MSGID: 2:221/1.58@fidonet fabef47b   
   REPLY: 517.fidointernet@3:633/384 26a17882   
   PID: OpenXP/5.0.51 (Win32)   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   TZUTC: -0400   
   Hello Dennis!   
      
   ** On Thursday 24.03.22 - 20:50, you wrote to me:   
      
    AA>> Perhaps there is such a thing as the right thing.  :/   
      
    DK> That is not for companies to decide.  Matters of   
    DK> international politics should be dealt by statesmen who   
    DK> understand diplomacy, international relations, not CEO's   
    DK> who think because they know how market a product, or make   
    DK> some money, that they can solve the worlds political   
    DK> problems.   
      
   I don't believe everything, specifically hardware-based   
   technology, has to be sanctioned by gov't before it is released     
   to the public. Most gov'ts don't even understand technologies.   
      
      
    DK> This is a recipe for disaster as international relations   
    DK> is not beholden to these rogue actors.   
      
   As far as I know, businesses are free to conduct business with     
   other countries as they see fit. The gov't has tarrifs and     
   duties that they impose.   
      
      
    AA>> It would be not different if a bunch of doctors got   
    AA>> organized on their own, call themselves Drs Without   
    AA>> Borders, and go help people with meds and medical   
    AA>> expertise.   
      
    DK> Offering medical assistance is completely different to   
    DK> enabling and supporting military activities.   
      
   Well.. conducting medical services to a soldier is just as much     
   as "enabling and supporting militarty activities". He gets     
   treated, and back he goes to fight.   
      
   Wrt, to Starlink, the internet service is just a comms system.     
   What users/customers do with it is THEIR doing. Criminal and     
   secret things get conducted over the internet all the time.   
      
   A lament on privacy from 1972..   
      
    https://kolico.ca/mpg/TGC1972-privacy.mp4   
      
      
    DK> Russians and Chinese won't see it the way you do, which is   
    DK> important because they both have nukes, and the ability to   
    DK> defeat the US in war should one start.  This is a time to   
    DK> tread carefully, to negotiate a peaceful solution, but if   
    DK> some random CEO is going to do something which starts a   
    DK> conflict, we're stuffed.   
      
   It is hard to know if just the Russians and Chinese can defeat     
   the US. No doubt all large countries have plenty of nuclear     
   power to cause a lot of damage.  But a nuclear fight will     
   affect the agressor and destroy the livelyhood of many     
   surrounding places.   
      
   Perhaps Putin underestimated the resourcefulness of private     
   citizens of other countries to one-up him on severing typical     
   comms systems and the internet in the country that he is     
   blasting. The people who are either trapped in Ukraine or who     
   choose to stay deserve to be in touch with the outside world     
   and their loved ones.   
      
   --   
     ../|ug   
      
   --- OpenXP 5.0.51   
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