The war in Ukraine is nearly two weeks old, and it has been filled with lessons already. One of them is that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not as strong a strongman as he likes to represent himself. Another is that a determined resistance can fend off, at least for a time, even a great world power like Russia.
But perhaps the most important lesson so far has been that multinational corporations, and American corporations in particular, exercise an enormous amount of leverage and can bring it to bear quite effectively when they want to. Confronted with war crimes and an unprovoked invasion, they effectively cut Russia out of the world’s banking and commercial spheres. Russian oligarchs have seen their funds frozen. The pinch of world ostracism is being felt just as much by ordinary Russians, who suddenly find themselves unable to use basic services they take for granted, such as Apple Pay.
Prior to this, Putin’s control of Russia was seen as not only uncontested but incontestable. Now, people openly discuss the possibility of change. Life is becoming intolerable enough for a large enough share of Russians, people by now accustomed to a modern Western lifestyle, that he must at least worry about his continued hold on power.
So if the corporate world can bring Putin so close to ruin, what is its excuse for failing to act against a government that is currently using concentration camps as part of a program of ethnic genocide?
In the Xinjiang region, China is attempting to exterminate the culture of its Uyghur ethnic minority. It is rounding up and imprisoning Uyghurs in camps and using them for slave labor. Chinese officials are raping Uyghur women.
Meanwhile, China has violated its treaty commitments to respect Hong Kong’s democracy. It is also threatening to invade Taiwan, a peaceful Chinese democracy whose people want no part of the mainland’s communist regime.
And just to put a fine point on it, intelligence sources indicate that China was aware of Putin’s intention to invade Ukraine and asked him to wait until after the Winter Olympics.
Instead of isolating China for its atrocious behavior, American companies, ranging from Coca-Cola to Nike to Apple, have largely shown obeisance to Beijing.
The NBA is one of the worst and most hypocritical offenders. It does more than just look the other way with regard to human rights abuses — it actually punishes people who dare speak out about world history’s most murderous regime, all the while making an enormous show about denouncing pretend human rights abuses in the United States.
How afraid are American companies of losing favor with their Chinese Communist masters? Hollywood famously goes so far as to change its scripts and other elements of its movies in order to placate prickly, easily offended Chinese officials.
The war in Ukraine should reinforce for American companies the idea that they have the ability to change the world for the better. But they should also be encouraged to set aside their myopic and toxic focus on wokeness. There is enough grandstanding and virtue-signaling — enough mediocrities like Colin Kaepernick in the world already. What is needed is a light to shine on grave human rights abuses by leaders such as Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine serves as a reminder that there is real evil out there. China is an aggressive and hostile power that is actively committing genocide. Those American companies that haven’t already decoupled their business operations from China should start looking now at how they can do so.
