Summary: Microsoft's political sanctions provoke Cuba; President of Microsoft Russia temporarily becomes a journalist

About a year ago, Europe considered an embargo against Microsoft (for chronic white-collar crime). But right now it is Microsoft which is embargoing other countries -- a move which some would characterise as pure vanity. These controversial sanctions are still being covered in some newer articles and there is backlash in Cuba. From Mercury:

Cuba criticized Microsoft on Friday for blocking its Messenger instant messaging service on the island and in other countries under U.S. sanctions, calling it yet another example of Washington's "harsh" treatment of Havana.

The technology giant recently announced it was disabling the program's availability in Cuba, Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea to come into compliance with a U.S. ban on transfer of licensed software to embargoed countries.

The move "is just the latest turn of the screw in the United States' technological blockade against the island," a technology writer said in an article published by state youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde.

Pro-Microsoft reporters are quick to find some other examples of a few other services which do the same thing. It appears like 'damage control' because the company's already-poor reputation is getting injured further. But Microsoft need not rely only on reporters who promote the company. EE Times Asia appears to have also become a platform for Microsoft employees to voice their message as though it is worth an article. Here is a brand-new example about Russia. Here is how the article is signed.

- Nikolay Pryanishnikov President, Microsoft Russia

Microsoft is currently fighting GNU/Linux adoption in Russia. The company has been particularly worried about GNU/Linux in Russia for quite some time. Why are Microsoft employees becoming authors? The New York Times and the BBC occasionally do the same thing. Whose press is it? Who is in charge? ⬆

"Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful! Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?"

--Friedrich Nietzsche