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US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

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Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#381

Post by s1artibartfast »

BobbyJo wrote: post #252
s1artibartfast wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have yet to hear a convincing argument how sanctions do anything aside from impoverish the 25 million people living in North Korea. They don't bring about regime change, They don't impose hardship on the despots, and they don't take away nuclear capability from North Korea.

> They don't bring about regime change, They don't impose hardship on the despots, and they don't take away nuclear capability from North Korea. They haven't yet brought about regime change, They haven't yet imposed hardship on the despots, and they haven't yet taken away nuclear capability from North Korea. The point is, the world needs regime change, in order to be safer (dictators with Nukes are a very dangerous t…

Strong disagree. Sanctions prevent economic development and change. Constant application of pressure and tensions ensure that the risk is higher than it otherwise would be.

Risk will always be highest if one country insist on destroying the government of another.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#382

Post by zardo »

chaosite wrote: post #337
user3939382 wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone recently explained their view, that sanctions are akin to siege warfare in days of old. Whether you agree with that analogy or not, there is an underlying valid point that not all warfare requires physical violence. We use the term cyber warfare as another example.

Cyber-warfare is in most instances comparable to sabotage as used in warfare. I can see the point you're making about sanctions being similar to siege warfare. The main difference being that sieges separate you from your own forces and allies in a way that sanctions don't.

They are more like blockades, they just use diplomacy and legal systems instead of parking ships with big guns outside the harbor.

And I suppose the difference between a siege and a blockade is pretty much whether or not you fire those big guns into the city.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#383

Post by bonzini »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #242
tptacek wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We didn't invade after the Cuban Missile Crisis; in fact, Cuba remained closely aligned with the USSR until the end of the USSR. If Russia merely sanctioned Ukraine, nobody would be discussing this. Your rebuttal is facile.

The comparison is striking. Kennedy ordered a naval "quarantine" to prevent missiles from reaching Cuba. By using the term "quarantine" rather than "blockade" (an act of war by legal definition), the United States was able to avoid the implications of a state of war. After several days of tense negotiations, an agreement was reached between Kennedy and Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets would dismantle their offensive…

> the US refused ultimatums to stay out of Ukraine

Which is just a pretense. On different days, the "special military operation" has been to avoid NATO bordering Russia (which it already does in the Baltic), "remove Nazis", "fix Lenin's mistake of separating Ukraine from Russia", "free Donbass and Luhansk" and probably others that I forgot.

And anyway, US didn't do anything (this time). Ukraine has a right to join NATO if they want, without asking uncle Vladimir beforehand.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#384

Post by Swenrekcah »

ipaddr wrote: post #370
racnid wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect, that's the point of sanctions. You've brought it up as some sort of gotcha. It's not. They're a means to cripple the war-making ability of a nation without actually bombing them into submission or shooting them. As such they're not just placed on a nation for fun or random purposes.

To say look North Korea is evil they don't feed women and kids misses the fact that this is a policy we did for whatever justifible reason. Kids are not eating and dying because of choices we made.

Kids are not eating well because NK leadership spends all the country’s money on themselves and the military in order for them to stay in power.

If your neighbour beats his children and constantly threatens to shoot your house up, you are not morally obligated to spend money at their restaurant.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#385

Post by tuwtuwtuwtuw »

ipaddr wrote: post #376
tuwtuwtuwtuw wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like saying the judge is responsible when a man is experiencing a bad time in jail, instead of the man being responsible because he commited the crime which put him there.

A judge is responsible for decisions around sentencing and prision conditions. The choices they make have a big impact on whether prison will be successful in reforming a person. Sending 16 year olds to adult prison or decisions around solitary or conditions (no visitors) or type of prison can have a huge impact.

Lol, what. You really read to read my message again and if your takeaway remains the same then good luck fixing your brain.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#386

Post by s1artibartfast »

kyleplum wrote: post #292
wspess wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While USA does not ban everyone from doing trade with Cuba, USA does ban everyone who trades with Cuba from doing trade with the US. You can clearly see how this creates insentives for not trading with Cuba and instead trading with the far larger market next to it.

If Cuba refused to trade with anyone who traded with the US, would you say that Cuba is violating the national autonomy of the US?

Not just the US, but also the third party.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#387

Post by tptacek »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #373
tptacek wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What point are you trying to make? The invasion of Cuba was idiotic, I agree. It has nothing to do with our foreign policy afterwards, which is not subject to rules about fairness.

>which is not subject to rules about fairness. I think this is the point everyone agrees on. You are right that "deserve's got nothing to with it" IT is just obnoxious when most of rhetoric and discussion is about fairness, equality, and high minded ideals when directed outside the US. Might makes right. Given that, coherent discussion on how and when to use that power is best served by dropping the rhetoric. Once yo…

We should not continue the Cuba embargo. It serves no public policy purpose. We should continue and enhance sanctions on North Korea, which actively works to destabilize the rest of the world, unlike Cuba. Iran is a trickier case, but on balance the world would be better off with more normalized relations with Iran, and its trajectory forward after normalization would very likely be better than it is with sanctions. The opposite is true of North Korea.

You can disagree with any or all of this, but the underlying point is: we are within our rights to coordinate sanctions on any country for a diversity of reasons.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#388

Post by kyleplum »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #333
kyleplum wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it not be a violation of Cuba's National Autonomy to force them to trade with partner's that they did not wish to trade with?

Yes, but I don't see how that's relevant. Not banning trade doesn't force the countries to trade, it just gives them the choice.

> Not banning trade doesn't force the countries to trade, it just gives them the choice.

And the choice made by the US is to not trade with Cuba or anyone who trades with Cuba - it's their right to make this choice.

Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

#390

Post by 9991 »

gnulinux wrote: post #304
chatmasta wrote: post #48

I met Virgil at an academic workshop back in 2014. We went out in Amsterdam. He was a weird guy, to say the least (he’d probably be the first to agree). He was generally quite affable and obviously highly intelligent. He’s an idiot for this fiasco. But it’s also sad to see him in jail; I don’t see how this benefits society in any way. Five years in prison seems like a disproportionate punishment for an arguably victi…

What? North Korean government is the most totalitarian, brutal, ruthless state in the world today. You can't just play "there is no victim" card when you illegally help out an enemy government like that. Even if you're ideologically or for some other reason inclined to support NK, you need to understand that being a US citizen makes your actions extremely impactful on world stage. It seems like Virgil was truly in a…

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