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> A children's block game is not going to help us build nukes or anything, so the sanctions excuse doesn't make sense especially since I already own it. While

> A children's block game is not going to help us build nukes or anything, so the sanctions excuse doesn't make sense especially since I already own it. While I agree with that sentiment, and while I admit that I don't know exactly what the sanctions entail, it is quite possible that this is a legal compliance issue and not strictly Microsoft's doing. And of course it could also be a "better safe than sorry" policy when it comes to legal compliance.

mikestew 2y ago
It's not all about preventing the creation of nuclear weapons. It's also about making sure the common person in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY feels the pain. User UncleEntity says it better than I could in a comment that is buried a few levels: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40158797 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40158797
- esprehn 2y ago
  That would seem to suggest countries should do extensive sanctions on wine and cheese?
  - mynameismon 2y ago
    I think its a metaphor alluding to the black market trades of the wealthy leaders?
  - philipov 2y ago
    Perhaps not the best turn of phrase, since alcohol is illegal in Iran. However, they can make their own cheese just fine.
  - rangerelf 2y ago
    Not all wine and cheese is imported. + lack of imported wine or cheese should --eventually-- boost the appearance of local alternatives + lack of foreign video games? I don't think it's a cornerstone of the economy the way foodstuffs are. Will a local-grown alternative appear? Maybe; that depends on the local priorities and capabilities.
- Alupis 2y ago
  > It's also about making sure the common person in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY feels the pain. This is exactly it - otherwise the populace can just ignore their government's foreign policy decisions. There's consequences for being a bad actor on the global stage... and today that means no more Minecraft, of all things. Perhaps the OP can write a letter to their representative and pressure them to work on easing sanctions...
  - lupusreal 2y ago
    Their government says that America is an evil spiteful bully. The apparent truth of that claim has now been demonstrated to any Iranian who plays Minecraft. You think the result is more Iranians questioning their government? I doubt it.
    - Alupis 2y ago
      There are plenty of Iranians alive today that were around before the current Iranian government. Iranian youth are also much more "aware" of global politics than any generation before them... I think it's difficult for most Iranians to not be aware of their government's decisions and actions around the globe... Besides - what alternative would you propose? Just pretend everything is ok and business as usual? Bomb their government instead of using sanctions?
      - Maken 2y ago
        By that same rule, they are also aware of other governments' decisions and actions around the globe. Concretely, the Reddit user is clearly aware of why this is happening and is blaming the USA government, not his.
        Alupis 2y ago
        Sure - but it would be ridiculous to expect the world to continue business as usual with a nation that has dedicated the past few decades to being as big of a nuisance as possible. Given our administration's current views on Iran, and the Obama administration's similar views, it would have been trivial for Iran to be welcomed back into the international community. Yet... they once again chose the opposite. So, today, that means no more Minecraft. Perhaps one day the population of Iran will have had enough of their government and make changes.
- ImHereToVote 2y ago
  I applaud sanctions because this time Iran simply went too far. It is completely unprecedented that Iran bombed the consulate if Israel. This is an incredibly reckless escalation of violence.
  - Symbiote 2y ago
    It was Israel that bombed the Iranian consulate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_bombing_of_the_Iranian_embassy_in_Damascus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_bombing_of_the_Iranian...
    - ImHereToVote 2y ago
      Oh. Forget all I said then. All is well.
    - brabel 2y ago
      I believe you have missed the joke.
    - blackoil 2y ago
      I believe it was satirical post.
  - compsciphd 2y ago
    it's not like Iran has a problem with Israeli embassies being bombed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Buenos_Aires_Israeli_embassy_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Buenos_Aires_Israeli_emba...
    - ImHereToVote 2y ago
      Terrorism should be condemned. The article specifically states that they weren't state actors. As opposed to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Israeli_assassinations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Israeli_assassinations
      - 2y ago
- rorroe53 2y ago
  Iran is one of those dictatorships where the majority of the population already dislikes (or plain hates) the government, as we have seen in many demonstrations that have been extinguished through use of extreme violence by the regime. Making life more difficult for ordinary Iranians isn't going to change anything as long as the army and revolutionary guard stay loyal to the criminals in power.
  - brabel 2y ago
    > Iran is one of those dictatorships where the majority of the population already dislikes (or plain hates) the government... Right, just like the people of Afghanistan must have hated so much the Taliban, with their cruel and tyrannic grip on power... just waiting for a saviour like the Americans to bring them up to the modern age... Well, we all know that's a load of bullshit now. The very moment the Americans left, without resistance of any kind, the Taliban is back. This happens again and again, in country after country, but people still seem to forget (or not even be aware of anything happening) and think everyone in the world wants to be like them, and when those in faraway places are not behaving like themselves it must be because they're being forcibly coerced by some maleficent dictator or some other imaginary villain. Things are not black and white. Sure, some people in Iran would love a more West-friendly regime, but almost certainly, most would be horrified if their government suddenly started implementing laws to guarantee freedom of speech, legalize abort, separate state and religion, allow same-sex marriage and sex change operations, and a whole lot of stuff that's only preached by the West and is not at all accepted as good by most of the other cultures in the world... can't people just accept that not everyone thinks the same or want to be the same as themselves?? That goes against the Western's own modern values of being accepting of differences and not trying to submit other cultures to our own values and believes.
    - TeaBrain 2y ago
      I don't think this is what they were saying. The political and economic state in Iran is about as far from Afghanistan as possible. Iran/Persia has a long history of national identity and has a highly organized society. Afghanistan is a tribal region and still does not have a sense of nation or really a mature sense of political identity. Iran is also a major power player in Asia with a far stronger economy, with a GDP in the top quartile in the world, and with one of the best performing stock exchanges in Asia in the last decade, while Afghanistan has for many years been the poorest country in Asia. That said, Iran has a political structure that owes little to no obedience to the will of the people, with a non-elected supreme leader and guardian council (half of which are appointed by the supreme leader) who have the final say in all political decisions, so the actions of Iran should not be mistaken as the will of the people, even in the loose sense that representative democracies are.
- bigstrat2003 2y ago
  It seems pretty damn unjust to indiscriminately punish people (the Iranian citizens) who may or may not even agree with what the government is doing and certainly have no power to change it in any case. Unfortunately I, too, have no power over my government or else I would lean on them to stop making life worse for people who did nothing wrong.
  - skeaker 2y ago
    Yeah, it sucks. The only silver lining I see is that it seems this is the alternative to war, in which case people would be indiscriminately enlisted and killed. Maybe things wouldn't go that far either way but it's all I can think of.
    - webninja 2y ago
      Look at how well sanctions worked on Russia. /s. They sure backfired. Especially the USD based sanctions. The idiots who thought them up managed to do more harm to the U.S. than Russia with them. Just go ahead and send in real troops already. At this point, it’ll be better for the US economy and Ukraine. Putin claims the US already pays mercenary forces from the U.S, UKraine, and elsewhere already. He also makes the claim that “talk about Russia using a nuke is just U.S. propaganda” from the government to gather consent from the general population to raise taxes.
  - weatherlite 2y ago
    Interesting take. Do you feel the same about boycotting/sanctioning Israel? The general sentiment I see in HN is definitely pro boycots on Israel.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  I'm sure these children, who just lost their beloved game character and in-game creations, are going to get right on the task of pressuring their government.
- lamontcg 2y ago
  It might be better, though, to keep open communication channels between average people in the two nations. The more you isolate people in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY the more they get their information filtered by those in power. Iran is likely perfectly happy that Iranians have been cut off from Minecraft.
sandworm101 2y ago
They also appear to be banning the country, not the people. People cannot play from Iran, but Iranians apparently remain free to play the game while outside the country. That suggests it is something to do with the provision of network services to Iran IPs rather than anything about the game itself being/sold used by Iranians.
- dhruvmittal 2y ago
  If this was the case, wouldn't the VPN work? Reddit OP said that it didn't. > Even VPN doesn't work. Because Microsoft has linked Minecraft to your Microsoft account and it's hardcoded into it that I am iranian. I tried VPN, and it still said it's banned in my country. source: https://old.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/1cckj2q/today_microsoft_banned_my_country_iran_from/l15x614/ https://old.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/1cckj2q/today_m...
aaron695 2y ago
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mikestew 2y ago

It's not all about preventing the creation of nuclear weapons. It's also about making sure the common person in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY feels the pain. User UncleEntity says it better than I could in a comment that is buried a few levels: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40158797 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40158797

esprehn 2y ago
That would seem to suggest countries should do extensive sanctions on wine and cheese?
- mynameismon 2y ago
  I think its a metaphor alluding to the black market trades of the wealthy leaders?
- philipov 2y ago
  Perhaps not the best turn of phrase, since alcohol is illegal in Iran. However, they can make their own cheese just fine.
- rangerelf 2y ago
  Not all wine and cheese is imported. + lack of imported wine or cheese should --eventually-- boost the appearance of local alternatives + lack of foreign video games? I don't think it's a cornerstone of the economy the way foodstuffs are. Will a local-grown alternative appear? Maybe; that depends on the local priorities and capabilities.
Alupis 2y ago
> It's also about making sure the common person in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY feels the pain. This is exactly it - otherwise the populace can just ignore their government's foreign policy decisions. There's consequences for being a bad actor on the global stage... and today that means no more Minecraft, of all things. Perhaps the OP can write a letter to their representative and pressure them to work on easing sanctions...
- lupusreal 2y ago
  Their government says that America is an evil spiteful bully. The apparent truth of that claim has now been demonstrated to any Iranian who plays Minecraft. You think the result is more Iranians questioning their government? I doubt it.
  - Alupis 2y ago
    There are plenty of Iranians alive today that were around before the current Iranian government. Iranian youth are also much more "aware" of global politics than any generation before them... I think it's difficult for most Iranians to not be aware of their government's decisions and actions around the globe... Besides - what alternative would you propose? Just pretend everything is ok and business as usual? Bomb their government instead of using sanctions?
    - Maken 2y ago
      By that same rule, they are also aware of other governments' decisions and actions around the globe. Concretely, the Reddit user is clearly aware of why this is happening and is blaming the USA government, not his.
      - Alupis 2y ago
        Sure - but it would be ridiculous to expect the world to continue business as usual with a nation that has dedicated the past few decades to being as big of a nuisance as possible. Given our administration's current views on Iran, and the Obama administration's similar views, it would have been trivial for Iran to be welcomed back into the international community. Yet... they once again chose the opposite. So, today, that means no more Minecraft. Perhaps one day the population of Iran will have had enough of their government and make changes.
ImHereToVote 2y ago
I applaud sanctions because this time Iran simply went too far. It is completely unprecedented that Iran bombed the consulate if Israel. This is an incredibly reckless escalation of violence.
- Symbiote 2y ago
  It was Israel that bombed the Iranian consulate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_bombing_of_the_Iranian_embassy_in_Damascus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_bombing_of_the_Iranian...
  - ImHereToVote 2y ago
    Oh. Forget all I said then. All is well.
  - brabel 2y ago
    I believe you have missed the joke.
  - blackoil 2y ago
    I believe it was satirical post.
- compsciphd 2y ago
  it's not like Iran has a problem with Israeli embassies being bombed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Buenos_Aires_Israeli_embassy_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Buenos_Aires_Israeli_emba...
  - ImHereToVote 2y ago
    Terrorism should be condemned. The article specifically states that they weren't state actors. As opposed to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Israeli_assassinations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Israeli_assassinations
    - 2y ago
rorroe53 2y ago
Iran is one of those dictatorships where the majority of the population already dislikes (or plain hates) the government, as we have seen in many demonstrations that have been extinguished through use of extreme violence by the regime. Making life more difficult for ordinary Iranians isn't going to change anything as long as the army and revolutionary guard stay loyal to the criminals in power.
- brabel 2y ago
  > Iran is one of those dictatorships where the majority of the population already dislikes (or plain hates) the government... Right, just like the people of Afghanistan must have hated so much the Taliban, with their cruel and tyrannic grip on power... just waiting for a saviour like the Americans to bring them up to the modern age... Well, we all know that's a load of bullshit now. The very moment the Americans left, without resistance of any kind, the Taliban is back. This happens again and again, in country after country, but people still seem to forget (or not even be aware of anything happening) and think everyone in the world wants to be like them, and when those in faraway places are not behaving like themselves it must be because they're being forcibly coerced by some maleficent dictator or some other imaginary villain. Things are not black and white. Sure, some people in Iran would love a more West-friendly regime, but almost certainly, most would be horrified if their government suddenly started implementing laws to guarantee freedom of speech, legalize abort, separate state and religion, allow same-sex marriage and sex change operations, and a whole lot of stuff that's only preached by the West and is not at all accepted as good by most of the other cultures in the world... can't people just accept that not everyone thinks the same or want to be the same as themselves?? That goes against the Western's own modern values of being accepting of differences and not trying to submit other cultures to our own values and believes.
  - TeaBrain 2y ago
    I don't think this is what they were saying. The political and economic state in Iran is about as far from Afghanistan as possible. Iran/Persia has a long history of national identity and has a highly organized society. Afghanistan is a tribal region and still does not have a sense of nation or really a mature sense of political identity. Iran is also a major power player in Asia with a far stronger economy, with a GDP in the top quartile in the world, and with one of the best performing stock exchanges in Asia in the last decade, while Afghanistan has for many years been the poorest country in Asia. That said, Iran has a political structure that owes little to no obedience to the will of the people, with a non-elected supreme leader and guardian council (half of which are appointed by the supreme leader) who have the final say in all political decisions, so the actions of Iran should not be mistaken as the will of the people, even in the loose sense that representative democracies are.
bigstrat2003 2y ago
It seems pretty damn unjust to indiscriminately punish people (the Iranian citizens) who may or may not even agree with what the government is doing and certainly have no power to change it in any case. Unfortunately I, too, have no power over my government or else I would lean on them to stop making life worse for people who did nothing wrong.
- skeaker 2y ago
  Yeah, it sucks. The only silver lining I see is that it seems this is the alternative to war, in which case people would be indiscriminately enlisted and killed. Maybe things wouldn't go that far either way but it's all I can think of.
  - webninja 2y ago
    Look at how well sanctions worked on Russia. /s. They sure backfired. Especially the USD based sanctions. The idiots who thought them up managed to do more harm to the U.S. than Russia with them. Just go ahead and send in real troops already. At this point, it’ll be better for the US economy and Ukraine. Putin claims the US already pays mercenary forces from the U.S, UKraine, and elsewhere already. He also makes the claim that “talk about Russia using a nuke is just U.S. propaganda” from the government to gather consent from the general population to raise taxes.
- weatherlite 2y ago
  Interesting take. Do you feel the same about boycotting/sanctioning Israel? The general sentiment I see in HN is definitely pro boycots on Israel.
ryandrake 2y ago
I'm sure these children, who just lost their beloved game character and in-game creations, are going to get right on the task of pressuring their government.
lamontcg 2y ago
It might be better, though, to keep open communication channels between average people in the two nations. The more you isolate people in $SANCTIONED_COUNTRY the more they get their information filtered by those in power. Iran is likely perfectly happy that Iranians have been cut off from Minecraft.

sandworm101 2y ago

They also appear to be banning the country, not the people. People cannot play from Iran, but Iranians apparently remain free to play the game while outside the country. That suggests it is something to do with the provision of network services to Iran IPs rather than anything about the game itself being/sold used by Iranians.

dhruvmittal 2y ago
If this was the case, wouldn't the VPN work? Reddit OP said that it didn't. > Even VPN doesn't work. Because Microsoft has linked Minecraft to your Microsoft account and it's hardcoded into it that I am iranian. I tried VPN, and it still said it's banned in my country. source: https://old.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/1cckj2q/today_microsoft_banned_my_country_iran_from/l15x614/ https://old.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/1cckj2q/today_m...

aaron695 2y ago

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