I wrote this review a few days late, due to a few factors. One is the war in Ukraine which get many people’s attention including mine. I know there is a lot of tension on WeChat as well (especially the WeChat shorts for the lack of good word, basically its the WeChat’s answer to TikTok, or YouTube shorts). The sanction on Russia is quite swift (no pun intended, I do understand the SWIFT international money remittance / messaging system has shut Russian banks). And yesterday the last few US holdouts Coca Cola, McDonalds’s and Starbucks all decided to pause operation in Russia. Most US companies did offer some compensation for local Russian workers. The sanction reminded me in 2008 there was an incident on Olympics torch relay in Paris, France, and there was a short boycott against French. I also wrote two short blog posts on the topic (1 and 2).
My view on boycott and sanctions has changed since then (14 years ago), especially after the pandemic last 2 years, and after I saw the horrific images of the children’s (maternity) hospital in Mariupol was bombed by the Russians (video by cnn) today. I understand the sanctions will impact the lives and jobs of many ordinary people. But this is also a price that’s needed when we are trying to achieve greater good, in this case stop Russian invasion and the loss of lives of innocent civilians.
Saturday 03/05 was also my old daughter’s 12th birthday.