This article is a response to the video Donations to Ukraine which was broadcasted live by Charles Hoskinson and very disappointed me.
(On the photo: Ukrainian soldier is rescuing a baby)
Like many people in the Cardano community, his videos became one of the reasons why I became interested and involved in Cardano (for example I take part in Project Catalyst since the beginning, Fund1). In a way, it is a phenomenon as no other crypto CEO speaks so much with the audience, conducting AMAs for hours and answering random questions on a wide variety of topics, from cryptography and math to politics and all the aspects of life.
When Russia attacked Ukraine, Charles Hoskinson recorded a video about it, supporting Ukraine. And now, a week later he is recording a video that is a bit negative towards Ukraine and I think I know why.
The main reason why Charles decided to criticize the idea of Donations to Ukraine - is his EGO. Two other Ethereum co-Founders Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood supported Ukraine and they did it on Twitter, the favorite social media of Charles. For example, Gavin Wood gave more than $5 000 000 in DOT (Polkadot). And Charles - he should be the first, he should be the best. And as he can't be the first here and provide such amount (He did the kiwi loans lending $500 live at the end of AMA sessions, and now somebody is doing something bigger - not a loan, but a donation to a cause of much wider scale). So he decided to state that he's opposed the whole idea of Donating to Ukraine and provided a set of different arguments.
I will answer all these arguments. I doubt Charles will read this text, but some other people might repeat similar points, that's why I feel I need to answer them.
I. "There are 25 conflicts in the world today". "Ukraine is certainly a huge one, it's a huge human tragedy, but there is also a civil war in Ethiopia, plenty of violence occurring throughout Africa, the Middle East.."
This is not a conflict. This is war. And the war which has the possibility to become Third World War. The latest news showed how the Russians attacked Zaporizhyzh Nuclear Plant and set it on fire. The fire was localized, but you all know about Chernobyl, maybe watched the film. If this plant was to blew up - it would be a 10 or more times worse situation. Moreover, Russia gave information that they put moved their nuclear weapons into an active state.
You, Charles Hoskinson, often like to tell that cryptocurrency is a political notion, that you want to change the world. And here you take an apolitical position. That's why I'm disappointed. You plan to write a book titled "Blockchain governance" and the real world is facing a huge crisis of international governance. You want to create the financial system of the world, and the very existence of the free world is in danger? Just in one day, the lives of millions changed. Just in 1 day, petrol (gas) became more valuable than gold, and some people couldn't buy it with any money.
But why should the world care about Ukraine? I will explain my position.
After the collapse of Soviet Union, Ukraine was the third military power in the world (after US and Russia), Ukraine had the third-largest nuclear weapons stockpile. In 1994 The Budapest Memorandum was signed and Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States signing the memorandum agreed to provide security assurances. Now as you know Russia violated it in 2014 by the annexation of Crimea and the USA and the UK didn't do much to help.
Ukraine has a right to demand support from at least those countries which pushed Ukraine to gave up nuclear weapons. Do you think we would have a war if the weapons would be still in Ukraine's possession?
Another reason is that there is an opinion, that Russia would not stop in Ukraine, but Putin's idea is to restore the Soviet Union (including other countries which now members of EU and NATO).
II. "How do I know that the money would be spent just on evacuating refugees versus buying weapons"
Easily. We believe in decentralization. So right now there is a big list of institutions and volunteers who collect money. There is an official government account of Ukraine, there is a fund "SaveLife" which has a very good reputation and it collected huge amounts in Bitcoin, but there are also certain funds and NGOs which collect funds only on non-military, on humanitarian purposes. They stress this not to frighten such pacifists as you.
Now with the internet, it's easy to check and verify and make your decision. So that's not an argument at all. Many people donate directly to people who fight on the frontlines, many of them have personal accounts and in many teams they have people who do all the reporting, publishing on social media, and they know better what they need at this moment. By the way, many of such groups have crypto-wallets as well and can accept cryptocurrencies.
III. "It is likely that Russia will probably win the conflict"
Tell me which media do you pay attention to? Why do you have such an impression? The Ukrainian army is strong enough and it won already - in a way that Russia failed to organize the blitzkrieg and capture the capital. Russian control mostly roads and ways, they have huge losses and big demoralization among the soldiers. Moreover, the economical situation is making its impact, some oligarchs took an anti-war or neutral position, many Russians are unhappy too, etc. Although now we don't know how the war will end, I think Russia already lost "the conflict".
IV. "It is not a job of me or my company or the people that work with me to go fight wars. This company is trying very actively to pursue the technology of peace. We are obviously not going to a conflict "
Nobody is asking you to go fight wars. People everywhere watch the news, some people want to donate. You just record the video on this topic, because Ukraine is trending now, just like when Dogecoin was trending - you spoke about Dogecoin, when Trump was trending topic - you spoke about Trump. Nothing personal - just marketing.
V. "My recommendation - is not directly to the Ukrainian government as it’s not even clear if this government is going to survive in the next month or two, but to the organizations that are dealing with refugees "
The Ukrainian government is stronger than ever. In no other period, the government and the president had such support among the people. The international support is big and growing. By saying such words you sound like a puppet of Russia. You sound like you are brainwashed by some russian tv channel and that's why I asked you from which sources do you take your information? Of course, I know your work at Ron Paul campaign and your favor of "humble foreign policy", but such words sound like favoring a more russian line of story, which wants to cause panic and lead to ceasefire on very negative conditions for Ukraine. Because after all these deaths of civilians, women, and children, how can you imagine the puppet of Russia can become a new leader?
So I'm disappointed in you Charles Hoskinson, maybe because I was surprised by your position. But Cardano - is not Charles Hoskinson, many people sent me their words of support. So I'm remaining in the Cardano community, still holding some ADA.
To end this article I just want to remember Dante’s words: ‘The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.’