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DeathByGoldfish t1_itlfyvz wrote

“‘The ministries shielded the names of the companies involved, the value of transactions which were exempted, and the business sectors concerned, RTL Nieuws reported.

The information was “company-sensitive,” according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.’”

It makes sense waive sanctions for very specific and critical needs. And yet, because of the criticality of those needs, they should be self-evident. Therefore, scrutiny by the greater populous is an imperative. To completely obfuscate ALL of the specifics about these transactions speaks of another motive.

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Northman67 t1_itludkk wrote

Important for the common citizen to realize that their life is 100% completely worthless and anything that they've worked on their life is 100% completely worthless and could be burned to the ground at any moment if it improved value for the shareholders of the major corporations.

And let's be real this war is funded by transactions enabled by those corporations by everyone who's buying resources from Russia keeping their economy afloat which is in turn being spent on military hardware. I suppose that we should be happy for the level of sanctions that we do get. After all it's completely unbelievable that the hyperwealthy would ever care about human life more than their personal fortunes. I would just like the rest of humanity to also figure that out so we could react accordingly.

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DeathByGoldfish t1_itlwgyg wrote

I think this is a bit hyperbolic, TBH. “100% completely worthless”? I think there are some places in the world this is true, unfortunately. The Netherlands? I doubt that. The vast majority of western democracies? I think this is dubious thinking.

Just because I point out this lapse in good government oversight does not mean I don’t think the Netherlands or other western democracies aren’t doing overall good, or that they aren’t a positive force. They are, and are certainly better than the alternative.

I’m as skeptical as the next guy, but saying something like this undermines the hard work most democracies do to keep corporations and the elite from completely taking over - they would if there were not gatekeepers in government.

Most democracies these days do not suffer from external foes, as much as they suffer from constant internal power plays that must be kept under control to remain viable.

Are there injustices in western democracies? Absolutely.

Are they the exception, rather than the rule? Yep.

Is that perfect? Hell no.

Is it a start? I think so.

Trending toward goodness is a win.

EDIT (adding this): we might be saying the same thing, but I feel like there is a distinction here, at least for me.

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Dewey_Cheatem t1_itpav1t wrote

Don't worry, if it ever leads to any form of inquiry the prime minister will have no active memeories about it.

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JustMrNic3 t1_itlkuhb wrote

And they say they don't allow Romania in Schengen because Romania is corrupt...

Fucking hypocrites!

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Test19s t1_itn92rr wrote

Trade with Russia should be conducted on a whitelist basis. Trading partners that are necessary or can prove that they aren’t profiting from the Great Eurasian Drone War should be exempt from most sanctions.

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