“Europeans have no ideological issues with using US services. Russians are ideological enough that they prefer Yandex and VKontakte over Western services.”
Is it really the population who prefers, or the autocratic government who prefers it for them? Isn’t it obvious that 1) they are not a democracy like most of Europe, 2) they are not US allies like most of Europe, 3) social media has a huge influence on politics and power, therefore it’s normal that we see dominance of Russian companies which are all deeply connected to the state given their type of regime?
“Ukraine has a huge population but it’s also quite poor and doesn’t have many important exports.”
Russia is also kinda poor. But that’s not all. Population size is correlated with army size and overall defense capabilities. Or at the very least with the difficulty to dominate and seize control of a country.
“Strategically, access to Russian gas is much more important than Ukraine to Europe. Giving it military aid is more a matter of principle than due to strategic importance.”
That’s also a really blind argument. There’s the obvious threat of Russian escalation to other countries if they succeed in Ukraine, and overall a threat to continental and global peace. That’s way more important than gas.
Is it really the population who prefers, or the autocratic government who prefers it for them?
While Facebook was recently blocked, for a long time it was accessible and people still used VKontakte. Google and Bing still seem to be useable by Russian speakers even now.
If the population wouldn’t prefer using Yandex and VKontakte those wouldn’t be successful businesses.
Russia is also kinda poor.
Russia’s GDP per capita is more than twice that of Ukraine. More importantly, its major exports are wheat, sweet oils, and corn which European nations don’t want to import as we want to support our own farmers. Its iron exports might be more valuable but there are plenty of other sources for that.
There’s the obvious threat of Russian escalation to other countries if they succeed in Ukraine, and overall a threat to continental and global peace.
That’s something different than strategic importance. It’s a principle of how to react to aggression.
“Europeans have no ideological issues with using US services. Russians are ideological enough that they prefer Yandex and VKontakte over Western services.”
Is it really the population who prefers, or the autocratic government who prefers it for them? Isn’t it obvious that 1) they are not a democracy like most of Europe, 2) they are not US allies like most of Europe, 3) social media has a huge influence on politics and power, therefore it’s normal that we see dominance of Russian companies which are all deeply connected to the state given their type of regime?
“Ukraine has a huge population but it’s also quite poor and doesn’t have many important exports.”
Russia is also kinda poor. But that’s not all. Population size is correlated with army size and overall defense capabilities. Or at the very least with the difficulty to dominate and seize control of a country.
“Strategically, access to Russian gas is much more important than Ukraine to Europe. Giving it military aid is more a matter of principle than due to strategic importance.”
That’s also a really blind argument. There’s the obvious threat of Russian escalation to other countries if they succeed in Ukraine, and overall a threat to continental and global peace. That’s way more important than gas.
While Facebook was recently blocked, for a long time it was accessible and people still used VKontakte. Google and Bing still seem to be useable by Russian speakers even now.
If the population wouldn’t prefer using Yandex and VKontakte those wouldn’t be successful businesses.
Russia’s GDP per capita is more than twice that of Ukraine. More importantly, its major exports are wheat, sweet oils, and corn which European nations don’t want to import as we want to support our own farmers. Its iron exports might be more valuable but there are plenty of other sources for that.
That’s something different than strategic importance. It’s a principle of how to react to aggression.
I’ve heard an opinion that VK has much better user interface than FB. Didn’t verify.
Russia’s Gini index is 1.5 times higher, so part of that difference means “Putin is rich”.
When trading with another country total wealth does matter but income is also still double.