Apple Removes Russian VK Apps From App Store in Response to UK Sanctions

[avz]

Invading a sovereign country is now a responsibility of sorts? So bad that exciting logic the US and other allies from WWII should also invade Ukraine then, right?

You mean it was not enough for the US and its allies to invade an Iraq and other countries in the Middle East? They even did a "carpet bombing" something which is Russia is not doing. And what did US say in the end? "Sorry it was a mistake."
I doubt that Ukrainians can actually operate HIMARS systems so some US personnel might be already there.

 

[visualseed]

Same here. Funny, but I actually did a search for the best Tetris app, not super happy with any of them. Any suggestions?

For me, the best Teris will always be Spectrum HoloByte's Tetris on classic macOS.

 

[alexandr]

For me, the best Teris will always be Spectrum HoloByte's Tetris on classic macOS.

Is that the B&W game that had various images as backgrounds? I remember one being a hockey game...

 

[ericwn]

You mean it was not enough for the US and its allies to invade an Iraq and other countries in the Middle East? They even did a "carpet bombing" something which is Russia is not doing. And what did US say in the end? "Sorry it was a mistake."
I doubt that Ukrainians can actually operate HIMARS systems so some US personnel might be already there.

Good to see that you agree that invading a sovereign country is to be condemned and that you agree that all WWII allied forces have an equal claim to sit in Ukraine rather than making it Russian territory.

 

[visualseed]

Is that the B&W game that had various images as backgrounds? I remember one being a hockey game...

It was both black and white, and 8-bit color on the Mac II. For 1989 it was really well done. The midi music kept up with the game play as it progressively got harder.

 

[alexandr]

It was both black and white, and 8-bit color on the Mac II. For 1989 it was really well done. The midi music kept up with the game play as it progressively got harder.

Was it Kalinka?

 

[avz]

Good to see that you agree that invading a sovereign country is to be condemned and that you agree that all WWII allied forces have an equal claim to sit in Ukraine rather than making it Russian territory.

The Donbass region and other regions of Ukraine who did not agree with the 2014 coup are just as sovereign as the US by breaking away from Britain. It is up to the people to decide on referendum which forces are going to sit on their territory. It is not a fact that people are more scared of the Russian army than they are scared of the "Ukrainian forces". Ukraine did not pay any pensions or any other social securities or supplies to these people. This is not how a sovereign country operates. There is a reason why I have mentioned those elusive statesmanship competencies earlier on.

There are a legitimate geographical area of influence of the each of the WWII winners. Otherwise according to your logic Russia will have an equal claim to sit in Mexico to make sure that US does not overstep its boundaries while busting drug cartels. Cuban missile crisis only happened after the US positioned its missiles in Turkey.

 

[ericwn]

The Donbass region and other regions of Ukraine who did not agree with the 2014 coup are just as sovereign as the US by breaking away from Britain. It is up to the people to decide on referendum which forces are going to sit on their territory. It is not a fact that people are more scared of the Russian army than they are scared of the "Ukrainian forces". Ukraine did not pay any pensions or any other social securities or supplies to these people. This is not how a sovereign country operates. There is a reason why I have mentioned those elusive statesmanship competencies earlier on.

There are a legitimate geographical area of influence of the each of the WWII winners. Otherwise according to your logic Russia will have an equal claim to sit in Mexico to make sure that US does not overstep its boundaries while busting drug cartels. Cuban missile crisis only happened after the US positioned its missiles in Turkey.

Ah a new set of propaganda where the fake referendums are now called to the table. Sure sure. Russia signed the Budapest memorandum and invaded the country anyway. That’s the aggressor locally and the only one suddenly calling for action. The inner workings of an internally accepted sovereign country have zero relation to what that country pays for wages. Couldn’t be a more silly connection really. And I wasn’t the one bringing up responsibility to excuse a military invasion, which it still undoubtedly is.

 

[sirozha]

army than they are scared of the "Ukrainian forces". Ukraine did not pay any pensions or any other social securities or supplies to these people.

Lie. Pensioners in the Donbas region collected pensions from both Ukraine and from Russia. That was one of the reasons why they supported the separatists. They got twice as much money.

 

[kyjaotkb]

VK seems to have been removed from the App Store but you can still find VK-owned apps.
- Odnoklassniki (which is owned by the VK group, fka Mail.ru) is still on the App Store
- so is Audioclub / Chaikovski, which is Gazprom Media Holding's music streaming app (similar to BOOM, VK's music app)
And Gazprom banking apps are still there - I guess it would be really punitive to take people's banking apps away and there might be an exception in the sanctions regime for those.

It also seems like OKLive and Tamtam are still on the App Store. Not sure about VK Music.

 

[quatermass]

They should have done it sooner. We should honestly ban everything Russian at this point.

Ronald Reagan, 1984 - We begin bombing in 5 minutes!

 

[Frantisekj]

The reason has nothing to do with Free Speech, it's who owns it. You can't just throw 'Free Speech' in front of everything.

Free speach and freedom are welcomed only when they serve particular interests. They are dead as you can hardly find any democracy around the world nowadays. It is same as with free market and competition. Everyone hail it but every one try to avoid it.

 

[Frantisekj]

Ronald Reagan, 1984 - We begin bombing in 5 minutes!

Wit this kind of thinking USA would already looked like this:

 

[visualseed]

Was it Kalinka?

I believe it was Polyushka Polye, Korobeiniki, Nutcracker, Katyusha and some others. I found a soundtrack for it on Youtube. For 8-bit midi music it's not bad.

 

[alexandr]

I believe it was Polyushka Polye, Korobeiniki, Nutcracker, Katyusha and some others. I found a soundtrack for it on Youtube. For 8-bit midi music it's not bad.

Can't help but dance!)))

 

[code-m]

I criticize the US where I feel it's needed as well, and there are plenty examples where I don't agree with them either, that is however not the topic of this discussion, and doesn't need to be dragged in. Let's focus on Apple, the sanctions from the UK as a response to the Russian invasion and war against Ukraine.

Apple as a business should stay neutral and not take sides regardless of what the country or countries it does business in. As a shareholder and customer I don’t care what my thoughts are on a particular country the company I am doing business and am a shareholder with I expect it to deliver as a business and stay neutral. It can have company morals such as privacy but limiting its presence is counter to the free market.

 

[code-m]

Apple isn’t really taking sides here, unless the alternative you are suggesting is Apple stop doing business in the UK. If they want to keep selling in the UK they have to follow UK laws. If the UK came out and said they are going to sanction any electronics company that does not use USB-C on all their devices, Apple would switch to USB-C overnight (which is pretty much what’s happening with the EU rules on USB-C).

Apple who projects its self as a company who thinks ahead when it implemented USB-C on the MacBook and then the MacBook Pro onwards should have made the switch to USB-C a long time ago. This is them being stubborn and it’s one of the rare times I support legislation to enforce a universal standard and hopefully leaves the door open for improvements. Had Apple any plans for Lightening it would have surpassed USB-C and make it an open standard but guess what it’s still stuck on USB-2 speed.

 

[code-m]

A few things to note about this scenario, because the way you're presenting it is also misinformation.

1. The FBI is accountable to, and reports to the AG. Both the head of the FBI, and the AG were appointed by Trump.
2. The situation you are describing occurred during the Trump administrations years.
3. The FBI did not approach Facebook and tell them to hide or claim anything about Hunter Biden's laptop. They warned Facebook about misinformation campaigns that would be similar to 2016. Facebook made the decision to restrict sharing of the story, probably because it seemed shady as all hell.
4. Hunter Biden wasn't running for President.
5. Hunter Biden may be an idiot, but his father is not. Joe Biden has done nothing wrong and even though Facebook has expressed regret for the action they took, voters weren't prevented from knowing anything about Joe Biden that they should have known prior to the election. At least not anymore than I feel duped because we didn't get official stories about Trump's son being a cokehead.

I am apolitical, I believe no government run agency should meddle with social media because even government is not right and can use that authority for coercing free thought and speech. Let the cards fall on the table and let the individual make up their own minds because they’re have free will for better or worse. When the voice of any person is restricted or demonized it’s the recipe for civil unrest. A country is not free and neither it’s people if they are being manipulated.

 

[code-m]

It's odd that you would put misinformation in a post lecturing people about regurgitating propaganda.

So you feel the government does not mis or disinform people for whatever reason and will use it’s agencies and MSM at the cost to the taxpayer who it’s trying to convince with major financial efforts, got it.

 

[code-m]

I know we did, but Russia rejected. They made their choice.

Finland also didn't want to join either, but recent events made them change their mind lmao.

Did the US ever extended its invitation to China? If not; I wonder why.

NATO IMHO is outdated and grants powers to the USA, Finland and Sweden were better off being neutral rather than neutered by the USA. If you don’t believe the USA has supreme clout within NATO you are mistaken.

 

[BaldiMac]

Apple who projects its self as a company who thinks ahead when it implemented USB-C on the MacBook and then the MacBook Pro onwards should have made the switch to USB-C a long time ago. This is them being stubborn and it’s one of the rare times I support legislation to enforce a universal standard and hopefully leaves the door open for improvements. Had Apple any plans for Lightening it would have surpassed USB-C and make it an open standard but guess what it’s still stuck on USB-2 speed.

1. A long time ago? Lightning was released in 2012. Switching connectors after less than the decade that was promised would have been annoying to customers and would have significantly impacted their accessory partners.
2. The speed of the connection has nothing to do with lightning vs USB-C. Those are just the ports/connectors. They could have upgraded lightning to support USB3 speeds. They just chose not to.

I think people in this thread are dramatically overestimating how often iPhone users transfer data over wires. I haven't done it in more than 5 years (maybe a decade?). I wonder what percentage actually has in the last few years.

 

[code-m]

Actually, both USA and Russia have the right to be a "global police" as a winners in WWII and whether somebody likes it or not the 1945 world order is still pretty much intact. USA was just more active about it and Russia was way too passive and not exactly "collecting" on its victories.

So yes it is not only Russia's right but it is also a responsibility to make sure that no neighboring territory declares the nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera as its national hero and have a tatoo parlors that can do a swastika tattoos let alone banning people from speaking their mother-tongue Russian language.

Now you have gone and done it and angered the mis/disinformed on this forum who are under the impression that the USA is the protagonist and anyone not siding with them is the antagonist. History be lost in an abyss.

 

[BaldiMac]

So you feel the government does not mis or disinform people for whatever reason and will use it’s agencies and MSM at the cost to the taxpayer who it’s trying to convince with major financial efforts, got it.

No. I don't feel that at all. Why are you making stuff up?

The misinformation that I referenced in your post was your claim that "the FBI approached Facebook to hide or claim things about a certain somebodies laptop". That claim is false.

 

[code-m]

1. A long time ago? Lightning was released in 2012. Switching connectors after less than the decade that was promised would have been annoying to customers and would have significantly impacted their accessory partners.
2. The speed of the connection has nothing to do with lightning vs USB-C. Those are just the ports/connectors. They could have upgraded lightning to support USB3 speeds. They just chose not to.

I think people in this thread are dramatically overestimating how often iPhone users transfer data over wires. I haven't done it in more than 5 years (maybe a decade?). I wonder what percentage actually has in the last few years.

In the tech world a decade is a “long time ago” 😝

So go ahead inform me why has it not been upgraded to USB3 speed, an innovative company such as Apple would not hold back innovation now would it, if it was even possible.

These sound like arguments when Apple removed the 3.5mm audio port for wireless which has limitations on quality. But hey whatever you want to drink to convince yourself that Apple is right, from a saddened shareholder.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Did the US ever extended its invitation to China? If not; I wonder why.

NATO IMHO is outdated and grants powers to the USA, Finland and Sweden were better off being neutral rather than neutered by the USA. If you don’t believe the USA has supreme clout within NATO you are mistaken.

Is China near the Atlantic?