If you look at the headlines and what transpired on social media, nobody is on Putin’s side.
Literally nobody.
I can’t find one neutral article or report that isn’t siding or supporting Ukraine.
Everybody is calling Putin the bully, the dictator, the warmonger.
America mobilised the G7 and kicked Russia out of the SWIFT system.
Which is basically a system every bank use to talk to one another globally.
Being left out of it is like being left out of the world economic system.
You literally cannot do a lot of major transactions and it will take a tremendous, painful bite out of Russia’s economy.
Apparently it already did.
The Rouble fell a sharp 30% against the US Dollar.
It is now worth less than 1 cent.
For some crazy perspective: Dogecoin, the literal meme coin of the internet is worth 13 cents.
The Russian Ruble, is at atoshining 0.93 cent.
Elon’s favourite meme coin, the coin that launched a trillion other rubbish coins, the coin that was created for laughs, is worth more than Russia’s official currency used for decades.
I had to triple check to make sure the decimals are in the right places!
Meanwhile Singapore has joined the fray and severely condemn Russia’s unlawful invasion.
Let’s hope there won’t be severe backlash in the future.
I saw a protestor raised a sign above her head.
It reads:
“If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war.
If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine.”
That hit me hard.
The people of Ukraine are not fighting a war because they are trying to make a point.
They are not looking for a war.
The war literally came to their doorstep.
They are fighting for survival and for their children’s children.
That is an extremely powerful ideology.
Sovereignty.
The notion that we are self-governing, have authority over our land and masters of our own fate.
Take that away and you have nothing.
Every war that was ever fought was essentially about sovereignty.
I hope Ukraine prevails.
But honestly, what are Putin choices here?
- Withdraw his troops, end the invasion, put his head between his legs for the rest of his life?
- Continue the war to the bitter end, costing untold number of lives and resources?
- Seek mediation with Ukraine and hopefully work things out?
We all know Putin will be unlikely to take option 1.
It will scar his legacy too much for his pride to bear.
Option 2 is most likely but even that, with the entire world against you, shutting you out politically, economically, ideologically in the real world and in the cyber world, it will be a tough battle to play out.
The last option is one we can all hope for, though we have to admit that if Putin wanted to talk, he wouldn’t have started a war in the first place.
Perhaps its a mix of all options.
Putin will do a partial withdraw, prompting the US to reduce sanctions, edging Ukraine to start negotiations and possibly not join NATO and Putin will give in something else in return.
Perhaps de-escalation is what we really need right now.
Still, we can all hope.
-
#startups #business #startupx #growth #success #socialmedia #culture #entrepreneurship #strategy #ukraine #russia #war #cybersecurity #cyberwarfare #hackers #ukraineDAO #polkadot #eth #bitcoin #cryptocurrency #putin
