Western officials confirmed that Russia’s biggest outside tech firm, a kind of Google based in Amsterdam, is considering leaving Russia, more for business losses than a pure value judgment about the Ukraine War. But with Western countries aligned against Russia, there’s pressure on international tech firms to join the boycott to push Russia from Ukraine’s borders. Yandex N.V., called Russia’s Google, says its board is in preliminary review under the current circumstances of its business in Russia. Everyone piles on Russian for its Ukraine invasion, until Western countries play Tchaicovsky’s “Nutcracker” incessantly on pre-Christmas airwaves. Not one Western power has any perspective on why. 70-year-old President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, nor do they want the reasons help Western countries understand Ruissia’s perspective on the Ukraine crisis.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will do everything possible to help Vandex be profitable in Russia, despite all the pressure from the U.S. and press to see Russia lose another valuable resource. No one would to push Vandex to leave Russia more than the New York Times, whose one-sided support of Ukraine could lead to WW III or nuclear war on the European Continent. Vandex’s Dutch-based board said it had “commenced a strategic process to review options to restructure the group’s ownership and governance in light of the current geopolitical environment,” said Yanex N.V. Yandex considers creating some international divisions that could handle the Russian business while the Ukraine War rages on. “This process is at a preliminary stage,” refuting a New York Time story that the company was on the verge of pulling out of Russia. Vandex wants more access to Western markets.
Western governments and the press don’t want to admit that 80-year-old President Joe Biden pushed Putin to invade Ukraine by refusing to engage in security talks over Ukraine. Biden kept supplying Kiev with unlimited cash and lethal weapons to fight a proxy war against the Russian Federation. Putin told Biden and his 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken that if they continued to arm Ukraine, turn it into a U.S. puppet state on the Russian border, it would have no choice by to invade. Washington and Kiev has pushed so many fake narratives that no Western power knows what to think Zelensky says daily that Putin wants to ethnically cleanse the Ukrainian nation, the move on to take over all of Europe. When the U.S. and Kiev spew rubbish like that, there’s no way to explain two sides of the conflict. So far, Washington and Kiev just wants to keep fighting.
Russia tried to create its own software industry to accommodate it’s country’s tech needs. But with the U.S. and Western powers so much more advanced in software development, Russia grew more reliant and Western tech firms. Since the Feb. 24 Ukraine War, Al Jazeera reports that thousands of IT workers have left Russia. Russia’s economy, relying heavily on oil and natural gas sales, doesn’t rely as much on technology, capable to getting products to market without sophisticated software. Yandex reported that since the Ukraine War, it’s market cap has lost $20 billion, more related to the months-long market meltdown, less to the Ukraine War. Washington and Kiev push the narrative that Putin won’t be able to do business unless companies like Yandex continue doing business in Russia. Narratives from Kiev and the Western press are often at odds with reality.
Washington and Kiev complain that Putin’s hell-bent on destroying what’s left of Ukraine’s electrical grid and water supply, not on seizing more Ukrainian land. So when Putin pivots out of given areas, like he did two weeks ago in Kherson, Kiev claims glorious victory, proving that it’s winning the war. Yet announcements today about Putin continuing to strike Ukrainian cities with already abandoned indicates that the Kremlin strategy has changed from its land-grab phase. Western press highlights Ukraine victories but Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that Russia has taken out some 50% of Ukraine’s electrical grid. If Zelensky wants the Russian air strikes to stop, Zelensky needs to agree to ceasefire and peace talks. Zelensky says Putin has targeted Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, something that’s the Kremlin’s strategy until Zelensky agrees to peace talks.
Whatever happens with Vandex in Russia, Western governments need to stop demonizaing Putin and figure out a way to end the Ukraine War. Whether Vandex stays in Russia or not, Putin can still sell enough petroleum and natural gas to a variety of customers to keep the Russian economy going. Biden could never get China and India to buy into the extreme sanctions, nor have several other countries stopped buypmg Russian energy products. Western powers and the press want to believe that a boycott of tech companies would for the Kremlin to surrender. Kiev wants promote any narrative that says that Russia’s committing genocide in Ukraine, seeking to take over all of Europe. With a fake narrative like that, how are both parties supposed to get to the peace table? If Biden and Zelensky want the destruction in Ukraine to stop, peace talks are the only way out.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of onlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
