When Russia invaded Crimea and annexed the Ukrainian territory in 2014, the U.S. and its allies condemned Moscow's aggression and seizure of a neighboring country's territory. Russia was emboldened by the ease with which it took over Crimea, and proceeded to send its irregular armed forces into the eastern Ukraine region of Donbass, where they still remain after the killing of some 13,000 Ukrainians and counting.
Many of our tech companies are impervious to international conflicts, since their main focus is to turn a buck -- or ruble -- in even the most authoritarian countries. So, it was galling but not that surprising to see that Apple caved to Moscow's demand that its Apple Maps and Weather app show Crimea as Russian territory for users within Russia. Apparently Russia has made showing Crimea as part of Ukraine a criminal offense. So instead of, say, not providing Russian users the app altogether, Apple bowed to the Kremlin's dictate. They follow Google, which also adjusted their map app to show Crimea as part of Russia last March to please the aggressors.
For the price of doing business in Russia, these companies have complied with a regime that doesn't respect international borders and uses its military might to intimidate and invade their neighbors. They should be so proud.
BONUS: Of course, we know Apple CEO Tim "Tim Apple" Cook has his nose far up Trump's ass, most recently groveling to him during a visit to an Apple facility in Austin, TX. Some souls sell cheap.
(image via Reclaim The Net)
