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I’m having a very hard time understanding why anyone would be upset by the Russian government making technology positive investments. Especially technologists!
by malvosenior 9y ago
I’m having a very hard time understanding why anyone would be upset by the Russian government making technology positive investments. Especially technologists!
I wish more money was deployed into software development. Russia seems to be a positive influence here.
- Asparagirl 9y agoRussia hasn't been a positive influence on anything since Shostakovich and Yuri Gagarin.
- malvosenior 9y agoI know good developers that had meaning financial gain in some if the DST transactions listed in the OP. It was positive for them and our industry in a very real way.
- nzmsv 9y agoIt's interesting that most people would probably not say something so xenophobic about any other country on a public forum, but Russia is fair game. Don't believe me? Substitute $country in the above and see if it sounds more or less grating.
- dragonwriter 9y ago> It's interesting that most people would probably not say something so xenophobic about any other country on a public forum I've routinely seen the almost exact same thing, except with a much longer timeline. about the entirety of the Arab world, on public forums.
- krapp 9y agoAnd China, and sometimes Japan. Hell... and America, by Americans.
- oxide 9y agoIt's interesting how often people pretend Russia is unfairly persecuted in internet comment sections around the globe. :)
- dang 9y agoNationalistic attacks are some of the ugliest things people post here. Regardless of nation, it's not ok, so please don't do it again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- stevenwoo 9y agoMagnitsky Act. If they had no overt political objective - it still launders blood money. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/bill-browders-testimony-to-the-senate-judiciary-committee/534864/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/bill-br...
- malvosenior 9y agoThat has nothing to do with these investments. Milner is not even listed as affected: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitsky_Act#Individuals_affected https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitsky_Act#Individuals_affe... Government’s are neither all bad nor all good. You can cherry pick nasty incidents from any government throughout human history (including the US — of course). That doesn’t mean that every action they take is “evil”. On the grand scheme of things investing in startups is pretty progressive.
- jryan49 9y agoSo if blood money is used to invest in tech to clean it, and make them profit it's okay?
- malvosenior 9y agoIt’s funny that the people opposed to this keep using the “blood money” talking point. As if anyone knows the root source of the funds. Claiming otherwise is wild speculation.
- jgome 9y agoAs opposed to the "blood money" invested by the US govt. in technology companies? Do you also have problems with Twitter, Google and Facebook getting money from the US govt.? Let's not forget, the US govt., both Republicans and Democrats, have directly or indirectly killed millions of people in the last decade... I don't see you complaining about that "blood money" here or anywhere, though.
- oxide 9y agoNice false equivalence argument, but I'm afraid it's going to fall on deaf ears. Funny how many Russian apologists are here all of a sudden.
- jgome 9y ago> Russian apologists Because pointing out the obvious ignorance, hypocrisy and double-speak of US and western people in general is the same as being a "Russian apologist". Were you ever taught logic?
- dang 9y agoPersonal attacks aren't allowed on HN. We ban accounts that do that, so please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and don't comment like this, regardless of how wrong or illogical someone else may be.
- 9y ago
- nodesocket 9y agoBecause some have been proven to be deceptive, manipulative, and have un-american aspirations. They are playing the extreme liberalism for their own gain.
- oxide 9y agoblood money is still money, right? wrong. this is, in extension, saying it's okay to take money from a currently sanctioned state actor. as long as they want to pay cash and half-ass obfuscated the state actors behind the paycheck you're so concerned about.
- davesque 9y agoThe problem with it is unfolding right before your eyes. Russia is actively using the platform that we now know it funded to sow chaos in the United States. Have you read the summaries of the ads they posted during the election cycle? https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/us/politics/russia-2016-election-facebook.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/us/politics/russia-2016-e... The played each side off of the other and, in some cases, even encouraged each side to violently engage the other: http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/31/media/russia-facebook-violence/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/31/media/russia-facebook-violen... Just how do you think all of that will end up? The Russian government should not have any say or influence in these companies since they have clearly demonstrated that they are a bad actor.
- malvosenior 9y agoAs someone who values free speech I can’t say I’m concerned with the content of advertising. Just don’t pay attention to it if it bothers you.
- Asparagirl 9y agoThis is an incredibly naive point of view.