I'm in agreement with the notion that we should be holding separate the Russian people and the Russian government.
GE Diodes and transistors....are all of these NOS? I don't really know. Either way, these represent parts of the Russian economy that are relatively small. The majority of their economy is based on extractive industries: mining and pumping materials for others to use. They have an enormous landmass to exploit.
This is part of the status quo that has been holding power in that country since the USSR collapsed...those that were able to claim ownership of the land out of which those extractives were mined were able to wield an outsized influence on their local economy. Those that had the right friends and, especially after Putin came into power, paid into the protection racket, got to hold onto their claims. The vast majority of Russian citizens are blameless; they're at the mercy of the oligarchs, and the oligarchs are at the mercy of a man who is likely the weathiest in the world, is KGB-trained in information warfare, absolutely despises the idea of unpredictable elections, and yearns for the good old days when the USSR was a force to be reckoned with.
I can't claim to have through and in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of the Russian government...I'm working off what has been reported in the news, but viewed through that lens Putin's actions make some kind of sense.
Not like "oh, now that seems reasonable" sense, but more along the lines of "oh, well it makes sense for a malicious narcissist to go down that path" sense.
Anywho...I don't really know if semiconductors have any real ties to the oligarchy in Russia. They're inexpensive enough that part of me wonders how much they would benefit from them...
But I think that there are other avenues that would hurt a bit more. Say, taking a look at the Magnitsky act, seeing if (read: where) there are loopholes that are being exploited. Cracking down on their money laundering schemes here in the US (although...to be fair...that would likely have a HUGE impact on the local economy in parts of the country. Are we as a people outraged enough to suffer some pain on behalf of Ukraine? I know what my answer would be, but politics are tricky and people are generally shit).
Sanctions on extractives will hurt both the oligarchs and the Russian people. Unfortunately sanctions have a history of being relatively ineffective as a tool in foreign policy...I don't imagine a semiconductor boycott would really do much of anything aside from being symbolic, but without more information I can't really say if the action would align with the symbol or...ah...act in dissonance with the symbol.
It's really, really, really, really complicated. Putin is a shitbag, but he's not a cartoonishly evil man. He's not a genius, but he isn't an idiot either. His KGB days taught him that if you deflect, lie, accuse your rivals of doing the thing that you are doing, and muddy the waters enough and with enough flare...you can keep the general public in a state of never really knowing what is true. With that kind of ethos, it's hard to 100% know what's going on over there and what will help or harm the correct parties.
That's all a lot of words to...I guess...amount to the shrug emoji? It would be nice if we knew of some way to individually exercise our disapproval. It's unfortunate that the only way we as individuals could potentially do so is through our wallets.
