Yeah, I had Ministry in mind when I titled this.
I had written earlier of how in how the US and western nations were handling it, this situation in Ukraine was a war. Sure, NATO troops weren't doing the shooting - instead, we're fighting to the last brave Ukranian while providing weapons and encouragement. We're cutting off any other source of skepticism or contrary statements to the extent of cutting out the Russian Defence Ministry from Google Search results.
The real issue isn't even the sanctions. To whatever degree it works in the favor of the west, it's indiscriminate economic carpet bombing, harming the people of the country and not the rulers. Since it's also cutting off the west from needed supplies, the people in the west, and not their rulers, are also the ones suffering.
It's awful and stupid and doesn't actually hurt what would be a valid military target if you were aiming artillery, but no, the issue isn't even sanctions.
It's the theft. I wrote:
Going after people who haven't actually broken a local law, and seizing their property simply because you don't like them, is not what a society based on laws does. We haven't declared war - so yes, it's "because we don't like them." Resuscitating - or at least floating the idea - of letters of marque is a bad idea when you consider reciprocity and that a good chunk of the world's population didn't go along with the sanctions and condemnation.
The hysterics include excising Dostoyevsky and Tchaikovsky and Russian Blue cats. Companies that were happy to work with mass murdering regimes to the tune of millions are cutting off Russia. Offices, stores, and restaurant chains are being shut down. Some of these offices - McDonald's comes to mind - have refused, and stayed open under new management, with better and cheaper locally procured food. Nevertheless, at every level, private, financial, and governmental, Russians were declared persona non grata, and property and resources seized. Germany is trying to seize control of Gazprom storage facilities. We've cut off Russia from the main dollar-tied banking system to cripple them. The credit card companies and computer and tech companies have worked to cut them off as well.
Rule of law, contracts, etc., operate on trust.
Search engines operate on the premise that they will index everything and then provide you with results that match what you ask for (and we already know Google has been dicking with the results for years, now DuckDuckGo and others are joining the fun). Google is removing the Russian Defense ministry, and I'm sure other sites, from their results. Many are cheering this in the NPC media-directed two minutes of hate, but the games they're playing now render them unfit for purpose.
Banks operate on the premise that they'll act as a place to store money and act as a means to facilitate exchange and transactions. It's well known that many of the multinationals have not only allowed Cartel leaders and murderous tyrants to bank with them, but in some ways actively aided and abetted some of these monsters. It turns out even the Swiss are willing to throw away their famed neutrality, decades and decades of hard-earned reputation.
We've demonstrated that in the west, we cannot be trusted to honor our agreements. That we'll abandon them when we (unwisely) think it favors us and hurts our foes.
Most importantly, that when we do enter into a conflict, that we cannot be negotiated with in good faith to end the conflict.
