No, they don’t really think that. Maybe Russia is a big natural gas supplier or something. I’ll @MrDibble. I know there’s at least one other South African who is a regular poster, but I can’t remember who it is.
Wild guess: It has something to do with money.
Stocks in Russian companies trading in Europe have lost huge value:
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/london-listed-russian-stocks-erase-140725263.html
Usmanov doesn’t get his $600M yacht to the Maldives fast enough, has it seized in Hamburg:
Usmanov is reported as feeling that the sanctions are unfair. Perhaps he is right, but the injustice pales in comparison to murdering thousands of Ukrainians. In a years time, he’ll still be a billionaire (albeit without a yacht), and they’ll be dead.
It’s all fun and games being a Putin propagandist until someone loses their Lake Como villas:
After Biden’s State of the Nation speech it will be open season on the Russian Oligarchs.
It will be interesting to see how Boris Johnson in the UK reacts. London has a lot of Russian money invested in property and they have bought a lot of political influence and some football clubs.
Speaking of the latter: earlier today, oligarch Roman Abramovich announced that he has decided to sell Chelsea, one of the top teams in the Premier League. He also indicated that he would be donating the profits from the sale to assist “all victims of the war in Ukraine.”
They were allies with the Soviets during much of the Cold War, and they still use a lot of Russian military equipment.
@GreenWyvern is also here.
SA’s position on Russia/Ukraine is … complicated.
On the one hand, part of the government did initially outright condemn the invasion. Apparently against the President’s wishes. But the same department that said that has since rolled it back, as the UN abstention shows. Frankly, if I were them, I’d be embarrassed by that (lack of) performance.
There are a lot of old ANC leaders who still remember that the USSR aided us in the struggle against apartheid, and feel we still owe them (even though they did it for their own selfish Cold War reasons, and this Russia is not that Soviet Union anyway, and Ukraine was fucking part of that USSR too) and that’s who currently controls the government
People I’ve spoken to and heard from through social media, though, overwhelmingly want us to be supportive of Ukraine. And I don’t know about gas, but 20% of our total wheat consumption comes from Ukraine. I know which side of the bread my butter wants to go on.
Its a smart thing. Middle level powers should not get involved in Super power machinations unless they absolutely have to.
No matter much it makes @wolfpup and other rage about being disreputable.
I think it’s shameful that South Africa abstained from the vote. Probably most South Africans support Ukraine.
The old ANC leaders have a ‘sentimental attachment’ to Russia because the USSR helped in the struggle against apartheid when nobody else did.
Not that the USSR cared much about racism. They wanted a communist government in South Africa. Still, the fact is that they offered concrete help and support. Many of the old ANC leaders spent time studying or training in Russia.
So the ANC leadership is still grateful to them for historical reasons.
The other reason is that SA is part of the BRICS group – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. I don’t know how much SA has benefitted, or expects to benefit, from BRICS. Russia’s economy is destroyed, and they are certainly not going to be in a position to offer aid or trade deals to anyone in the foreseeable future.
Brazil voted to support Ukraine, despite being a member of BRICS, and I feel strongly that South Africa should have done so too.
@MrDibble and @GreenWyvern, thanks for the insider perspective.
@AK84, you say that but lots of middle level powers got involved anyway.
Modnote: verging on attacking the poster and not the posts with this one. Dial it back.
I will. 
Just wondering if its now kosher to label a couple of billion people as “disreputable”?
Per board rules?
No they haven’t. They passed a resolution, a General Assembly resolution, which has no teeth.
They are issuing boiler plate statements.
Reminder: Questions about moderations should be via PM or in the ATMB. Not in thread.
Your comment was in the context of voting for the resolution against Russia, justifying why some countries, like South Africa, abstained. Lots of middle level powers did exactly that – voted for the resolution.
If that wasn’t the context for your comment, I have no idea why your comment was relevant to this thread – no one is asking South Africa or Argentina or whatever to send troops.
Are you implying Argentina did not vote for the resolution? because we did.
Even if many here are wondering why the same resolutions were not taken against other countries when they attacked sovereign nations…
Not at all! I was just trying to think of another middle level power off the top of my head.