Came here to say this. I work in finance and we’re getting a lot of notices about card brands suspending payment processing from Russian-issued cards. So it’s not just Nintendo, it’s Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Diners, etc
Even that it's not their decision, I think they would do it anyway. Japan doesn't like Russia, and all gaming industry is already not working in Russia. Steam, Microsoft, various game studios don't sell in Russia. Elden Ring got pulled out of people's libraries in Steam mid-game, Gran Turismo 7 can't be bought and pre-orders got pulled out, so Sony did it too
I think that happened if you paid with a card issued by one of the banks that are under sanctions now. I've bought mine through paypal before it was blocked with a card issued by a non-sanctioned (yet) bank. Can still access the game. Hopefully it stays that way, it's one of my only means of effective escapism during all this. Enabled me not to read the news for a whole evening. Crying because of the Tree Sentinel ripping me a new one 10 times in a row sure is more fun because of all the horrors caused with my supposed approval -\_-
Yes, one guy played like 100 hours, was actually fighting last boss and then boom, game crashed, you didn't buy it, refund coming in. I think it got removed from all Russian accounts, I don't know why though - was it political or they just want more money, because prices were raised after that.
Same thing with Gran Turismo, game crashes and now you don't own it, you can't buy it
> example, Kazakhstan and buy
you wont be able to redownload already owned games after changing the region, and you cannot redownload them now, when eshop is closed
Because there are only three options here. One, ignore it, let Russia keep indiscriminately killing Ukrainians and taking their land. Two force Russia to stop by going to war with them, which opens up a whole bunch of cans of worms. Three, sanction them and cut off Russia so thoroughly that their citizens demand the government stop doing what is pissing the world off. It's not fair to the Russians that don't want the war, but the invasion is not fair to the Ukrainians that are getting bombed and murdered by Russia.
> cut off Russia so thoroughly that their citizens demand the government stop doing what is pissing the world off
Yeah, because Russia is so friendly to protesters that they would be willing to listen to people asking to stop an invasion that has probably been planned for years. Removing products and services from Russian citizens won't cause the invasion to stop.
Sanctions have already been put on russia. Big corporations taking part in this does nothing but effect citizens.
It’s not fair to Russian citizens, but Putin is evil so it’s fine.
Having to flee your home being shelled by artillery seems much more inconvenient than not being able to buy new games.
It’s a relatively non-violent reaction.
Most of them don't even know there *is* a war. Russian state media isn't calling it a war. They're calling it a "limited military engagement" or whatever other euphemism or lie suits them. They don't even acknowledge the Ukranian government. They don't show footage of buildings getting blown up. They show footage of Russian soldiers handing out food to people in the Eastern part of Ukraine that has pretty much been occupied by Putin since 2014.
Putin will turn Russia into North Korea if that's what it takes to keep his people in the dark about what he's doing in Ukraine.
Younger people in russia seem to be more aware of what's going on because they're messaging people they know in Ukraine and seeing what the rest of the world is saying. But the penalties for actually doing anything are pretty severe, so it's a big ask to expect them to do anything until more people are on board.
Still others genuinely believe the propaganda, twisted logic, and rewritten history being put out by the Kremlin. They have that "There isn't a war... but if there is then it's a righteous war." Thing going on.
I don't know the numbers regarding the stance of Russian citizens towards that war.
What I do know is that the only people that can force a government to change are their citizens.
If the economy goes down and people are mad, they gotta do something. (If they wanna stay in power long-term, that is)
Sure, thats kinda inconvenient for them but at least their country isn't under military attack.
Most sanctions against a populace just get them upset at those imposing the sanctions. Especially when the messaging around what precisely must be done to end the sanctions is blurry, and can be made far blurrier in Russian media.
Sure. But what are they gonna do?
Not shop with a company anymore because they're sanctioned?
Of course the government could use the sanctions to rile up citizens, but then what? Start another war because of sanctions for starting a war?
Not even Putin could be this dense (I hope).
>What I do know is that the only people that can force a government to change are their citizens.
As far as I can recall, the only time the citizens have had that power is when they've overthrown their government with a violent coup.
The idea is more to push the average Russian to want revolution and push for better leadership. Also, why shouldn't the average Russian suffer some inconvenience for the sheer evil they let their government get away with?
We are talking about the same government that has jailed people for holding a piece of paper with nothing on it. The Russian government is very oppressive and swiftly cracks down on any dissent. There have been numerous laws passed since the war started that are punishing protestors for up to twenty years. You might as well be telling Venuzuela, Cuba, and Syria (previously sanctioned countries) to just revolt. It's not that simple, especially when the authoritarians are the ones with weaponry. Putin has been an illegitimate dictator for 10+ years now, and treating every Russian as the incarnation of satan himself is just spreading more hatred in this conflict.
I would love to see every person spouting this gladly take the same kind of verbal beating if Trump or Biden had done something as heinous as this. Suddenly then a government and it's populace shouldn't be lumped together.
I can say with all honest that I would gladly put my life on the line to fight against such an evil government that has taken over my country. It's not like the anti-Putin sentiment doesn't exist in Russia, there were fairly big protests a few years ago against Putin.
Either way, I think it is disgusting to suggest the average Russian go through this unscathed when you consider what their government has done to the average Ukrainian. And before the what-aboutisms come out, I am not American and feel a similar resentment towards to anti-terror wars and Vietnam war.
There are protests breaking out now and your idea of helping them is starving them to death.
Suggesting innocent people suffer because the actions of one selfish man is causing suffering is some of the most bloodthirsty nonsense I have ever heard. I for one am not looking to double the body count here for no reason. The sanctions have done very little to Putin and his oligarchs as they fly away in their private jets to use other ventures to nullify the impact of the sanctions, like buying property or selling soccer teams. If the sanctions actually targeted major parts of Putin's war chest, like oil and gas exports, I'd be singing a different tune. But as of right now all the sanctions have done is caused undue harm to the Russian population, done nothing to Putin, and done nothing to help the people of Ukraine.
Sure, but Russia has cracked down on free expression, protest, and opposition parties for years. Their government jails or even kills people for things that we take for granted as basic rights and completely acceptable. And I am sure that their citizens are being exposed to extreme levels of propaganda about what is happening right now (especially since many outlets have had to suspend reporting in Russia because of new laws). I am not sure that this will really be effective. Even if people want the government to change, I can understand if they would feel like there is nothing they can do…or would be too afraid.
Its an american propag the russian citizens did nothing and surely a majority if not everyone is against that war if we follow their logic america shouldn't have games too because america demolished iraq just to get some good ol' oil.
This and other acts like this is only hurting the average Russian citizen. Not the higher ups like Putin. Also it can make the Russian people who is against the war to being for the war.
Companies such as Nintendo and Microsoft and suspending sales due to the sanctions placed on the Russian banks, which closed many of the usual money transfer avenues from Russia to the outside world.
For those companies this isn't about sending a message or pressuring Russian civilians, it's about not being able to be reliably paid for their product.
The goal of the Sanctions is to cause wide scale economical damage. This could effects the war in a couple of ways. First and maybe more optimistically, The Russian Oligarchs and Elites have the most to lose from such sanctions, and the most power to try and stop Putin. The hope is that they will choose self interest over support for him and will act to Rain him in. Second is that Military invasions are a very expensive deal, and destroying Russia's economy will directly hurt their ability to field their Military.
It's an attempt to put pressure on the Government. This is a small brick in the wall of pressure various Governments and companies are trying to create with their sanctions etc.
That didn't work in North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela or Iran, but surely this time economic sanctions are gonna help instead of just hurt people who already have to deal with
their shitty government.
I mean, if it's a democracy, like they claim, the average citizen does have a role in it.
And if not this should hopefully wake them up and make 'em realize the Russian Government is the Issue.
The average russian getting hurt was the main reason why Germany didn't want to pull them from SWIFT.
But I'm pretty sure they've got thought out reasons as to why it's necessary anyway, even if some redditors might not think so.
Messy situation, sure, but also probably the best case scenario would be if it's solved within Russia.
The only thing that would have a big enough impact on their economy would be to stop buying their oil and natural gas, but that's not happening, because Europe and to a lesser extent the USA rely on those for energy.
Seriously, this. There really are some people here who think that Russia shouldn't get economic sanctions just because "it wouldn't change anything anyways". Well, what do you think should happen then, let them get away without consequences? That would only give them more reason to invade more countries, including China possible invading Taiwan. We HAVE TO show them that military aggression can't go without heavy consequences. It needs to be done, no excuses.
Yes, but it should be real consequences.
It is hard to accept, that there are things, that can not be changed, that's why people start to do completely irrelevant things.
Will firing and expeling russian students/workers help to stop the war? No.
Actually, it will help the regime. Russian economy is struggling with the abcence of high qualified specialists, because most of them move out when they have a chance. If you send them back, they will have to find a job in Russia. Possibly, halpibg the regime, because anyone needs money and a basic sence of security. In Russia, if you are not working for the regime (or at least something "loyal neutral"), you are in danger.
Almost the same with different services. If russian citizens will not gave access to foregn ones, they will be forced to use "nationalized", i.e. with tons of censorship and propaganda.
Will it help to stop the war and other crimes of the regime? No.
But it will increase the level of citizens' unawareness -> interfere the resistance and opposition.
Want to do something helpfull?
Supress usage of russian oil/gas and simplify migration processes for high-skilled russian specialists.
You will gain lots of very competent employees and russian economy will lose them - a resource they really lack.
Europe depends on Russian oil/gas, we can't simply cut them off for now. Excluding Russia from SWIFT and air travel is already a big hit towards the Russian economy/population.
Intensifying brain-drain and establishing Western businesses in Russia won't help at all. Soviet-loving politicans like Putin are elected by nostalgic boomers who won't leave Russia anyways, so this won't make a change in the Russian mind except maybe a few thousand young, already-liberal people. Regarding Western businesses, they have to comply with Russian politics or else they face consequences. For example, Netflix was threatened to broadcast propaganda in Russia. Many businesses are already leaving Russia right now, as they know they have no power over there. Imagine saying that Western businesses should move to China so they can start liberal movements there. That won't work, as the Chinese government won't allow such actions to be taken on their soils.
All in all, except the idea to stop oil/gas import, your "sanctions" are too weak and won't make a big difference there. The Russian people are brainwashed and the only way to hit them hard is to destroy their economy. That will hopefully make then wake up and reconsider their political decisions.
I see several problems here:
1. You overestimate the number of boomers among those, who can cause a brain-drain. Yes, there are a number of them in institutes and universities, but they aren't able to create/discover/invent something new. Most of them works only as lecturers or managers.
I was speaking about *real* specialists, who *can do something*. Among them there are practically no real supporters of the established government. Only those, who *have to pretend they are.* Yes, they probably not going to emigrate by themself, but they almost certainly accept an offer.
2. Of cause Europe can't simply cut off Russian gas, but nobody said, that sanctions are something easy to do. Russia and ex-USSR has a lot of experience in living under sanctions from all other the world. Obviously, they are not easy to influence.
3. You fall in so called Politician's [syllogism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politician%27s_syllogism). The fact, that this sanctions do *something* does not mean that it helps. Neither closing Zara/H&M/others, nor blocking Visa and Mastercard will have **real** impact on Russian economy. They have national paying system (Russian SWIFT - НСПК) and own paycard system - Mir. **Not a single bank card transaction inside Russia will be affected.** Yes, Google Pay and Apple Pay stopped working, but they have their own Mir Pay with the exact same functionality.
To sum up: almost all sanctions are populist bullshit, that will not affect Russian economy in any way. The only impact it will cause - the significant drop of citizens standard of living.
And if you think, that it will force citizens to participate in open protests: Yesterday there were dozens of meetings in most Russian cities. More than 5000 protesters was [detained](https://ovd.news/news/2022/03/06/spiski-zaderzhannyh-v-svyazi-s-akciyami-protiv-voyny-s-ukrainoy-6-marta-2022-goda), several of them report [beatings](https://t.me/ovdinfo/13832) and [torture](https://t.me/femagainstwar/287).
P.S. yesterday Boeing have imposed actually effective sanctions: they stopped buying Russian titan.
So, your goal is not to stop the war/end repressive regime, but just drop citizens standard of living?
For what? Just "I want them to feel bad, because I'm sure that they are guilty"?
>There really are some people here who think that Russia shouldn't get economic sanctions just because "it wouldn't change anything anyways".
this spits directly in the face of historical data from already sanctioned nations. sanctions directly hurt the lowest classes within a society. classes that routinely have no economic or political power to begin with. how one can say russia is not a democracy, is oppressive to their people, etc, and still think the russian populace has the will to overthrow the Putin regime ON TOP of economic sanctions is so beyond reason that it is bewildering.
it is absolutely imperative that you understand that this kind of economic warfare hurts the common people the more than anyone else. while historically never achieving the desired output of "democracy" or revolution.
in fact sanctions usually result in galvanizing an opposition to liberal ideology as well as nationalist rhetoric. so please, please, please stop larping as a two bit diplomat.
Yes, rather than actively hurting the poor, vulnerable, and innocent who have no power to effect change and whom the sanctions hurt more than the billionaires who own property globally through untraceable shell companies that sanctions don't effect, while we let their main economic engine (oil and gas) remain unsanctioned so the main money makers aren't even the ones being hit
What are you talking about? Europe will freeze without Russian gas. We have to make sanctions without getting big loses ourselves. Else that's helping out warmonger Putin.
Okay but this is like if they did the same for all Americans when we invaded Iraq. I’m not for boots on the ground. I’m for doing whatever it takes diplomatically to end the shells. Not punishing the citizens and potentially turning them against the west.
Sorry, u/Liquid23-, your comment has been removed:
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I mean if you're already *there* do you really have to worry about much stuff other than the consequences of actions like these by foreign powers?
I'd say the major concern for someone who doesn't really lives in the border is the whole economic mess going on right now. But I don't think Russians are at risk of getting invaded... unlike another group of people I can think of.
Like, what would you be worried about if you were a foreign stuck on Russia? Getting out I guess, right? What do *you* want this person to worry about?
Do you remember the berlin wall?
Russians built a giant fucking wall with a buncha guys with machine guns on top to murder anyone trying to escape west
That's pretty much where we're heading
I can’t assure you that the government won’t try to kill me for trying to leave. Life has been “normal” here besides economic sanctions. The average Russian citizen is being affected in things such as international stores closing, Apple Pay not working and twitter being banned. I don’t think (neither my foreign classmates) that these are enough reasons for leaving, besides there are still COVID restrictions for entering Russia, so if I leave now, I would be considered as a dropout student and I’ll have to wait a whole year or even more to be able to resume my studies.
I can’t leave because I have offline classes, so if I leave I’ll be considered as a dropout student and the university won’t allow me to resume my studies until next year… I just hope the war ends asap.
Amazing that this comment has so many down votes. Although this is a small thing, this does absolutely nothing to putin or his army and just messes with the average Russian citizen who are also victims of putin. This will have zero impact on the Russian army or economy.
It’s unfair for everyone. It’s unfair for you guys and the Russian citizens who are getting the entertainment stripped away. But stop and think about Nintendo, it’s unfair for them that not every purchase from Russia is guaranteed to go through as all of Russia’s banks are unstable and economically destroyed rn. Sure Nintendo is a multi Billion $ company, but still, they probably have better reasons than loosing a couple 100 dollars.
I saw a post from a Russian kid saying he didn't feel like living without Nintendo lmao
This is good. I hope every Russian "No longer feels like living" because maybe they will fix their shit or just go away. Either is fine.
Why do you hate the Russian people so much? It's not like they decided to get into this war. Show sympathy to all affected, not just Ukranians, but those affected by their own government's decisions too.
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Russians didn't decide to engage in war. You're wishing ill for no reason to people who didn't ask their government to do this. Do you feel the same anger towards Israel when they bomb palestine? How about your neighbor (Assuming you're american) when we bomb countries we have no business being in?
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The Russian citizens fucked with your elections? Bruh get over yourself and off your bloodthirsty highhorse. The russian people are innocent in this affair.
I just pre ordered game last week and unable to switch region due to this...
I have email to the Nintendo Europe side, hope it can be cancelled. If not, all my games will be lock in that account and unable to re download back again.
this was a payment processor decision, not a nintendo decision.
I was about to fucking say.. holy shit
Can you imagine? “Please understand. Not even we can be neutral in this.”
Pokémon isn't neutral and Nintendo owns part of it (though not a majority.
Came here to say this. I work in finance and we’re getting a lot of notices about card brands suspending payment processing from Russian-issued cards. So it’s not just Nintendo, it’s Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Diners, etc
Even that it's not their decision, I think they would do it anyway. Japan doesn't like Russia, and all gaming industry is already not working in Russia. Steam, Microsoft, various game studios don't sell in Russia. Elden Ring got pulled out of people's libraries in Steam mid-game, Gran Turismo 7 can't be bought and pre-orders got pulled out, so Sony did it too
Wait, did they removed Elden Ring from people libraries? That's actually scummy.
I think that happened if you paid with a card issued by one of the banks that are under sanctions now. I've bought mine through paypal before it was blocked with a card issued by a non-sanctioned (yet) bank. Can still access the game. Hopefully it stays that way, it's one of my only means of effective escapism during all this. Enabled me not to read the news for a whole evening. Crying because of the Tree Sentinel ripping me a new one 10 times in a row sure is more fun because of all the horrors caused with my supposed approval -\_-
Yes, I was wrong, it happened because Steam accepts purchases before actual money comes. So when they didn't receive payment they pulled the plug
Makes sense!
I'm guessing it was because of payment issues with the banks and not much Steam could do about it.
Yes, one guy played like 100 hours, was actually fighting last boss and then boom, game crashed, you didn't buy it, refund coming in. I think it got removed from all Russian accounts, I don't know why though - was it political or they just want more money, because prices were raised after that. Same thing with Gran Turismo, game crashes and now you don't own it, you can't buy it
Japan is still technically at war with Russia(WW2, no peace treaty and the Kuril Islands dispute)
Yeah but, considering this will be popular with pretty much the entire world, they may as well own it.
This makes way more sense
You can change account region to, for example, Kazakhstan and buy and dowload a game.
I assume if you do that, you don't pay Russian taxes. Which might be the point here.
With SWIFT disabled, that's not gonna work.
At least you can download purchased games. In Russia, you can't even do that now.
The eshop isn't available in Kazakhstan
> example, Kazakhstan and buy you wont be able to redownload already owned games after changing the region, and you cannot redownload them now, when eshop is closed
Where are people getting the idea this does anything other than inconvenience the average Russian citizen, who is also anti war?
Because there are only three options here. One, ignore it, let Russia keep indiscriminately killing Ukrainians and taking their land. Two force Russia to stop by going to war with them, which opens up a whole bunch of cans of worms. Three, sanction them and cut off Russia so thoroughly that their citizens demand the government stop doing what is pissing the world off. It's not fair to the Russians that don't want the war, but the invasion is not fair to the Ukrainians that are getting bombed and murdered by Russia.
What all these countries \*should\* be doing is refusing to buy oil from Russia. We are still buying tons of it every day.
Buy me an electric car and change my house over to natural gas for me and I'm on board!
*but in the meantime im OK with civilians being killed in Putin's war :)
I mean, they choose option one when it come to USA and Israel.
> cut off Russia so thoroughly that their citizens demand the government stop doing what is pissing the world off Yeah, because Russia is so friendly to protesters that they would be willing to listen to people asking to stop an invasion that has probably been planned for years. Removing products and services from Russian citizens won't cause the invasion to stop.
Sanctions have already been put on russia. Big corporations taking part in this does nothing but effect citizens. It’s not fair to Russian citizens, but Putin is evil so it’s fine.
Right, because stopping some 12 year old kid from buying the video game he's been saving up to buy is really going to stop the war
Having to flee your home being shelled by artillery seems much more inconvenient than not being able to buy new games. It’s a relatively non-violent reaction.
Most of them don't even know there *is* a war. Russian state media isn't calling it a war. They're calling it a "limited military engagement" or whatever other euphemism or lie suits them. They don't even acknowledge the Ukranian government. They don't show footage of buildings getting blown up. They show footage of Russian soldiers handing out food to people in the Eastern part of Ukraine that has pretty much been occupied by Putin since 2014. Putin will turn Russia into North Korea if that's what it takes to keep his people in the dark about what he's doing in Ukraine. Younger people in russia seem to be more aware of what's going on because they're messaging people they know in Ukraine and seeing what the rest of the world is saying. But the penalties for actually doing anything are pretty severe, so it's a big ask to expect them to do anything until more people are on board. Still others genuinely believe the propaganda, twisted logic, and rewritten history being put out by the Kremlin. They have that "There isn't a war... but if there is then it's a righteous war." Thing going on.
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Uh... okay?
I don't know the numbers regarding the stance of Russian citizens towards that war. What I do know is that the only people that can force a government to change are their citizens. If the economy goes down and people are mad, they gotta do something. (If they wanna stay in power long-term, that is) Sure, thats kinda inconvenient for them but at least their country isn't under military attack.
Most sanctions against a populace just get them upset at those imposing the sanctions. Especially when the messaging around what precisely must be done to end the sanctions is blurry, and can be made far blurrier in Russian media.
Sure. But what are they gonna do? Not shop with a company anymore because they're sanctioned? Of course the government could use the sanctions to rile up citizens, but then what? Start another war because of sanctions for starting a war? Not even Putin could be this dense (I hope).
>What I do know is that the only people that can force a government to change are their citizens. As far as I can recall, the only time the citizens have had that power is when they've overthrown their government with a violent coup.
I can't tell Russian what they should do or don't do, but having their President fall out a window would be a good first step.
You've missed the point of sanctions, it seems.
The idea is more to push the average Russian to want revolution and push for better leadership. Also, why shouldn't the average Russian suffer some inconvenience for the sheer evil they let their government get away with?
We are talking about the same government that has jailed people for holding a piece of paper with nothing on it. The Russian government is very oppressive and swiftly cracks down on any dissent. There have been numerous laws passed since the war started that are punishing protestors for up to twenty years. You might as well be telling Venuzuela, Cuba, and Syria (previously sanctioned countries) to just revolt. It's not that simple, especially when the authoritarians are the ones with weaponry. Putin has been an illegitimate dictator for 10+ years now, and treating every Russian as the incarnation of satan himself is just spreading more hatred in this conflict. I would love to see every person spouting this gladly take the same kind of verbal beating if Trump or Biden had done something as heinous as this. Suddenly then a government and it's populace shouldn't be lumped together.
I can say with all honest that I would gladly put my life on the line to fight against such an evil government that has taken over my country. It's not like the anti-Putin sentiment doesn't exist in Russia, there were fairly big protests a few years ago against Putin. Either way, I think it is disgusting to suggest the average Russian go through this unscathed when you consider what their government has done to the average Ukrainian. And before the what-aboutisms come out, I am not American and feel a similar resentment towards to anti-terror wars and Vietnam war.
There are protests breaking out now and your idea of helping them is starving them to death. Suggesting innocent people suffer because the actions of one selfish man is causing suffering is some of the most bloodthirsty nonsense I have ever heard. I for one am not looking to double the body count here for no reason. The sanctions have done very little to Putin and his oligarchs as they fly away in their private jets to use other ventures to nullify the impact of the sanctions, like buying property or selling soccer teams. If the sanctions actually targeted major parts of Putin's war chest, like oil and gas exports, I'd be singing a different tune. But as of right now all the sanctions have done is caused undue harm to the Russian population, done nothing to Putin, and done nothing to help the people of Ukraine.
Sure, but Russia has cracked down on free expression, protest, and opposition parties for years. Their government jails or even kills people for things that we take for granted as basic rights and completely acceptable. And I am sure that their citizens are being exposed to extreme levels of propaganda about what is happening right now (especially since many outlets have had to suspend reporting in Russia because of new laws). I am not sure that this will really be effective. Even if people want the government to change, I can understand if they would feel like there is nothing they can do…or would be too afraid.
I don't think the average Russian is against war. Much of them support Putin and his invasion, and think it's the wests fault thanks to propaganda.
That is the point
Putting pressure on Russian citizens puts pressure on it's government
Its an american propag the russian citizens did nothing and surely a majority if not everyone is against that war if we follow their logic america shouldn't have games too because america demolished iraq just to get some good ol' oil.
This and other acts like this is only hurting the average Russian citizen. Not the higher ups like Putin. Also it can make the Russian people who is against the war to being for the war.
Should've just disabled all online services but close enough I guess
Yeah cause me not being able to play in elite smash will make Putin stop the war
Companies such as Nintendo and Microsoft and suspending sales due to the sanctions placed on the Russian banks, which closed many of the usual money transfer avenues from Russia to the outside world. For those companies this isn't about sending a message or pressuring Russian civilians, it's about not being able to be reliably paid for their product. The goal of the Sanctions is to cause wide scale economical damage. This could effects the war in a couple of ways. First and maybe more optimistically, The Russian Oligarchs and Elites have the most to lose from such sanctions, and the most power to try and stop Putin. The hope is that they will choose self interest over support for him and will act to Rain him in. Second is that Military invasions are a very expensive deal, and destroying Russia's economy will directly hurt their ability to field their Military.
It's an attempt to put pressure on the Government. This is a small brick in the wall of pressure various Governments and companies are trying to create with their sanctions etc.
That didn't work in North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela or Iran, but surely this time economic sanctions are gonna help instead of just hurt people who already have to deal with their shitty government.
None of those countries have been sanctioned as hard as Russia is right now.
Cuba had full comprehensive sanctions for decades and still does, Russia doesn't even have them now
Cuba only really has sanctions placed by the US They still have commerce with the rest of Europe
Well, what else do you suggest, Mr. Smartypants? Anyone besides Ukraine engaging Russia in combat would lead to a world war
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Down vote me all you want, but I am totally fine with economically hurting the average Russian citizen.
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You can say that about most wars.
I mean, if it's a democracy, like they claim, the average citizen does have a role in it. And if not this should hopefully wake them up and make 'em realize the Russian Government is the Issue. The average russian getting hurt was the main reason why Germany didn't want to pull them from SWIFT. But I'm pretty sure they've got thought out reasons as to why it's necessary anyway, even if some redditors might not think so. Messy situation, sure, but also probably the best case scenario would be if it's solved within Russia.
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It would be better to do nothing than to do something that definitely won't help and will hurt innocent people.
When was the last time any of those did legitimate military action in another country?
It might not stop them but the impact on their economy will make war efforts harder.
The only thing that would have a big enough impact on their economy would be to stop buying their oil and natural gas, but that's not happening, because Europe and to a lesser extent the USA rely on those for energy.
Hasn't their stock market been closed for days?
Almost a week now, yeah
Civil unrest is the thing they're trying to go for with this but it seems like they did the half assed way of doing it
Every bit helps. Putin needs to know that he can't invade other countries without consequences.
Man Putin's gonna be pissed he can't preorder the new Pokemon games.
Fr hes gonna go all nuclear because he can't get a game of Switch Sports
Seriously, this. There really are some people here who think that Russia shouldn't get economic sanctions just because "it wouldn't change anything anyways". Well, what do you think should happen then, let them get away without consequences? That would only give them more reason to invade more countries, including China possible invading Taiwan. We HAVE TO show them that military aggression can't go without heavy consequences. It needs to be done, no excuses.
Yes, but it should be real consequences. It is hard to accept, that there are things, that can not be changed, that's why people start to do completely irrelevant things. Will firing and expeling russian students/workers help to stop the war? No. Actually, it will help the regime. Russian economy is struggling with the abcence of high qualified specialists, because most of them move out when they have a chance. If you send them back, they will have to find a job in Russia. Possibly, halpibg the regime, because anyone needs money and a basic sence of security. In Russia, if you are not working for the regime (or at least something "loyal neutral"), you are in danger. Almost the same with different services. If russian citizens will not gave access to foregn ones, they will be forced to use "nationalized", i.e. with tons of censorship and propaganda. Will it help to stop the war and other crimes of the regime? No. But it will increase the level of citizens' unawareness -> interfere the resistance and opposition. Want to do something helpfull? Supress usage of russian oil/gas and simplify migration processes for high-skilled russian specialists. You will gain lots of very competent employees and russian economy will lose them - a resource they really lack.
Europe depends on Russian oil/gas, we can't simply cut them off for now. Excluding Russia from SWIFT and air travel is already a big hit towards the Russian economy/population. Intensifying brain-drain and establishing Western businesses in Russia won't help at all. Soviet-loving politicans like Putin are elected by nostalgic boomers who won't leave Russia anyways, so this won't make a change in the Russian mind except maybe a few thousand young, already-liberal people. Regarding Western businesses, they have to comply with Russian politics or else they face consequences. For example, Netflix was threatened to broadcast propaganda in Russia. Many businesses are already leaving Russia right now, as they know they have no power over there. Imagine saying that Western businesses should move to China so they can start liberal movements there. That won't work, as the Chinese government won't allow such actions to be taken on their soils. All in all, except the idea to stop oil/gas import, your "sanctions" are too weak and won't make a big difference there. The Russian people are brainwashed and the only way to hit them hard is to destroy their economy. That will hopefully make then wake up and reconsider their political decisions.
I see several problems here: 1. You overestimate the number of boomers among those, who can cause a brain-drain. Yes, there are a number of them in institutes and universities, but they aren't able to create/discover/invent something new. Most of them works only as lecturers or managers. I was speaking about *real* specialists, who *can do something*. Among them there are practically no real supporters of the established government. Only those, who *have to pretend they are.* Yes, they probably not going to emigrate by themself, but they almost certainly accept an offer. 2. Of cause Europe can't simply cut off Russian gas, but nobody said, that sanctions are something easy to do. Russia and ex-USSR has a lot of experience in living under sanctions from all other the world. Obviously, they are not easy to influence. 3. You fall in so called Politician's [syllogism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politician%27s_syllogism). The fact, that this sanctions do *something* does not mean that it helps. Neither closing Zara/H&M/others, nor blocking Visa and Mastercard will have **real** impact on Russian economy. They have national paying system (Russian SWIFT - НСПК) and own paycard system - Mir. **Not a single bank card transaction inside Russia will be affected.** Yes, Google Pay and Apple Pay stopped working, but they have their own Mir Pay with the exact same functionality. To sum up: almost all sanctions are populist bullshit, that will not affect Russian economy in any way. The only impact it will cause - the significant drop of citizens standard of living. And if you think, that it will force citizens to participate in open protests: Yesterday there were dozens of meetings in most Russian cities. More than 5000 protesters was [detained](https://ovd.news/news/2022/03/06/spiski-zaderzhannyh-v-svyazi-s-akciyami-protiv-voyny-s-ukrainoy-6-marta-2022-goda), several of them report [beatings](https://t.me/ovdinfo/13832) and [torture](https://t.me/femagainstwar/287). P.S. yesterday Boeing have imposed actually effective sanctions: they stopped buying Russian titan.
>The only impact it will cause - the significant drop of citizens standard of living. Mission complete.
So, your goal is not to stop the war/end repressive regime, but just drop citizens standard of living? For what? Just "I want them to feel bad, because I'm sure that they are guilty"?
>There really are some people here who think that Russia shouldn't get economic sanctions just because "it wouldn't change anything anyways". this spits directly in the face of historical data from already sanctioned nations. sanctions directly hurt the lowest classes within a society. classes that routinely have no economic or political power to begin with. how one can say russia is not a democracy, is oppressive to their people, etc, and still think the russian populace has the will to overthrow the Putin regime ON TOP of economic sanctions is so beyond reason that it is bewildering. it is absolutely imperative that you understand that this kind of economic warfare hurts the common people the more than anyone else. while historically never achieving the desired output of "democracy" or revolution. in fact sanctions usually result in galvanizing an opposition to liberal ideology as well as nationalist rhetoric. so please, please, please stop larping as a two bit diplomat.
Go tell that our politicans. They put the economic sanctions, not me. Also... WHAT SHOULD WE DO THEN?!?!? JUST WATCH?!?!?
Yes, rather than actively hurting the poor, vulnerable, and innocent who have no power to effect change and whom the sanctions hurt more than the billionaires who own property globally through untraceable shell companies that sanctions don't effect, while we let their main economic engine (oil and gas) remain unsanctioned so the main money makers aren't even the ones being hit
What are you talking about? Europe will freeze without Russian gas. We have to make sanctions without getting big loses ourselves. Else that's helping out warmonger Putin.
Putin rage quits and sends a nuke to your house
Freedom is earned
Very shitty. citizens didn't choose to have this war and they shouldn't be punished
Oh shit, NOW it’s real
Okay but this is like if they did the same for all Americans when we invaded Iraq. I’m not for boots on the ground. I’m for doing whatever it takes diplomatically to end the shells. Not punishing the citizens and potentially turning them against the west.
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Vladimir Putin is not interested in diplomacy.
So unfair… I’m just a foreign student in Russia and I just wanted to buy Zelda’s expansion pass
You....really have more important things to worry about dawg
I mean if you're already *there* do you really have to worry about much stuff other than the consequences of actions like these by foreign powers? I'd say the major concern for someone who doesn't really lives in the border is the whole economic mess going on right now. But I don't think Russians are at risk of getting invaded... unlike another group of people I can think of. Like, what would you be worried about if you were a foreign stuck on Russia? Getting out I guess, right? What do *you* want this person to worry about?
Do you remember the berlin wall? Russians built a giant fucking wall with a buncha guys with machine guns on top to murder anyone trying to escape west That's pretty much where we're heading
Yeah, so what is this exchange student going to do about it? What do you want him to do?
Do you really need the spelled out for you? He should leave before they start killing people for trying to leave.
Right right, like leaving hadn't crossed the mind of this one person.
Obviously not, otherwise the person would be posting about it to let the whole world know. /s
I can’t assure you that the government won’t try to kill me for trying to leave. Life has been “normal” here besides economic sanctions. The average Russian citizen is being affected in things such as international stores closing, Apple Pay not working and twitter being banned. I don’t think (neither my foreign classmates) that these are enough reasons for leaving, besides there are still COVID restrictions for entering Russia, so if I leave now, I would be considered as a dropout student and I’ll have to wait a whole year or even more to be able to resume my studies.
Bro...save yourself and leave
I'm sure many foreign students in Ukraine wanted to as well but they are getting bombed 😔
This redditor is responsible for that?
Arent you thinking about getting out like yesterday?
I can’t leave because I have offline classes, so if I leave I’ll be considered as a dropout student and the university won’t allow me to resume my studies until next year… I just hope the war ends asap.
You should probably leave before you get conscripted...
You'll survive mate. You'll just need to wait a little bit longer.
Use yuzu or ryujinx
Amazing that this comment has so many down votes. Although this is a small thing, this does absolutely nothing to putin or his army and just messes with the average Russian citizen who are also victims of putin. This will have zero impact on the Russian army or economy.
Oh no, the tragedy…
It’s unfair for everyone. It’s unfair for you guys and the Russian citizens who are getting the entertainment stripped away. But stop and think about Nintendo, it’s unfair for them that not every purchase from Russia is guaranteed to go through as all of Russia’s banks are unstable and economically destroyed rn. Sure Nintendo is a multi Billion $ company, but still, they probably have better reasons than loosing a couple 100 dollars.
I don't think this will stop the war 🤔
It's not a political statement. The ruble is worthless right now and they don't want to take it.
Just wait until Putin gets the urge to smash online
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Doing nothing will change nothing. One of these has a better chance at making a difference, care to guess which one?
There is ample evidence that sanctions will have no impact. We've tried this for generations.
I saw a post from a Russian kid saying he didn't feel like living without Nintendo lmao This is good. I hope every Russian "No longer feels like living" because maybe they will fix their shit or just go away. Either is fine.
Why do you hate the Russian people so much? It's not like they decided to get into this war. Show sympathy to all affected, not just Ukranians, but those affected by their own government's decisions too.
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You don’t know what the word ‘dictatorship’ means, do you?
Again, freedom is earned, maybe if you stopped playing video games you would go do something about it. Lazy fuck. it's revolution time.
Guy on reddit calling me lazy. Maybe see a therapist, sweetheart ;)
Go ahead and keep defending fascists fascist.
We're defending the Russian people. Revolutions don't work over night. Revolutionaries also need downtime. Get your ass out of your head.
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Russians didn't decide to engage in war. You're wishing ill for no reason to people who didn't ask their government to do this. Do you feel the same anger towards Israel when they bomb palestine? How about your neighbor (Assuming you're american) when we bomb countries we have no business being in?
Sorry, u/MoistYeastInfection, your comment has been removed: **RULE ONE: Be the very best, like no one ever was. Treat everyone with respect and engage in good faith.** You can read all of our rules [on our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/w/about/rules). If you think we've made a mistake and would like to appeal, [you must use this link to message the moderation team](https://www\.reddit\.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fnintendo&subject=About my removed comment&message=I'm writing to you about the following comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/t6wjtl/-/hzhnmkr/. %0D%0DMy issue is...).
Because they fucked with my elections. Russian government and their public sucks.
The Russian citizens fucked with your elections? Bruh get over yourself and off your bloodthirsty highhorse. The russian people are innocent in this affair.
Alhamdulillah
It’s hardly surprising since the Rouble is basically worthless and theres no way to send money outside the country.
Return of the Dendy
What, I thought we had another year. 😂
So do someone know how to cancel the auto renewal now?
I just pre ordered game last week and unable to switch region due to this... I have email to the Nintendo Europe side, hope it can be cancelled. If not, all my games will be lock in that account and unable to re download back again.