Poker sites aren't exactly reputable companies supplying something useful.

But I like your spirit.

I have given up trying to post in this thread as it comes up Banned FFS.

theres a reason some sites have already banned russians years ago. even the mid-high stakes PLO tables on ACR has a ring of them that keep getting banned and popping back up on new accounts. same identifiable style and stats, 2-3 of them at the same table whenever they can, etc. unfortunately their geotags arent exclusively "russia" (often other eastern europe countries)

"The BBC is temporarily suspending its journalists' work in Russia, in response to a new law which threatens to jail anyone Russia deems to have spread "fake" news on the armed forces.

BBC Director-General Tim Davie said the legislation "appears to criminalise the process of independent journalism".

The Kremlin objects to the conflict being called a war, instead calling it a "special military operation".

The BBC has issued [following] statement on how to access its content via circumvention tools. ..."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60617365

Look how effective fox news has been at brainwashing a significant portion of the U.S...Porpaganda can be extremely effective


UKRAINE STRONG

It's as useful as any entertainment company. Is it less useful than OnlyFans? Than WWE? Than International Cats Federation? From what I've heard in poker community, Skrill and Neteller have blocked their services for Russians as well.

Is it even about usefulness, reputation or size? Or is purely about class and setting the right example?

US and NATO officials believe Russia now appears poised to "bombard cities into submission," source says
US and NATO officials monitoring the war in Ukraine noticed a pronounced shift earlier this week in Russia’s strategy—namely, that Russia now appears poised to “bombard cities into submission," which could inflict significant civilian casualties, a senior western intelligence official told CNN.

“The heavier weapons are not just heavier in their in the weight, they're also heavier in terms of the damage that they can inflict,” the official said. “And they're far less discriminant. So, more casualties.”
“It is a very crude approach,” the official added. He said his experience with Russian leadership and Putin "leads me to judge that they have a completely different standard when it comes to respect for human life."

More background: US officials have warned in recent days that Russia's strategy appeared to be shifting from focusing primarily on military targets to targeting civilians, amid the realization that an initial plan to quickly capture Kyiv and topple the government had failed.

"The days to come are likely to be worse, with more death, more suffering, and more destruction, as the Russian armed forces bring in heavier weaponry and continue their attacks across the country," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed the sentiment during a news conference in Brussels Friday where he is meeting with European allies.

“The Kremlin’s attacks are inflicting an ever-increasing toll on civilians there. Hundreds if not thousands of Ukrainians have been killed, many more wounded, as have citizens of other countries. More than a million refugees have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries. Millions of people across Ukraine are trapped in increasingly dire conditions as Russia destroys more critical infrastructure,” Blinken said.

The Washington Post first reported that significant civilian casualties, “massive loss of human life,” are likely in the days ahead, according to a senior Western intelligence official.

Blinken and Stoltenberg on Friday also pushed back against calls for a no-fly zone to be set up in Ukraine, warning that it could lead to a "full-fledged war in Europe" and saying they're doing what they can to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion.

In separate news conferences in Brussels Friday, both argued that a NATO no-fly zone simply wasn't realistic because of the risk that it would lead to a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned NATO's decision to rule out the implementation of a no-fly zone over the country in a Facebook address late on Friday.

Zelensky said NATO's leadership on Friday: "Gave the green light for further bombing of Ukrainian towns and villages, refusing to make a no-fly zone. You could have closed the sky!"

I have deleted the "what about American terrible deeds?" posts.

Whataboutism is not really germane to this topic. If you want to post on how shitty America is/was, please do it somewhere else.

Back in the USSR!

This. /thread

What kind of weird botfest is this btw? Never seen anything like it on 2p2.

its eastern European poker players making accounts because their mad by inaction mostly polish. i recognized the names

Any war is terrible and a crime against humanity, I pray for this thing to be over. But I ask: do you also support banning French players for the invasion of Libya? Do you support banning german players for the invasion of Yugoslavia in the 90s? If the USA players are allowed back to join the world player pool, they surely should be banned for eternity then no?

This proposal makes absolutely no sense. It is the definition of ignorance, as if there is such a thing as "the russian people". There are good and bad people in russia just like in every other country on this earth. All this separating and "I am with X" "I am against X" is the very reason for why there is so much violence in this world. It is absolute stupidity. People come in the righteous and loving cloak and really what they are underneath is just violent and vicious.

The government of a country is not the people of the country. Stop putting everything in groups and look at people as individuals. Nowadays more than ever people wanna put everyone in a box. Not even just acts, but thoughts itself are attacked and put into a box right away. Left, right, black, white, this, that. That very thinking is the breeding ground for ignorance and racism and hate.

Just my two cents, nobody cares on the internet anyways move on

.... and your description touts you as a "mindset coach" ?

How does that work in the context of geopolitics, competition for resources and the organization of collective action generally .... or is your mindset to label all people overall as "underneath ...just violent and vicious", so you advise that everyone should just "move on" ?

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ? Yeah, .... war is terrible, so you just "pray for this thing to be over" then go "move on", but why advise everyone else to do the same.

Are we trying to stop ongoing French invasion of Libya? Are we trying to put pressure on French people and government and put French country to ruin to get them to stop current invasion?

Btw, are you condemning decision of Volkswagen Group on stopping export to Russia and closing Russian factories immediately? That's a lot of people fired in Russia, you know? Would you have asked them the same questions?
How about Daimler Truck, suspending any business activity with Russia, including immediate break of cooperation with Russian Kamaz? That could be a problem to a much larger Russian community than poker community. Did you ask Daimler the same questions?
What's general opinion in Germany regarding Volkswagen's, Daimler's, BMW's, Siemens', Deutsche Post's (and so on and on...) decisions of withdrawing from Russia immediately? After all "There are good and bad people in russia just like in every other country on this earth.", so German public opinion is against these sanctions? Are you?

Since you seem pretty well thought out in your intent, I'll ask you. "NoPokerInRussia" seems aimed directly at poker players, not anyone else.

There are a lot of governments that prohibit foreign operators to offer people an option to play poker online. However there are very few that prohibit an individual the choice to play.

Poker is a very democratic activity, its extension across national boundaries has been an interesting result of internet access. So long as there is internet access, the opportunity to play can be extended , even in the face of most authoritarian jurisdictions.

Fwiw, I exited operating online poker over 12 years ago. Back in 2001, when my company launched and operated an online poker network from Antigua, we looked for jurisdictions that did not expressly prohibit individual poker players from playing online. We took our chances with operating from foreign bases to enter those jurisdictions that did not expressly prohibit foreigners offering poker to their residents, including the US which has never banned poker federally. If some government made offering poker internationally illegal, that was a game changer .... but seriously, we did not cut off individuals' access short of government interference.

(I supported expansion into blockchain based transactions generally and by online gaming specifically because it removed individuals from the restrictions of financial authoritarianism.)

Why do you think it appropriate to interfere specifically with Russian individuals' freedom to play poker? That is something most authoritarian governments can't readily do, unless they prohibit internet access. (In that regard, I think this topic of internet access will soon become moot.) Before the Russian government effectively does so however, you want to take that away from poker players?

I am not questioning your motives, just rhetorically asking about why you don't simply say ..... cut off internet access.

Lets punish the Russian citizens but also turn a blind eye to all other atrocities happening in the world.

This is not what people are advocating here for. What they have is mind is that since russia as a whole clearly decided to part with what can be called 'civilized world', then aforementioned world does not want to deal with anything russia related, poker players included.

Those players though have the freedom to play on any russia & friends site they wish.

Whether that attidute is correct or not is very complex, but for sure far from 'makes no sense to make ordinary russian citizen pay'.

Many millions of 'ignorant' people and thousands of organisations disagree with you.
And until this 'Soecial Operation' is over many more will follow.

As most of the biggest gambling and poker sites are UK companies (Ok Pokerstars Ireland) here is an update re how companies are to proceed by the UK Gambling Commission.

https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.u...ing-commission

So it's unlikely anyone can deposit or withdraw from Russia but there doesn't appear to be a demand to suspend Russian accounts from.
For now anyway.

I'd guess many Russian grinders are moving to Blockchain(crypto) sites.

Russian regs are literally doing money swaps on stars. poker money they cant access yet for real goods vice versa. Its literally supplying a trading network when the whole point of world wide sanctions is to make their money worthless and untradable. Obviously they are mostly doing this to reload if they run bad but it's going on and very widespread and if someone cares enough letting media or something know might get stars to act. Because I'm sure stars ignoring Visa etc bans to let Russians keep playing will piss alot of people off

All the organization are just falling in line. They are not doing it because of the fare well, they are doing this because of the pressure they will get from government/people. You are still doing business with Russia? Ok, we will seize your accounts, if you won´t stop. It ´s the domino effect.

But about Poker nobody cares, so there won´t be a ban. I like the Russian donks. Keep them coming. Bring more Russians on

That is not the point of the sanctions, just the side effect

hum it literally is no matter what they tell you. they are the enemy untill they leave russia or change russia. is it fair? obviously not but is it all we can do to save ukraine without starting ww3? yep

Population of Russia is the enemy? Wtf.

Some horrible takes in this thread.


Is trading money between two russians in the sanction list?

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2022/...aine-40793.htm

Thank you all for your support! Another appeal of Ukrainian players to the poker community!