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OPINION
PUTIN'S GAME // THE LASALLIAN RHEIMS
P eople around the world are terrified once more as sounds of warfare–gunshots, bombs, and the screams of the Ukrainian citizens echo throughout Ukraine, once again disrupting the world peace we longed to maintain. Protests spark across Russia as their president, Vladimir Putin, initiated the invasion. What is his goal here? What’s with his game? I guess we’ll never know clearly, however, we must still know the story to have a much better understanding of the situation.
It was already a huge issue before, as pressure continued to build between Ukraine and Russia. The very invasion started on February 24, when Putin tried to invade the eastern Ukrainian territory of Donbas. Recently, Russia attacked some Ukrainian oil and gas facilities, resulting in huge explosions after an air raid siren was heard in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. It is clear that Russia wants to dominate the world of geopolitics even more. However, that will never be an excuse for the bloodshed in the war.
Russia’s invasion garnered outrage, of course. From the Ukrainian citizens themselves to their own citizens, the people gathered their courage and protested against the Russian president’s decisions. The western countries also placed sanctions against Russia, which would bring Russia’s economy down by a significant percent. Ukraine also severed diplomatic ties with Russia, and even China, Russia’s long-term ally, has refused to support Russia’s aggression.
Support for Ukraine from around the world has been immensely outpouring, with people protesting and calling upon their governments to help Ukraine, and at the same time, to punish Russia. As we have discussed earlier, even Russian citizens longed for their government to stop the ongoing invasion, and it shows that even the Russians know that they do not want any blood to be spilled. A picture that shows a Russian holding a placard with the words, “I’m sorry for being Russian” haunt different social media platforms–which is just devastating because we could see that even the Russian citizens are only dragged into this war by their government, no matter how much they didn’t want to take part in it. The effects of war shouldn’t be taken lightly. Not only did it rattle the global stock markets, but it had also affected the price of oil and gas due to the sanctions placed on Russia. However, there is more to this than the usual economic and geographic changes as the lives of people are at stake. As of Sunday, February 28, Ukraine’s health ministry reported that 352 civilians,
including 14 children, have been killed in the war since the start of the Russian invasion, and a total of 1,684 have been wounded. Nothing should come at a cost of human lives, especially innocent human lives that were dragged into the war by their leaders. Ukrainian citizens had no part in this, as well as the Russian citizens, and no matter what you see it from, wars always go both ways– both sides will always be affected. Additionally, joking about the issue isn’t excused, as we have said a while ago, real people with real lives are at stake. Dark memes that tend to make fun of their situation shouldn’t be a thing, even if it is only for what others call “dark humor”. Let us raise awareness about the issue instead, and share more information about their situation. Let those who are able to donate, donate to legit and trusted sites. We should have leaders that excel in diplomacy and compromise rather than engaging in violence and aggression, and at the same time, don’t let any of their political ideals get in the way of their country’s wellbeing. Nothing should be solved with violence, and it will always be ineffective as it affects both sides. As questions remain unanswered as of the time being, the conflict could have been avoided, even in 2014, when the tensions started. If our country faces a dictator such as Putin, we could never stand a chance–at least alone. Keeping diplomatic ties should be the best move here, as a compromise would have considered both sides. However, since things have been unclear for our part, all we could do is to prepare ourselves for such an issue and try to avoid it as much as possible–by selecting the right leaders, of course. [R]
Fakebook: Uncovering the face of disinformation ALAPAAP // Andrew Dela Plana
Disinformation
and misinformation are two of the driving forces that determines the elections, and in a country like the Philippines, wherein a whopping 65% of the 107 million people rely on Facebook for news, it is inevitable that most of these Filipinos will be exposed to fake news.
It became a serious issue in the 2022 presidential elections, as a number of candidates are allegedly using troll farms to gain support online, and became the topic as well for their interviews and debates. The solution proposed by presidential aspirant Senator Manny Pacquiao is to control the social media platforms directly to curb the spread of these fake news.
However, one could say that the direct intervention of the government in social media platforms will be considered as media censorship. Yes, the disinformation campaign will really be hard to combat against, however, the direct control of the government will only lead to certain abuses and the constant
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