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https://theconversation.com/bet-youre-on-the-list-how-criticising-smart-weapons-got-me-banned-from-russia-185399>
"I woke up on Friday morning a pawn in a Kafka-esque story. Except I hadn’t
been transformed into a chess piece but was a diplomatic pawn, a small player
in a much larger international story. I read the news that I and 119 other
“prominent” Australians were banned from travelling to Russia “indefinitely”.
The Russian sanctions were a response to Western sanctions and the “spreading
of false information about Russia”. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced 121
people had been sanctioned but, in a beautifully Russian bureaucratic bungle,
Air Vice-Marshal Darren Goldie was banned twice, making it just 120 of us on
the list.
As usual, I was the second person in my family to know. My wife had woken
before me and was listening to the news. “Russia has banned a bunch more
Australians,” she told me. “Bet you’re on the list.”
The rest of the list was made up of journalists, business people, army
officials, politicians and the odd academic like myself. What unites us is our
outspoken criticism of Russia’s actions in Ukraine."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
