Comment by Al-Khwarizmi
5 years ago
> you have no business in any international matter (finance, sport, gaming, internet, etc) until you fix your shit in your country.
Seriously, what kind of argument is this?
Have you risked your own life to complain against a dictator? I don't know, maybe you have. But >99% of the people in the West haven't.
Who are you to tell another random person, who (to the best of our knowledge) hasn't done anything wrong, that they need to do that (and succeed at it, no less!) in order to enjoy "sport, gaming, internet" and other things we take for granted, just because they happened to be born in Russia?
I'm from the West myself, with no relation to Russia except for some acquaintances, and despise Putin and his brutal invasion. But honestly I don't know what is the larger threat towards everything the West represents, Putin's nukes or attitudes like this (I picked your comment but there are many like it in this thread...). Denying individuals a normal life based on their place of birth and things that aren't their fault at all is just evil.
It's not really based on their place of birth? If you are a Russian outside Russia without using a Russian bank account I don't think this will effect you.
Emigration is not something that should be required of a random person, though. And it can even be impossible. Tech people have it easier than average, but for most people obtaining a visa and work permit for a foreign country is out of reach.
So while "place of birth" is not the exact criterion, the fact is that many Russian people are effectively being targeted by this kind of measures due to the single "sin" of having been born in Russia.
> Seriously, what kind of argument is this?
Whataboutism.
It's become the main pro-Putin talking point in the last couple of days, after an abrupt drop-off when the last one (Russia will never invade, Biden is a madman, etc) abruptly stopped working.