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GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

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Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of harassment that citizens of any state that the US claims to hate at any given time endure on a daily basis is disgusting. Exiled iranians living outside of Iran for 20 years have got their bank accounts closed solely for being Iranian. I can't help but think that these internet services will be going that way in the future. The fact that the "free software" community is not putting their foot down for t…

It's unfortunately hard to separate good and honest foreigners from those that would prefer to destroy other nation states.

It is however quite easy for good and honest foreigners to determine if the US wishes to destroy other nation states.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#282
post #26

If Crimea was unwillingly annexed by Russia, then the sanction is punishing the victim instead of the criminal. If Crimea people genuinely supported the unification with Russia and received sanction for that, then it is a blatant attack on Crimean people's freedom.

You mean eastern Ukraine? Russians came in and installed an illegal regime. Add in some ethnic cleansing, and the situation is not remotely what you claim. Add in downing of MH17 airliner, and its obvious they pose a danger to all of us.

There's a lot of whataboutism going on in this thread, but it is clear that these sanctions exist for reasons, and for Crimea, those are pretty solid reasons.

The whataboutisms about what other countries may or may not have done is immaterial. If you want to put some people who happen to live in the crimean region who cannot access and internet service in the same category as downing an airliner and ethnic cleansing, good luck.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#283
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize that sanctions also kill people through lack of supplies like medicine being available, people being unable to economically support themselves, and, if the sanctions cause the government to collapse, all the death that results from that. So let’s not pretend sanctions are somehow nonviolent.

These countries are run by some of the most violent and oppressive regimes in the world. Let’s not pretend that the US is responsible for the quality of life of the people living there. These sanctions are entirely non-violent. The actual word you’re looking for is harmful. They’re designed to be harmful, economically. Responding to regimes like this with economic pressure is most certainly preferable to actual viole…

Iran being a tyrannical theocracy with grudge against the US is a direct result of the US overthrowing a democratically elected Iranian prime minister.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#284
post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything that reduces quality of life kills people in some way. Heck, I commute through a town that back in the day was rich enough to prevent the highway from being expanded. I bet a couple people have died in ambulances in gridlock there. Sanctions are a heck of a lot less violent than bombs, or some tit for tat response (which would probably eventually escalate to bombs). They're basically one step up from taxes…

But how many lives were saved from not having a fast moving road running alongside the town. Everything is good and bad.

Normally I'd agree but this highway was built as a highway in the '50s a new route where there formerly was no road. It's not like a main street that slowly grew into a major road. The only points where pedestrians cyclists cross the road (it's limited access, nobody is walking or biking on it) are at the aforementioned traffic lights. Based on my experience as a pedestrian I suspect the lights are about the same safety as walking biking past on/off ramps.

This is king of going off on a tangent though.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#285
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize that sanctions also kill people through lack of supplies like medicine being available, people being unable to economically support themselves, and, if the sanctions cause the government to collapse, all the death that results from that. So let’s not pretend sanctions are somehow nonviolent.

These countries are run by some of the most violent and oppressive regimes in the world. Let’s not pretend that the US is responsible for the quality of life of the people living there. These sanctions are entirely non-violent. The actual word you’re looking for is harmful. They’re designed to be harmful, economically. Responding to regimes like this with economic pressure is most certainly preferable to actual viole…

> If the regime in Iran falls. It won’t be because of US sanctions. It will be because that country has been operated by a brutal dictator for decades, and the Iranian people grew tired of being the enemy of their own government.

If so (that Iran falls not because of US sanctions), surely it follows that there is no point to the sanctions?

They would only serve to embitter the targeted population.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#286
post #11

We made it point now to avoid all US-based services. While we're not affected by the sanctions yet, it seems like it is a possibility in the future. There's really not a lot of reasons to use Gitlab or Github or Slack or a number of other services. They're not exceptional in any way and can be replaced by other open-source or commercial projects.

Keep in mind the sanctions affect all companies that do business in the US.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#287

I know lots of Iranian people and they are universally kind generous lovely people. I hate the way Iran is demonized so politicians can point out an enemy. We were flat out lied to about Iraq. Demonization of Iran is no different.

Irans government is pretty backwards. The Iranian society is and was much more open a few decades ago. Truly a sad story of development in the completely wrong direction.

> The Iranian society is and was much more open a few decades ago. Truly a sad story of development in the completely wrong direction.

You can blame the US for fucking that up, you do realise that?

The US overthrew the democratically elected Mossadegh and put the Shah (a despot) in his place as ruler. The years after were characterised by massive unrest and (understandable) anti-US sentiment, eventually culminating in a fall into populism, arriving finally at the rise to power of the Ayatollah.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't build a system to circumvent sanctions if you're within the reach of the US Government, AKA much of the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_extradit...

There's room for building instruments like this at a state-sponsored level in, say, the EU. The EU has already been working on a special clearing house that would help European businesses circumvent the US-imposed sanctions. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/system-circumvent-san...

You are not wrong on facts. The problem for Iran is that EU does not really seem to want to actually do anything other than words and vague promises. Instex was a promise of sorts, but UE chickened out ( for a good reason after most govn. representatives including Lindsay said something along the lines u either wiff us or against us ). One of the reasons Iran grabbed a ship was to pressure EU to make it an actual option and not a talking point.

Re: GitHub confirms it has blocked developers in Iran, Syria and Crimea

#290
post #30
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more like the Iranian government.

Not like the US government is any better right now

The US government is executing people for being homosexual and imprisoning women for being individuals? Really??
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