What India can learn from the Russia-Ukraine crisis (IANS Column: FairPoint)

As the US-EU combine came out with a slew of sanctions against Russia and big tech companies followed suit enthusiastically, the stark reality hit home. The West can use financial and social media platforms as weapons against any country that falls foul of it.

The steps taken by most big-tech platforms, such as Meta, Twitter, Google and Microsoft, and the financial institutions against Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine exposes the vulnerability of non-western countries.

The question that looms over us is: What if the West feels that something is not going as per its calculations, and then, can it simply switch off the platforms and create mayhem? This can be as devastating as a physical war.

The fact is that financial and social media platforms can be used as weapons by the West, which has created them and made, all except for a few nations, completely dependent on them.

Third World countries such as India have seen an explosive growth in the reach and business of these big-tech blocs. The dependency on these of a majority of individuals living in these countries, whether for information, entertainment, financial transactions, or for other reasons, has reached a level where even a minor glitch in the services can lead to chaos.

The owners and managers of these companies, which are entirely private entities, know this fully. But when it comes to taking sides, they do not hesitate to follow the lead of the western nations, as has been evident in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Several global tech companies have decided to stop the sales of their products and services in Russia. These include Intel, Apple, Microsoft, Google

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor