
An Open Letter to Google and Apple: Stop Hindering Iranian Entrepreneurs - arjmandi
https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/18/an-open-letter-to-google-and-apple-stop-hindering-iranian-entrepreneurs/
======
miracle2k
I'll note again the snowball effect that the Google Cloud block has (Google
Cloud totally blocks Iran on a network level).

Now, _your_ services that you host on Google Cloud are not available. Say you
are Gitlab, and you host there (they do!). Now, if you put your Open Source
project on Gitlab, that project is not accessible to Iranians either (as well
as other sanctioned countries).

As someone you spends a couple of weeks every year in Iran, I can tell you
that arbitrary websites breaking because of blocks on the US side have a far
worse effect on my ability to work then the fact that Facebook and Twitter is
blocked.

Why doesn't the documentation for date-fns work? Oh, they load the data from
Firebase.

Why can't I compile by Android app? Oh, the Android repository is hosted on
Google Cloud.

Etc.

~~~
reallydontask
At work we ran G-Suite. Lead Dev went to Cuba for a holiday and was not able
to use any of the services.

Great for him, not so good for a couple of angry customers that got no answers
to emails.

He set an out of office but also said to those customer that he would reply to
any queries ... oops

~~~
gruez
The gmail app doesn't complain that it can't connect to its servers?

~~~
EForEndeavour
I'm guessing the dev quickly noticed the lack of connectivity and may have
tried some obvious things to change his autoreply message, but those things
didn't work and he & his company deemed it not worth it to try further.

------
wazoox
The author of the great app "City Producer" is French, born in Iran. He fled
Iran as a child 40 years ago. He was invited to present his app to Tim Cook at
Apple's HQ; however as he's born in Iran he can't enter the US, any time,
ever. Never mind he and his parents actually fled the regime. Never mind he
isn't an Iran passport holder.

This is US foreign policy. Bullish and stupid.

So this isn't really a problem with Apple or Google; it's a problem with the
way US enforces sanctions on countries.

------
mikejb
Whilst I understand where the author is coming from, I'm not sure the
companies are to blame here.

> Two years ago, under the guise of complying with American sanctions against
> Iran — sanctions that have existed for decades — Apple started removing
> Iranian apps from its platform.

Sanctions aren't always clear-cut, and if a buck is to be made, companies
often try to stretch interpretations, try to fly under the radar or rely on
the administration on being lenient in some aspects. So I'm not sure it's as
simple as "sanctions existed before, so this must be the companies fault".

I'd much rather see sanctions in this space limited/removed - but I hold no
hopes for enabling moves in this geopolitical game of power.

~~~
arjmandi
I don't think to blame the companies will have any effect either. We think
these companies with their financial and market power can do better here to
show that the tech community is not a part of political war. For example,
there can be new companies in third countries with no legal obligation to US
sanctions that can provide Apple and Google products to countries like Iran.

------
geff82
The 80 million Iranians are currently held hostage by two entities. First, it
is their own government (which is by far not the worst in the world, being in
Iran feels more free than one would expect). Second, it is the USA. The US
imposed sanctions put real stress on everyday life in Iran, they make
transactions complicated to impossible, healthcare unsafe, flights totally
unsafe (we had 2 emergencies in the last 12 flights between Iran and Germany)
and they currently provoke a big brain drain and probably a new wave of
refugees. From what I see the US sanctions are catastrophic for those 80
million people while the government is more or less untouched. For the sake of
the family I married into and the genetic relatives of my children: stop that
nonsense.

------
codingdave
I get it - Sanctions hurt people. They are blunt tools when we need more
refined dialogue. It is putting the pain of conflict between our governments
onto the people, and not driving change.

All these things are true. But this letter is written to the wrong people.
This situation stems from a problem between our governments, and that is where
it needs to be fixed. We have limited power to change this, but what power we
do have is enacted by electing leaders who will work for a better solution. We
get a chance to pick a US President again in just over a year.

Please, when the opportunities arise over the next 18 months, get out, get
involved, and vote.

~~~
pnongrata
Meanwhile companies are hijacking governments by pouring billions of dollars
directly or indirectly in order to push policies that benefit their profit-
driven agenda.

Big companies and governments go hand in hand, so the only way to enact some
REAL change is to strike where the MONEY is and cut their economic power.

A vote becomes worthless in a society where lobbying is legalized and media
channels have economic interests in play.

~~~
codingdave
> strike where the MONEY is

What does that mean, exactly? What specific actions do you propose people
take?

~~~
pnongrata
A few examples of things we could do to stop a little the bleeding out of
democracies:

1\. Outlaw lobbying;

2\. Tax the ass off the filthy rich;

3\. Break up big corporations in tech, oil, media, you name it. No more
monopolies or monopsonies;

4\. Change the electorate system.

5\. Increase work conditions. Higher wages, jobs availability, social welfare,
etc.

The obvious takeaway is that if you reduce wealth inequality you get a
healthier society and democracy.

~~~
codingdave
OK, how can we do those without electing leaders into office who will do those
things?

~~~
js8
Why without? Ever heard of Bernie Sanders?

~~~
codingdave
pnongrata is arguing that voting is worthless. I'm honestly trying to
understand their position, but so far having no success. Seems to me that we
absolutely should be electing leaders with political positions that match what
we desire to see in our society.

~~~
js8
Not only the political positions that match the desire, but also voting record
that matches their position.

I would personally prefer direct democracy, but I think it is extreme to claim
that every politician is corrupt.

------
Alir3z4
It's not even about being in Iran, you can be anywhere and they will hunt you
down and will try everything in their power to make you suffer more.

I've written about my own experience at [https://alireza.gonevis.com/how-i-
didnt-get-my-first-paying-...](https://alireza.gonevis.com/how-i-didnt-get-my-
first-paying-customer/)

~~~
sarbaz
I have to ask: why not find an Emirati friend you trust and have them be the
owners of the business and you an employee? It sounds like it would be less
costly.

~~~
Alir3z4
I had that Emirati friend to employ me on several companies of his and
employment permit/visa was getting rejected or being "under processing" for +1
years. I've applied in Dubai, Ajman and Sharjah. All with the same result.

------
sersi
Trade sanction seem counterproductive to me, they breed resentment in a
generation of young people, they breed poverty and that ultimately is what
breeds extremism and fundamentalism.

Shouldn't trade sanctions be more fine grained? Having part of the population
be part of the global economy seems like the best way to eventually push for
change in those countries...

~~~
throwaway8879
The goal was never to end extremism or fundamentalism. Conflict is very very
profitable to all sides except the common person. I guarantee that a lot of
elite Iranians prefer war and conflict over peace, just like the US.

------
cwperkins
This is a touchy subject because it gets into the realm of the people are not
the regime. Its terrible that everyone gets wrapped up in international
conflicts, but I always have to ask what is an alternative plan? In the case
with China, no amount of diplomacy would have worked to get them to
renegotiate on trade. I'm not sure about other posters on HN, but I know I
personally am strongly for stopping nuclear proliferation around the world and
it doesn't end with Iran. I want to see India and Pakistan give up their
weapons because the doomsday clock there always seems its a minute to
midnight. Its a tough, controversial subject and I feel for innocent people
caught in the crosshairs.

~~~
miracle2k
Then you should know that the people who wanted the US to drop the Non-
Proliferation deal with Iran known as the JCPOA did so because they are
willing to put geopolitical considerations, specifically alignment with Israel
and Saudi Arabia, before proliferation concerns. To put it another way, if the
had to choose, they would choose a weak isolated Iran with nukes over a strong
one that could build nukes but doesn't.

You see that happening right now with Iran ramping up enrichment again, and if
they play their cards right, they can absolutely go the North Korea route and
get it done.

------
BorRagnarok
I sincerely hope that the ongoing trade and business war will lead to nice new
competitors to Android and iOS. The more countries they ban the higher the
chances.

~~~
Barrin92
This is the ironic part right here from a security perspective. If countries
with sufficient resources like China or India or Russia would manage to
establish a parallel ecosystem every country that even tangentially fears to
end up on the USA's bad side has a strong incentive to hop on.

America's companies and government might very well be giving up a very
comfortable monopoly in some key sectors right now by encouraging new
ecosystems out of necessity.

~~~
luckylion
> America's companies and government might very well be giving up a very
> comfortable monopoly in some key sectors right now by encouraging new
> ecosystems out of necessity.

At the same time, they are exploiting the monopoly (the US as a hole, that
is). I suppose there's a line between "this is too much pain, I'm jumping
ship" and "this is an acceptable amount of pain, I'll just pay my tribute and
stay". I don't know whether they've crossed that line - especially when
adopting a Chinese system won't really change a lot, it will only change who
you depend on and whose wishes you need to comply with.

------
serf
Maybe i'm bitter, or old, but my exclusion from a service is #1 reason to stay
away from patronizing it.

It's my opinion that the excluded, Iranians in the case of this article,
should be having hard discussions about how _they_ could get away from the
likes of Google and Apple, not talks about how to integrate into an ecosystem
that appears hostile.

I understand the difficulty of that in practice, but integrating into a group
that makes hostile world-changing decisions about groups of people based on
geography and cultural differences seems to just empower that group further
the next time they try to inject political maneuvering into their business --
making them an even larger threat to those it disagrees with in the future.

In other words : Second verse, same as the first -- vote with your dollar,
vote with your participation.

~~~
luckylion
> Maybe i'm bitter, or old, but my exclusion from a service is #1 reason to
> stay away from patronizing it.

Sure, sure, but that's often not an option. If you're black and the only
grocery store in town has a "no colored people" policy, you're out of luck.

With the internet getting more and more centralized to a few large US
corporations, you're in a similar spot. Banned from using their services?
There's no alternative, because everybody else relies on them and will have
their contracts canceled unless they also not do business with you.

------
arjmandi
There are lots of ways to provide free access to information to everyone. How
do you expect other people to grow without giving them enough information to
understand? Peace depends on the freedom

~~~
Yizahi
Russia has semi-free access to information and majority of Russians applaud
the wars that their governments wage against their neighbors.

~~~
chupasaurus
> Russia has semi-free access to information

The only major resources which have permanent ban I know of are PornHub and
LinkedIn (not including the sites which were blocked during the Hunt for
Telegram, 95% of IPs have been removed after the body which operates the
blacklist admitted their fail).

> majority of Russians applaud the wars

If you got the data from official Russian survey agencies or government, you
can divide it by 0 twice. And don't forget that more than half of the
population were born in USSR, a third part had been educated in soviet schools
and a sixth part in current propaganda-driven schools (started in 2004) which
makes a majority alone.

------
vmurthy
The article mentions the kind of dependency on the Android and iOS platforms.
I believe this is the right time for Iranian entrepreneurs to start porting or
start installing Google free Android as a service on customers’ phones and
then have their apps running on them. Some of the smarter ones can even
exploit the political scene and say they’re giving a big middle finger to
Western companies in favour of something they built locally. I’m assuming that
the local politicians are at best indifferent to these measures.

------
rbrtdrmpc-
Please to all the posters, stick your head out of your butt for a sec, this
Iran thing is not something related to just some poor dev unable to publish on
their store, it is a world wide dumb reaction all started from the USA foreign
agenda. I'll give you an example to highlight how f'd up is the situation, in
Italy, country with a quite respectful relation with Iran, banks started
kicking out clients (with a one month notice) like my friend just because she
was BORN in Teheran grew up in Italy (she's a fucking grown up working as a
doctor), with dual italian/iranian citizenship due to the ius sanguinis
(iranian mother, italian father) just because of the USA sanctions. If that's
not WRONG, tell me what it is.

~~~
jankotek
It is targeting everyone.

As an European I would love to visit Iran. Amazing country, some friends
there, direct flights... But I would lose ESTA and would need to apply for a
visa before visiting US.

~~~
rbrtdrmpc-
I feel you, this friend of mine had the same thought one year ago, he then
decided that it will be ok for him to not visit the US in the next ten years
then he went to Iran and had a lovely time there, he was so overwhelmed by the
iranians and didn't regret anything. One of the funniest thing he saw was this
kid dancing with a donkey costume and blasting a trumpet (you know the
annoying vuvuzela thing) in a mosquee, what a dangerous country.

------
haojixu
This get me thinking: are Multinational Companies actually multinational? If
their HQ is in one place and they have to operate globally either under
jurisdiction or under board pressures of that place, isn't it super dangerous
for the people that buy into their "multinational" narrative and place their
trust under the assumptions that infrastructure would only seldomly be biased?

EDIT: "seldomly" should be "to a less extent"

------
cinquemb
Can't really expect the corporate tentacles of the National Security™
apparatus to comply, especially when there's a slew of bright eye'd folks
willing to step up to the plate to pay down their student loans by drinking
the kool-aid and lube up to jump in bed with such corporates.

Best to hope for in this environment is to expect nation states to waste more
and more resources toward such unproductive endeavors and exploit the gaps.

------
DoreenMichele
There are alternative app stores available, for example:
[https://code.tutsplus.com/articles/10-alternative-android-
ap...](https://code.tutsplus.com/articles/10-alternative-android-app-stores--
cms-20999)

Does anyone know enough about the legal angle to talk about what it would take
to develop an alternative platform not impacted by US sanctions?

~~~
arjmandi
It's not just about the publishers, Apple and Google are being forced to ban
any transaction from Iran. Iranian apps cannot be published from any provider
around the world on Apple devices. Apple home, Google Chromecast and other
appliances don't even work in Iran.

------
sendrome
We tried to use Stripe Atlas to open a company in USA because Stripe is not
yet available in India. From the start they bombarded us questions like, ‘How
will you prevent users from Iran/N.Korea etc from using your product.’ It went
on for about 3 months. We gave up and switched to Singapore. Couldn’t have
been happier. Singapore is too damn good for business.

------
bufferoverflow
And scientists.

I recently got contacted about an old genetics project that stopped working
because Java applets. I told them I can reimplement it in JS, just pay for my
time. They said they would love to, but they are an Iranian institute, and I'm
a US citizen. So it's a lose-lose situation.

------
gr8t3stally
There is no reason America shouldn't have an ally, or at least a trading
partner, in Iran. The ONLY reason they don't is because of the influence of
the lsrael lobby over every level of US foreign policy.

------
joeblau
Can someone who is educated on the subject help me understand what the
sanctions are about? I've tried Google, but I'm sure HN'ers have a higher
IQ/EQ on average than whatever is on the first page of Google results.

------
perfmode
Judging from the quality of discourse in this thread, Hackernews are evidently
some of the least enlightened people I encounter in a peer-group setting.

------
espeed
_The 80 million Iranians are currently held hostage by two entities. First, it
is their own government (which is by far not the worse in the world, being in
Iran feels more free than one would expect)._

The Iranian people are not the target -- Persia is a rich ancient civilization
that's being repressed -- the West knows this and wants to see the Iranian
people's massive creative potential unleashed.

Sanctions are designed as a non-kinetic force applied to pressure the Iranian
government into a weakened position. The Iranian people play a significant
role in amplifying the pressure. The louder and more vocal their voice
becomes, the more pressure their government will feel. If the Iranian people
want a change, the change has to come from within.

At some point, when the people amplify the pressure beyond the point the
government can withstand, the situation tips and the people force their
government to release. This is the effect the sanctions are designed to
create.

~~~
js8
> Sanctions are designed as [..] when the people amplify the pressure beyond
> the point the government can withstand

Do you have any historic evidence that it ever worked like this?

I don't, and therefore, I think the sanctions are a predatory policy designed
to break the country so it could be attacked by the U.S., where the military-
industrial complex is getting too horny.

I mean, I could understand sanctions in the style of European sanctions
against Russia, which are targeted at oligarchs and very specific in avoiding
damage to ordinary Russians. That at least would be understandable.

But Iran sanctions.. no, I think we know the history all too well.

> The Iranian people are not the target

This is just empty words. Action speaks louder.

And even if the sanctions work as you describe in practice:

Vaclav Havel said that it's not a moral obligation of oppressed people to
revolt (and risk their life), and therefore, it is immoral to pressure them to
do that. (What is the point of fighting for freedom if you don't get to choose
whether you want to be fighting or not?) I think I agree with that, and I am
certainly glad that my country (Czech Republic) was never a target of severe
U.S. sanctions.

~~~
bjourne
> > Sanctions are designed as [..] when the people amplify the pressure beyond
> the point the government can withstand

> Do you have any historic evidence that it ever worked like this?

It worked on South Africa. My hope is similar sanctions could be put on Israel
to force it to end the occupation of Palestine. But in these cases the
sanctions are for specific wrongdoings that the State can address. The US
sanctions against Venezuela, Iran and previously on Cuba are much broader in
scope. The US is essentially saying "we will sanction you until you roll over
and die" which is of course completely counter-productive. The mullahs in Iran
aren't going to surrender just because the US tells them to.

~~~
yyyk
"It worked on South Africa... in these cases the sanctions are for specific
wrongdoings that the State can address."

Apartheid South Africa was justifiably asked to change their entire government
system, and to hand over power from the ruling racial minority to the
majority. Iran - even according to Pompeo's maximalist "12 demands"[0] - is
being asked for far less: none of the demands relate to internal affairs, much
less asking the mullahs to lose influence on the government.

[0] [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/mike-pompeo-
speech-12...](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/mike-pompeo-
speech-12-demands-iran-180521151737787.html)

~~~
js8
There is also a question (even if we take the demands at the face value, for
the sake of argument), how can public in Iran reasonably check that government
is following these demands?

Really, how is that going to work operationally. Let's say I am demonstrating
at the street in Tehran. I can readily tell that there is undemocratic
oppression, OK. But how can I check that the government is not developing
nuclear weapons or supporting terrorism, when this is hard to tell for normal
citizen even in democratic countries?

IMHO, for the objectives to make sense, it would require these to be
verifiable by the people pressuring the government (which you have so kindly
decided to pull into the conflict). The fact that these demands are not
verifiable is casting a shadow over the motives.

~~~
yyyk
You as an individual can check very little. That's true even in a full
democracy. Even in a full democracy, you often have to rely on friends, media
and civil society to know what's going on.

If there's is some space for an opposition (which your demonstration example
implicitly assumes), there's some space for listening to non-regime media and
organizations. Indeed, many people in Iran use Satellite TV despite it being
officially banned. They may or may not trust American-owned TV, but there are
plenty of alternatives.

If, for example, inspectors are not allowed to check for nuclear activity, the
world would raise a ruckus and the average Iranian citizen will be able to
hear it and evaluate the validity of these claims, even if the regime tried to
hide it.

That said, I suspect the intention of the current American administration is
to do a new deal with the regime, not to have the people rise up. They may
wish for that scenario, but it's not something they are working towards or
something they rely on in order to pressure the regime.

~~~
js8
> You as an individual can check very little

I think it depends on the issue. Things that affect lot of people (like can I
criticize government official in public or police brutality against a
minority) are easier to check than things that do not (development of nuclear
weapons).

Also, democratic systems have sort of "defense in depth". I know that some
free media exist, so I can reasonably trust their independence on government.
We have freedom of information acts, which requires the government to at least
tell the truth. And so on.

So it seems to me, to ask Iranians to rise up if they feel their government is
lying about development of nuclear is effectively equivalent of developing a
modern democratic society, at the very least.

> the world would raise a ruckus and the average Iranian citizen will be able
> to hear it and evaluate the validity of these claims

That is still very vague, how are they gonna do it. Based on my indirect
experience with communist regime, majority will probably believe foreign media
unconditionally (believe me, they will know state media lie constantly, I know
many emigrants were surprised that there is unemployment in the West, they
thought it was a state propaganda), and a decent minority (about 20-30%) will
not believe these claims and support the ruling class.

But - only extremely small minority will consider "international ruckus" a
large enough problem so they would risk a life for it. Especially from a
community which decided to throw sanctions on the nation.

> intention of the current American administration is to do a new deal with
> the regime

Well, that's how this problem needs to be resolved - in a diplomatic way.
That's the standard way to do it - mutual inspections to see if there are
nuclear weapons, or mutual disarmament. You don't need to involve the
citizens, especially since they cannot meaningfully keep tabs on their own
government.

~~~
yyyk
So you agree that in the case where the international community finds Iran has
an active program to build nuclear weapons, most Iranians would believe them?
So the information problem is practically solved.

As for motivation, well, there are already significant sanctions on Iran, and
that's with merely the US alone. If Iran restarts a significant nuclear
program, I think the response would be much more than my previous euphemism of
'ruckus'.

But I don't expect (or ask) the Iranian people to rise up, though this regime
well deserves it. That would be really nice, but it seems to me the other
outcomes are more likely. Most likely both sides will be able to reach some
diplomatic conclusion (since neither wants a war).

~~~
js8
> o you agree that in the case where the international community finds Iran
> has an active program to build nuclear weapons, most Iranians would believe
> them?

I think it's a moot point. If Iranian government agrees to the inspections
(which is a big question why it should), then there is no purpose for them to
hide the program from their own public.

There is a distinction between sanctions and diplomacy. Sanctions are not
diplomacy. Diplomacy is making an agreement (on the level of national
leadership, sidestepping the question of its legitimacy), which might be
easier to get without threats or undermining the economy of the nation.

It's my opinion that nuclear disarmament can only happen if we treat everyone
the same. So the countries which have significant nuclear stockpiles cannot go
around and tell other countries to suck it up.

> But I don't expect (or ask) the Iranian people to rise up

Why do you defend sanctions as a tool, then?

~~~
yyyk
"If Iranian government agrees to the inspections (which is a big question why
it should), then there is no purpose for them to hide the program from their
own public."

Sure there is. It's to make them appear to be defending themselves from a
nefarious foreign plot. 'We cheated because we can' is not a good PR point
even in those regimes.

"If Iranian government agrees to the inspections (which is a big question why
it should)"

The truth of the matter is that the world doesn't want a nuclear arms race in
the ME, nor do we want crazies which threatened to destroy another state to
have nukes. That is treating Iran uniquely, but it's a unique regime with
unique behaviour.

"So the countries which have significant nuclear stockpiles cannot go around
and tell other countries to suck it up."

In our reality they can. That may not be ideal, but it is stable and prevents
new world wars.

"Why do you defend sanctions as a tool, then?"

To get an inspection deal without sunsetting clauses and other loopholes, to
pressure the regime to stop its malign foreign behaviour. I'd have also liked
a change in the human rights situation, but that's apparently not a goal of
this US administration.

~~~
js8
> It's to make them appear to be defending themselves from a nefarious foreign
> plot.

That doesn't make any sense, once Iran has agreed to cooperate with the
inspectors.

> The truth of the matter is that the world doesn't want a nuclear arms race
> in the ME

If you truly don't want that, support denuclearization of Israel.

> That may not be ideal, but it is stable and prevents new world wars.

No, it doesn't prevent new wars. How do you prove that, anyway?

> to pressure the regime to stop its malign foreign behaviour

This is pretty rich coming from the U.S., which has literally no business on
the other side of the planet.

> I'd have also liked a change in the human rights situation, but that's
> apparently not a goal of this US administration.

If this was their concern, they would stop supporting Saudis.

~~~
yyyk
"That doesn't make any sense, once Iran has agreed to cooperate with the
inspectors."

In the scenario we're talking about, Iran is cheating. Of course they'd want
to hide it and claim to the populace they're just being persecuted.

"If you truly don't want that, support denuclearization of Israel."

Well, Israel has had it since the 1960s, without an arms race. Apparently
neighbours are not so concerned, but with Iran involved, Saudi has already
taken steps to build a reactor. Also, Iranian development can hardly be
considered defensive when they are the ones threatening Israel and not the
other way around.

"This is pretty rich coming from the U.S., which has literally no business on
the other side of the planet."

The same argument could (and has) been used to ask US to let Europe go, first
to the Germans, and then to the Commies. It's a bit rich hearing it from a
continent which has profited so much from US involvement.

------
jasonzemos
These sanctions are designed to foster resentment in Iranians toward their
government. The seeds of this resentment are already blossoming in the post-
Iran/Iraq war generation developing these apps. This generation is simply not
capable of conforming to the religious zeal required of them by the
ayatollahs, sanctions or not. The days are numbered for the velāyat.

The funds received by an Iranian civilian entrepreneur are still open to
subjugation by the government. Without these funds, it will be more difficult
for this government to destabilize neighboring states, blackmail the Sunnis
across the gulf, and energize Hezbollah in their explicitly stated goals to
genocide the Jews.

~~~
atemerev
It doesn’t work this way. Iranian government use every mean of propaganda
available to them to amplify the effects of sanctions on the civilian
population, and make sure that everyone thinks that the US is to blame.
Sanctions that touch civilians is the gift for propaganda.

To the US credit, they were much more careful with applying sanctions to
Russia: I am Russian (who lives abroad and doesn’t support our current
government), and despite sanctions, I still can get the US visas, open a
Github account, publish apps in App Store etc. I am really lucky I am not
Iranian. I can’t do anything about the current government, Russia is not
exactly a democracy, even if they maintain the motions and visibility of it.

------
thefounder
The US is almost at war with Iran so I personally find the title quite silly.
The iranian entrepreneurs may soon find themselves blasted by tomahawk
missiles.

~~~
arjmandi
Tensions hadn't turned into war yet, of course, nobody can predict there would
be actually any war or not, it seems close. But even if there's a war, there
are innocent people on both sides. We can't ignore the lives of innocent
people because of conflicts between politicians.

~~~
thefounder
>> But even if there's a war, there are innocent people on both sides

That's the very definition of war. Sending an open letter to Google and Apple
seems a bit misplaced?

