No to hatred, yes to sanctions... also on SG.

(EDIT March 21st)

Obviously, it's time for me to take another break from SG.

I am dismayed by how little our community cares about Ukrainians and how much it cares about poor Russians living their cozy lives under their oppressive (and criminal) regime. I'm also dismayed, how easily otherwise sensible people fall into russian propaganda stereotype, that everyone trying to oppose rashism must be a russophobe. Which I am not. I am however an anti-fascist, no matter if we talk about folks glorifying nazi war criminals or folks actively or passively supporting Putin's rashism and invasion of Ukraina.

It's hard for me to believe, that if we were talking about September of 1939, when Germany started the WWII invading Poland (or July of 1941, when according to Russia the WWII began), so many of you would as well argue, that sanctions about poor German citizens are unjustified, because they have no way to oppose Hitler and are oppressed by nazi regime, and that they would have no other effect, but to cause uncalled for hardship on those people, many of whom are opposed to their regime.

If that's, how you see the current situation, then you are either supporting Putin and rashism or there is something really messed up in your thinking. For all I know, in all those years nazis never got even close to getting 50% national support in 3rd Reich, and now most of you are willing to fight against oppressive sanctions directed against innocent Russians, when according to every source, when the invasion of Ukraine began, well over 50% (probably close to 65-70%) of russian citizens have supported Putin's war. Also, well over 50% of them believes, that after dealing with Ukraina, Russia should deal in a similar manner with "the threat posed to it" by, among others, Poland, Moldova and Baltic States. Because, according to rashism, Russia has the right to regain their imperial influence on at least the whole territory of the former Soviet empire and semi-occupied Warsaw Pact countries.

A week ago in my town there was a demonstration against the russian invasion of Ukraina, organized by Russians living in Poland. Unfortunately, I didn't know about it at that time, because if I knew, I would be there to support them and thank them. As I will try to support and help any Russian actively opposing Putin and rashism. Actually, if you are opposed to Putin and you want to flee the threat of being conscripted into russian military, if you are able to reach polish borders directly from russian or belarussian territory, I may be able to help you gain a political asylum in Poland. But if you live in Russia or you are a russian citizen, and you are you are not willing to actively oppose the Putin's regime, then in my opinion you are also responsible for the actions of your country, so sanctions limiting your access to any kind of luxury goods (and games are certainly not a basic necessity) are fully justified and in current situation necessary.

This should however never impact the free flow of information. Actually I'm also dismayed by opportunism and lack of courage of publishers blocking sales of their games in Russia. They should never do so themselves. They should have forced Putin's regime to do this, by patching their games with messages condemning russian invasion of Ukraina (like unskippable intro, when you first start the game). But this, ofc, could lead to their games being permanently banned in Russia, while stopping their sales now, they can be pretty sure to be able to resume them shortly. So, yes, a lot of those sanctions in just a PR bullshit :( .

It's true and unfortunate, that I've been imprecise in my OP - it was pretty obvious to me, that I'm speaking about blocking access to GAs, not to discussions. But even ignoring this, maybe my original proposal has also been flawed. Possibly, it could be a better solution not to limit the access to GAs to anybody, but to make it necessary for every winner to agree with a statement condemning the russian invasion before claiming any win. Each time and everyone. But reading the answers in this thread I don't see anyone (sorry if I missed a post or 2) trying to find a better solution to the one, that I've proposed, and except the not so many people, that agree with me, I see almost all the rest seemingly caring much more about not harming the "poor, self-oppressed, innocent Russians", than about trying to help the Ukraina. Unfortunately, my personal reward for the best answer here has to go Glorow.

Sadly, I must end with 1 more controversial statement. To those of you, that have blacklisted me over this thread or will do so (which I fully expected to happen), I have just 1 request: Please, never remove me from your blacklist, because I'm not able to trace and blacklist all of you. Well, all except one person from Ukraine, that probably has totally misunderstood, what I was writing about.

Take care and don't get yourself killed, neither by war nor by COVID. And just make sure, that you will not be ashamed of yourself, when all of this is over. One day, probably in a year or so, when Ukraina is once again at peace and regains all of its territory, and when Putin is no longer ruling Russia, I will be back here, hopefully finding all of my friends here as well.

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(Original, unedited post)

As long as SG does not block Russian and Belarusian residents and there is no final peace treaty between Ukraine and Russia, all my GAs will be region restricted, with possibility to enter them form Russia and Belarus blocked. If any of the groups, that I'm in, will find this unacceptable, I will suspend my membership in that group.

We should be helping victims of this war. Not only Ukrainians, but also Russians and Belarusians, if they are persecuted for opposing the war.

We should (and we do) accept women, children and elderly refugees from Ukraine, but also accept objectors from Russia and Belarus, if they are fleeing military service or danger of being drafted there.

At the same time however we should apply sanctions against Russian and Belarusian nationals, as long as they are in their countries or as long as they do not unequivocally condemn the war, while living abroad. Mostly we do. Not many of us would argue, that a Russian athlete should be allowed to take part in an international competition, just because that person possibly does not support Putin and is against the war. It's very sad, that we have to make someone not only uncomfortable, but possibly break their dreams, but that's the only way in which we can not only protest, but also help those people oppressed by their regimes, to free themselves.

I know, what I'm talking about. I'm from Poland and I have lived through this. In 1981, after "Solidarity" has been crushed by the communist regime declaration of Martial Law, we were subjected to very strong sanctions. Vast majority of folks, that were trying to actively oppose the government, were not only supporting them, but even asking for those sanctions to be expanded. Protests against them were coming from those, that were the government's supporters, and from significant part of those, who decided to care about their day to day life, and not about any principles, freedoms and folks arrested and imprisoned. But with time results of those very sanctions have actually made them more active. If those sanctions have not been placed and maintained for a long time, in 1988-1989 most likely we would not be the first country to break out of the Soviet camp.

Sanctions are not only the only message of condemnation, that Kremlin can't suppress for a prolonged time, but also a tool to turn those, that are passive, against their government. And usually, most people are passive, as long as they are reasonably comfortable.

Hearing, that we are not at war here (meaning SG, as it's been later explained), I can only see it as a way to preserve our own zone of comfort by avoiding taking the stand, that we easily can. I'm convinced, that SG should join the sanctions and block Russian and Belarusian residents for as long, as there is no final peace treaty between Ukraine and Russia. As long as it doesn't, I will apply those sanctions to my GAs. I hope, that I will not be the only one doing so.

Sadly a very cheap potato train, lvl 2, 1 week, minor bot protection in the link (all games are from Fanatical Dollar Chronicle Bundle, nothing more left in my reserve after the recent still running Cakeday train).

And sorry to my Russian and Belarusian friends here (not really sure, who you are, I rarely check nationalities here, even if shown on Steam profiles, but sure some of you are from there). I can only say, that I hope for Putin to be overthrown and for things to be back to normal in a very short time. Because, if this doesn't happen fast, then the new Cold War will last for a long time... possibly till the end of mankind, as we know it :(.

Freedom and Victory for Ukraine!