4 ms·

I agree it's not racism on GitLab's part, but the U.S. officials behind these sanctions themselves do use phrases like that they want to 'choke Iran's economy',

I agree it's not racism on GitLab's part, but the U.S. officials behind these sanctions themselves do use phrases like that they want to 'choke Iran's economy', that is in the middle of a pandemic where people's respiratory systems are at risk, it certainly doesn't look good on their part. Also worth noting that GitLab has previously banned hiring from China/Russia, so it's no stranger to blanket bans of questionable nature. 1 - https://www.zdnet.com/article/gitlab-considers-ban-on-new-hires-in-china-and-russia-due-to-espionage-fears https://www.zdnet.com/article/gitlab-considers-ban-on-new-hi...

microcolonel 6y ago
There is nothing racist about economic sanctions against a country which is in active conflict with our armed forces outside of their borders, which is actively engaged in psy-ops to destabilize American society. Economic sanctions against America would not be racism against scots/germans/west africans or whatever. You can argue against sanctions on all sorts of grounds, but the flimsiest is claiming that they're racist.
- AsyncAwait 6y ago
  > There is nothing racist about economic sanctions against a country which is in active conflict with our armed forces outside of their borders I think that singing about how you want to destroy the country, how you want to choke it etc. do prove racist tendencies. As for armed forces acting outside of borders, you cannot claim that U.S. armed forces are any more 'authorized' to be in these places than Iranian ones, can you? So in the end, it comes down to nothing more than the U.S. having the ability to implement these sanctions and Iran not, there's no 'principles' in it, just geo-politics. What is remarkable however is that this pandemic is a uniquely challenging situation even for countries not under sanctions, so placing new sanctions on the country, as was recently done, is plain inhumane.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
ReptileMan 6y ago
>I agree it's not racism on GitLab's part, but the U.S. officials behind these sanctions themselves do use phrases like that they want to 'choke Iran's economy', that is in the middle of a pandemic where people's respiratory systems are at risk, it certainly doesn't look good on their part. Oh come on. That is not scraping the barrel but the bare metal underneath for offense. And most people die of hearth attacks anyway.
marcinzm 6y ago
>Also worth noting that GitLab has previously banned hiring from China/Russia, so it's no stranger to blanket bans of questionable nature. I wouldn't consider not hiring from countries with aggressive foreign policies and non-democratic governments that use coercion on their own citizens (including employees of said company) as questionable. GitLab's main job is to protect it's company and it's customers not to try to build some sort of utopian post-reality civilization.
- AsyncAwait 6y ago
  > countries with aggressive foreign policies If we go by that logic, the U.S. would get on that list. > non-democratic governments that use coercion on their own citizens If that was indeed the standard to go by, I'd agree, but the list would then need to be much, much longer and possibly include even some traditionally democratic countries like Australia who have an actual law where they can force employees to secretly install backdoors. Saudi Arabia infiltrated Twitter and compromised some of its employees to obtain info on regime critics that could endanger their lives, as just another example. The list would by these metrics include well over half the world.
  - marcinzm 6y ago
    >If we go by that logic, the U.S. would get on that list. I put an AND in my statement for a reason, please don't cherry pick parts of sentences. >The list would by these metrics include well over half the world. That's like saying that if you don't want to die you should live in a cocoon and never leave the house, rather than just making sure to avoid the most dangerous activities. GitLab is blocking the countries it sees as the most risky and carry the least cost in blocking. I'm sure their lawyers would love to block half the world but that would cost them too much.
    - amaccuish 6y ago
      > I put an AND in my statement for a reason, please don't cherry pick parts of sentences. As a non US-citizen, I don't really care if the US is democratic or not. People have voted and continue to vote for terrible things. What matters is what a country does. So actually the US would certainly be on that list. Unless your argument is, it's not evil if we all voted for it?
navaati 6y ago
They also ban hires from France FWIW, but that's because they wouldn't touch our labour code with a 10-foot pole haha.
- doomlaser 6y ago
  I didn't realize until today that Gitlab is entirely remote and has been since it was founded (long before covid) https://www.inc.com/cameron-albert-deitch/gitlab-tips-remote-workforce.html https://www.inc.com/cameron-albert-deitch/gitlab-tips-remote...
- voltagex_ 6y ago
  Wait, what?
- Tijdreiziger 6y ago
  Wait, I was under the impression that GitLab was originally a Dutch company (it appears to be American now)? Are the labor laws in France that much more lax than in the Netherlands?

microcolonel 6y ago

There is nothing racist about economic sanctions against a country which is in active conflict with our armed forces outside of their borders, which is actively engaged in psy-ops to destabilize American society. Economic sanctions against America would not be racism against scots/germans/west africans or whatever. You can argue against sanctions on all sorts of grounds, but the flimsiest is claiming that they're racist.

AsyncAwait 6y ago
> There is nothing racist about economic sanctions against a country which is in active conflict with our armed forces outside of their borders I think that singing about how you want to destroy the country, how you want to choke it etc. do prove racist tendencies. As for armed forces acting outside of borders, you cannot claim that U.S. armed forces are any more 'authorized' to be in these places than Iranian ones, can you? So in the end, it comes down to nothing more than the U.S. having the ability to implement these sanctions and Iran not, there's no 'principles' in it, just geo-politics. What is remarkable however is that this pandemic is a uniquely challenging situation even for countries not under sanctions, so placing new sanctions on the country, as was recently done, is plain inhumane.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

ReptileMan 6y ago

>I agree it's not racism on GitLab's part, but the U.S. officials behind these sanctions themselves do use phrases like that they want to 'choke Iran's economy', that is in the middle of a pandemic where people's respiratory systems are at risk, it certainly doesn't look good on their part. Oh come on. That is not scraping the barrel but the bare metal underneath for offense. And most people die of hearth attacks anyway.

marcinzm 6y ago

>Also worth noting that GitLab has previously banned hiring from China/Russia, so it's no stranger to blanket bans of questionable nature. I wouldn't consider not hiring from countries with aggressive foreign policies and non-democratic governments that use coercion on their own citizens (including employees of said company) as questionable. GitLab's main job is to protect it's company and it's customers not to try to build some sort of utopian post-reality civilization.

AsyncAwait 6y ago
> countries with aggressive foreign policies If we go by that logic, the U.S. would get on that list. > non-democratic governments that use coercion on their own citizens If that was indeed the standard to go by, I'd agree, but the list would then need to be much, much longer and possibly include even some traditionally democratic countries like Australia who have an actual law where they can force employees to secretly install backdoors. Saudi Arabia infiltrated Twitter and compromised some of its employees to obtain info on regime critics that could endanger their lives, as just another example. The list would by these metrics include well over half the world.
- marcinzm 6y ago
  >If we go by that logic, the U.S. would get on that list. I put an AND in my statement for a reason, please don't cherry pick parts of sentences. >The list would by these metrics include well over half the world. That's like saying that if you don't want to die you should live in a cocoon and never leave the house, rather than just making sure to avoid the most dangerous activities. GitLab is blocking the countries it sees as the most risky and carry the least cost in blocking. I'm sure their lawyers would love to block half the world but that would cost them too much.
  - amaccuish 6y ago
    > I put an AND in my statement for a reason, please don't cherry pick parts of sentences. As a non US-citizen, I don't really care if the US is democratic or not. People have voted and continue to vote for terrible things. What matters is what a country does. So actually the US would certainly be on that list. Unless your argument is, it's not evil if we all voted for it?

navaati 6y ago

They also ban hires from France FWIW, but that's because they wouldn't touch our labour code with a 10-foot pole haha.

doomlaser 6y ago
I didn't realize until today that Gitlab is entirely remote and has been since it was founded (long before covid) https://www.inc.com/cameron-albert-deitch/gitlab-tips-remote-workforce.html https://www.inc.com/cameron-albert-deitch/gitlab-tips-remote...
voltagex_ 6y ago
Wait, what?
Tijdreiziger 6y ago
Wait, I was under the impression that GitLab was originally a Dutch company (it appears to be American now)? Are the labor laws in France that much more lax than in the Netherlands?