Internet backbone provider Lumen quits Russia
- Reference: 1646805668
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/03/09/lumen_quits_russia/
- Source link:
The biz [1]announcement is titled "Lumen's Readiness to Meet Global Events," and does not take a position on the morality of the illegal invasion of Ukraine. Instead, it frames the decision as necessary "due to increased security risk inside Russia," and "to ensure the security of our and our customers' networks, as well as the ongoing integrity of the global internet."
Those are rather different reasons to those expressed by fellow backbone provider Cogent, which [2]made opposition to the invasion its main reason for cutting off Russian customers. Other tech firms that have quit Russia have also cited opposition to the invasion as a prime reason for withdrawing services, sales, and other operations.
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Lumen has also admitted that the [4]sole physical link it controls in Russia is not material to its business, and it serves an "extremely small number of enterprise customers" in the nation.
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It is, however, taking steps to shut down its Russian operations "from a legal and regulatory standpoint as well as taking other steps for exiting the business in region."
The company also serves some customers in Ukraine, and has pledged to abide by the West's sanctions against Moscow as required.
[7]
While Lumen's rationale for leaving Russia lacks the ideological aspect behind others' similar decisions, it further isolates Russia from the global community – and therefore also from sources of information that might allow citizens to gain a perspective on the invasion that the now-state-controlled Russian media will not share.
[8]Russia mulls making software piracy legal and patent licensing compulsory
[9]Cloudflare, Akamai: Why we're not pulling out of Russia
[10]BBC points Russians to the Tor version of itself
Russia has already introduced new legislation that makes mentioning the invasion in the media an offense – only the false term "special military action" is allowed – and is also cracking down on the limited demonstrations protesting such matters that have taken place within its borders.
Other tech-related entities to quit Russia include [11]global consultancies , [12]Visa and Mastercard , and software vendors [13]Oracle and SAP . ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://news.lumen.com/RussiaUkraine
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/04/cogent_cuts_off_russia/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YiiI4HW5R0dKBvb5UWaW7QAAAAY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.lumen.com/en-au/resources/network-maps.html
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YiiI4HW5R0dKBvb5UWaW7QAAAAY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YiiI4HW5R0dKBvb5UWaW7QAAAAY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YiiI4HW5R0dKBvb5UWaW7QAAAAY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/08/russia_software_piracy/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/08/aws_cloudflare_russia/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/04/russia_splinternet_tor_rumours/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/07/dxc_pwc_kpmg_accenture_quit_russia/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/07/multiple_tech_firms_suspend_russian_ops/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/02/oracle_and_sap_suspend_business/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Hire a few hundred thousand biplanes.
The pilot concentrates on staying aloft & alive as they pass over Russia. Given most prop jobs fly far too slow for a modern jet fighter to acquire target lock before the jet has zoomed past & that even a strafing run might not do much to a plane that's mostly canvas & sticks, the biplane pilot may have more to worry about in the form of most water fowl.
Meanwhile, the copilot/rear passenger keeps carpet bombing the amused/confused citizens below in paper pamphlets that provide all sorts of current information, including pictures, about what's happening in the rest of the world, especially Ukraine.
Sure Russia has enough SAM sites to blot most any jet or helicopter from the sky, but old school, wood framed, canvas panels, physical wire controls, petrol engine barely powerful enough to keep it flying, radar invisible, missiles moving too fast to get a target lock on, World War 2 "Flying Ace versus the Red Baron" style biplanes may prove a better delivery method for news the government doesn't want distributed.
What will the government do to stop it, pull back their troops to stand sentry in the streets & fling rocks at the slow-moving annoyances?
Biplanes, pamphlets, & a desire to thumb the nose at the Kremlin is all we really need to sow chaos in their midsts. =-)p
Re: Hire a few hundred thousand biplanes.
No need for such an expensive undertaking. I suspect the Russians will listen to Aunty Beeb, VoA and Radio Free Europe on the radio, just as they always have.
Re: Hire a few hundred thousand biplanes.
They might do, but they probably relegated their short-wave radio to the dustbin a decade ago, when auntie and co decided it wasn't worth continuing to broadcast AM to anywhere in eastern Europe.
Re: Hire a few hundred thousand biplanes.
RFE/RL still broadcasts to Russia and Belarus in their local languages, so presumably somebody's listening.
Re: Hire a few hundred thousand biplanes.
Yes, but, why use a simple solution when you can completely over engineer one involving a biplane?
Re: Hire a few hundred thousand biplanes.
Biplanes are noisy and inelegant, when compared to a fleet of hot-air balloons, which could glide gracefully and silently across the landscape whilst distributing leaflets... :-)
Re: Hire a few hundred thousand biplanes.
a fleet of hot-air balloons,
Let me guess, 99 of them?
Nena sang a song about that back in '83 ( [1]German )/ '84.( [2]English )
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpu5a0Bl8eY
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiwgOWo7mDc
Missile vs hot air
Which raises an interesting question.
Are hot air balloons hot enough for a heat seeking missile to get a lock?
Re: Missile vs hot air
The air inside probably isn't, but the burners should be.
You could of course solve this problem by filling them with hydrogen. Then you only need to worry about the cannon shells - but who knows, they may pass straight through without exploding? Or if you prefer the boring life, there's helium.
Re: Hire a few hundred thousand biplanes.
My father fought in the infantry at Monte Cassino. I still have a couple of samples of propaganda dropped on the soldiers as they painstakingly headed to the monastery. One is a glorious pictorial map showing Brescia, Cremona, Mantova, Verona, Padova, Rovigo, Modena, Ferrara, with drawings of a fisherman, musical instruments and landmarks, accompanied by an attractive smiling woman carrying an abundant tray of fruit. The title is "The Po is waiting for you". On the rear in stark contrast is a monochrome drawing of a clothed skeleton holding soldier's helmets, and explosions with soldiers flung in the air.
Edit: Found a link... http://stampomania.blogspot.com/2010/05/po-is-waiting-for-you-german-propaganda.html
The other contains the following text on one side:-
[Blue] "The advance of strong Allied Forces on Berlin has begun!" (The B.B.C. on the evening of Salerno)
[Red] No mention was made of the enormous casualties sustained by the Allied Troops already during the course of their landing at Salerno.
[Blue] After 8 months of murderous fighting the Allies have got as far as Cassino - altogether 123 kilometres from their starting point!
[Red] And the price? About 1000 casualties for each kilometre!
[Blue] The bee line to Northern Italy is still more than 6 times 123 kilometres. That means a further advance of more than 6 times 8 months!
Probable arrival in Northern Italy about April 1948
[Red] And the price? Further 700 000 men lost as dead or wounded!
[Blue] And thence to Berlin there are still more than 5 times 123 kilometres to be covered. That means a further advance of 5 times 8 months!
Probable arrival in Berlin in or about 1952
[Red] And the price? Another 600 000 men dead, wounded or taken prisoners!
[Blue] That means another 7 long years of bloodshed!
[Red] And that means that you will never live to see it!
[Blue] Note by the Allied Headquarters:
This timetable is given without any guarantee. As the Germans have under-mined practically all lines of communication, much longer periods might possible have to be taken into account. Whether an advance from Northern Italy to Berlin will be possible at all, depends entirely upon the fact whether or not the Germans are going to give up their excellently fortified positions in the Alps without fighting. No agreement could be reached as yet on the subject.
On the rear in black is a drawing of a skeleton holding a pair of compasses opened out on a map of Italy, one leg on Salerno (Sept 1943), The other is on Cassino (May 1944) with the 123km distance marked. From there is a line towards Berlin with lines radiating out showing dates Dec 1944, Aug 1945, etc. The destination is shown as To Berlin another 650km arrival about 1952. The title on this side says "Speaking of time-tables".
https://twitter.com/ipngovpl_eng/status/1259812154695442432
ISTR having another depicting the troops British fighting their way up Italy. The other side shows drawings of Americans enjoying themselves, drinking at parties with women. Caption was something like "so much for the American support you are getting".
The power of dropped progaganda was undeniable in trying to demoralise the participants, but strict discipline kept the focus - I believe that even picking up such leaflets was considered grounds for disciplinary action.
They're not sanctions, they're special economic actions.
Oh god, please let some politician say this when answering a media question about Sanctions. Preferably when their is a Russian media spokesman in the room.
Someone do it at the UN, please!!! :D
Wouldn't "planned economic adjustments" (*) seem even more harmless?
(*) We'll also fire the lot. Time to increase the bonuses too. But this we do in small-print.
The goal is to return Russia's economy to its' 1989 borders.
Given the huge lineups in front of stores and the pictures of empty store shelves, I'd say it's being quite successful at that.
The Iron Curtain, part deux.