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I’m thinking a good way to spread actual news in Russia is through “contact host”. Not that our sources are perfect, but theirs are so far from fact to be fantastical is a better definition.
We could copy paste articles of our choice about the war into google translate and then in to an inquiry thread to a Russian host.
Although Airbnb has restricted booking there, I don’t think they have made all communications impossible.
A spokesperson from Airbnb told TechCrunch in an email: “This means that we will block calendars from accepting new bookings in both countries until further notice. We will also restrict users in Belarus and Russia from making new reservations as guests.”
Information could be way more useful to the anti -war effort than money in this case.
Anybody else in<><>???
If someone in Russia really wants to know what the western perspective is in respect of this conflict, it is easy enough. Forcing articles of your choice on to someone, who may or may not agree with the war, just doesn’t seem appropriate.
Yes, I see that point . But maybe getting some info is better than not, it would prepare them for the possibility of family military returns in coffins, which is now hidden from them.
I’m also not a fan of the idea. If I’m a Russian seeking news I don’t want Airbnb hosts, possibly more than one rando, contacting me. And yes, we all have our biases. We’ve all seen the Trump apologists here who could just as easily contact hosts and tell them their conspiracy theories about Trump and Putin secretly collaborating to bomb Fauci run labs in Ukraine.
I just don’t think that it is “easy enough” for Russians to get western information. I was trying to think creatively.
Maybe this info would be useful and eye opening to a Russian host:
The promoter of the initiative explains that the people who care for the refugees have asked them to send them basic medical supplies such as “sanitary backpacks, hydrogel bandages, dressings, iodine, chlorhexidine, analgesic ointments, anti-scalds, tourniquets, manual resuscitators, occlusive bandages , emergency bandage, blister carrier, hydrocolloid dressings, hemostatic bandages, dressing sets, intravenous catheters or intravenous infusion systems”.
No one is stopping you, and you may get a stream of Russian hosts thanking you profusely.
On the other hand, you may also receive some not very pleasant responses, together with your name and listing in the pro Putin press, as an example of how the west sends propaganda to those faithful to the Motherland.
The US has committed plenty of war crimes and I wouldn’t appreciate someone from our victims contacting me. And we have tons of bad information presented as “news” to us as well.
We have to pay taxes and we better acknowledge that, to many, those tax dollars are destructive, kind of like admitting ( yes I feel guilt and yes I am truly sorry and believe in repatriations) my forbears killed indigenous americans.
There is another, slightly more dangerous aspect to sending information about this conflict to random Russians, and that is if they were caught with that information the repercussions could be severe.
I could write a book (quite a slim one, admittedly) about some of the very erroneous things I’ve heard about the UK from people in the US.
This is because it’s ‘information’ that they’ve heard on the US news. My favourite was from a Catholic lady who said that she would never go to the UK because they are so anti-Catholic that they stone nuns in the streets.
Nah, we were too poor, I usually had to walk, crossing numerous large ranches, spurning advances from rowdy cowboys along the way and without ever coming across a single tree for some shade.
But sometimes my Paw-Paw would let me take his Jackalope when there was a day with too many tornadoes to work with the cattle.
and the reason they don’t do it in Yorkshire is that there are no nuns!
