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MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

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Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#171

Post by theshrike79 »

yucky wrote: post #138
theshrike79 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is only possible because Russia is the first clear and acceptable Bad Guy since WW2 Germany. There are very few gray areas about what they are doing in Ukraine, so everyone is firing with everything they've got. Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction someone called them.

>There are very few gray areas about what they are doing in Ukraine When you typed this out, did it not occur to you that this feels this way to you due to a self-imposed bubble?

If you asked me that a week ago, I might've said yes/maybe.

But now we have actual footage of Russia arresting people protesting against the war, just shooting artillery salvos at hospitals and schools. Oh, and FIRING AT A FUCKING NUCLEAR POWER PLANT. You don't get much more cartoon bad guy than that.

It's a shame that the regular Russian people have to suffer, but the only way to get tiny-P off the throne is to turn the country against him and make stuff so unbearable that even the official news can't explain it away with "russophobia".

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#172

Post by Gibbon1 »

vimy wrote: post #152
323 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An article from yesterday regarding SWIFT explained this. The western govs issued a "commander's intent" to sanction Russia. That's basically a direction that every financial entity which does transactions with Russia must assume that they too should suspend operations, unless explicitly cleared otherwise. Russia was declared "untouchable", unless you have explicit permission to touch it (like energy markets). https:…

I don’t think that’s true. Otherwise, Mastercard/Visa/Paypal wouldn’t have waited this long. I think Russia is being ‘canceled’. They have become toxic to companies. It’s PR related, not because of government orders.

Two things.

Dealing with Russia is now problematic for top level corporate management and attention of top level management is always a scarce resource. General rule products and customers that require too much of it for the profits generated get the axe.

Russia is about to get a lot poorer. So any business you have with Russia is going to shrink.

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#173

Post by chrsw »

331c8c71 wrote: post #153
chrsw wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would Putin stop at Ukraine?

because he's not expanding russia. hes not letting ukraine to join nato. Check john mearsheimer for an understanding how putin thinks

Why is it Putin's business what Ukraine thinks of NATO?

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#174

Post by theshrike79 »

klyrs wrote: post #116
theshrike79 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is only possible because Russia is the first clear and acceptable Bad Guy since WW2 Germany. There are very few gray areas about what they are doing in Ukraine, so everyone is firing with everything they've got. Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction someone called them.

This isn't remotely the first since WW2. There were near universal sanctions of South Africa in the 60s due to the apartheid there, for example.

We have had sanctions before, but at this level? It's pretty much unprecedented.

Usually sanctions are a bit of this and bit of that, just enough to put pressure on the politicians. Now we have companies left and right refusing to do business with Russia, all their foreign money is frozen and billionaires are getting their yachts taken from them. They can't even sell their oil anywhere, not even at a discount. (Although it seems Shell bought some, let's see how the fallout from that decision turns out).

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#175

Post by latchkey »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #156
sneak wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Political/humanitarian circumstances aside, this is a good reminder to all of us, everywhere, that 100% reliance on centralized electronic payment systems is risky because they have rare but total failure modes. ALWAYS carry and travel with cash, no matter what. ALWAYS keep enough cash hidden in your home to cover a month or more of expenses.

> ALWAYS carry and travel with cash, no matter what. Funny, that's the exact opposite of the advice I hear to only travel with only petty-cash and rely on cards instead, so if you're mugged/robbed or simply misplace your wallet you won't be SOL far from home.

Exactly. Never mind that as you cross borders, there are legal limits to the amounts you can carry as well as the potential to be searched. If you've ever been through corrupt border crossings (hello Moc Bai), the last thing you want is to be carrying cash.

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#176

Post by avasylev »

lostwords wrote: post #99

It's the first action against Russia that made me angry. It's so stupid and wrong at the same time. So, in Russia all the cards will work, nothing is changed here (despite the statements of Visa and Mastercard). Cards issued by Russian banks would stop work abroad. The same is true for any foreign cards in Russia. So, foreigners in Russia are fucked. People who left Russia in a hurry because they didn't want to be pa…

The main goal of this action is sound - cut off Russian economy from outside and it achieves it. There're undesirable side effects that you listed, but the main objective is still achieved. And we should keep prospective and direct the anger at right target, these inconveniences are not comparable to the terror millions of Ukrainians are under now.

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#177

Post by wrycoder »

cm2187 wrote: post #42
323 wrote: post #2

Visa too: > Visa Suspends All Russia Operations https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.rele... MasterCard/Visa cards issued in Russia will not work abroad, cards issued abroad will not work in Russia. > MasterCard/Visa account for three-quarters of payments in Russia https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/150023911662537932...

And paypal this morning too [1] It does feel coordinated. I know corporate law is kind of irrelevant in a context of war, but it feels more than ever like a cartel. [1] https://www.reuters.com/business/paypal-shuts-down-its-servi...

Nothing new here. The large tech and financial corporations have moved in lockstep for a long time, and the rest of the Fortune 500 isn't far behind. The average person and small business is rapidly losing the right to transact.

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#178

Post by dgoldstein0 »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #96

You'd think letting people transfer money outside of the sanctioned country is in accord to the stated goals of sanctions. Is this move really practical, or just a showing MC and Visa are politically in line with the rest of the businesses?

I'd imagine in a lot of cases the payment network doesn't know if you are moving your own money, or paying for something - the latter which could benefit Russia or a Russian company. E.g. if was Russian and paying Google for Google docs for my Russia based business - I think that might be disallowed by the current sanctions?

I suppose I'm trying to say - the payment providers see where the cash is going, but not what you are getting in return. Without that visibility it's hard to more selectively ban transactions.

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#179

Post by [deleted] »

lostwords wrote: post #99

It's the first action against Russia that made me angry. It's so stupid and wrong at the same time. So, in Russia all the cards will work, nothing is changed here (despite the statements of Visa and Mastercard). Cards issued by Russian banks would stop work abroad. The same is true for any foreign cards in Russia. So, foreigners in Russia are fucked. People who left Russia in a hurry because they didn't want to be pa…

[deleted]

Re: MasterCard suspends all services in Russia

#180

Post by [deleted] »

lostwords wrote: post #99

It's the first action against Russia that made me angry. It's so stupid and wrong at the same time. So, in Russia all the cards will work, nothing is changed here (despite the statements of Visa and Mastercard). Cards issued by Russian banks would stop work abroad. The same is true for any foreign cards in Russia. So, foreigners in Russia are fucked. People who left Russia in a hurry because they didn't want to be pa…

[deleted]
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