaring one besides self-incrimination? If you invade a country and just call that a “special operation” you can at least maintain some pretense of legitimacy.
    - miroljub 2y ago
      What is happening currently in Syria? The USA hast still some forces there taking control of oil fields in a sovereign country. Can we count that as war?
      - racional 2y ago
        Can we count that as war? Yes of course, and I'm not defending it, but it's still totally different in both scale and nature from what Russia is doing in Ukraine. At least on surface appearances the US isn't taking control of the oil and selling it on the market (the oil is owned and marketed by the autonomous Kurdish government which runs the region). And unlike Russia, the US certainly isn't seeking to permanent annex the region.
The_Colonel 2y ago
> War is an act of diplomacy, but what Russia has been doing is anything but. No, this is an unnecessary formalism. Why not define war by what is actually happening (large scale armed conflict between states or other large groups) rather than by mere words uttered by somebody? > In his study Hostilities without Declaration of War (1883), the British scholar John Frederick Maurice showed that between 1700 and 1870 war was declared in only 10 cases, while in another 107 cases war was waged without such declaration (these figures include only wars waged in Europe and between European states and the United States, not including colonial wars in Africa and Asia). See also e.g. Red Cross: https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/declaration-war https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/declaration-war > The principle of a compulsory declaration of war has now fallen into disuse. In practice and under customary law, a declaration of war is no longer necessary for a state of war to exist; it suffices for one of the parties to make its intentions clear by actually commencing hostilities. Similarly, a formal declaration of war is not necessary for the application of international humanitarian law.
- thaumasiotes 2y ago
  >> In practice and under customary law, a declaration of war is no longer necessary for a state of war to exist Was it ever? Under customary law, a state of war exists between any two parties by default. What needs to be declared is peace, which is why so many ancient peace treaties survive.
simion314 2y ago
Actually I am convinced that everyone in kremlin have the Diplomacy skill set to ZERO, all of them and their ambassadors, local leaders, duma politicians. And the regular citizens that I interacted with are similar, for example a guy threaten me " my cousin fought in such and such Ruzzian war, he is not with the mafia and drawn a guy because X, do you want to have my cousin kill you? " No sane goverment should run Ruzziancontrol software, even if the guy is a saint(we know is a KGB close friend ) the KGB goons will force him to install spuyweare in an update.

BoingBoomTschak 2y ago

[flagged]

etx 2y ago
[dead]
miroljub 2y ago
If you talk about North Stream, it doesn't prove US is at war with Russia. It proves US is at war against Germany and the EU.

rubytubido 2y ago

> literally refuses to use the word "war" in regards to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And what? People should say only what you want to hear?