So far, the United States has sent more than $30 billion in gear to Ukraine with no end in sight.
While we support Ukraine with immediate needs, we need to find ways of ending the conflict. A conflict like this requires a shift in culture and public view, which takes time, but is not impossible in our technological world. Access to the truth enables action. We can give the Russian people the truth they need for action with $6B.
Currently, Russia’s government is restricting their people’s access to 138,000 websites. Since the government launched the invasion of Ukraine last February 2022, Putin has banned political outsiders, BBC News, WeChat and even Spotify across the nation.
About 88% of Russia’s population is on the internet, but with only state-controlled media left for people to use, it is challenging for Russian people to see the full story of this war.
Yubikeys, in the words of my electric-engineer-cousin Liam, let you connect to the internet from anywhere. Even if you are in Russia, you should be able to use a Yubikey to connect to the internet from a different country, showing the internet as if you were in that different place.
Considering there’s around 125 million Russians connected to the internet, and Yubikeys can cost around $50, giving Russians access to the full story of the war would cost $6.25 billion.
Not all Russians are supporting this war effort in Ukraine. There will always be die-hards who will stick by the military (even if it is their lives on the line), but the majority of people live in the middle, swayed by what they know.
We, and any other nation who wants to help, can give these people access to the full story.
It may not end the war tomorrow, but in times like this, the mind can be a greater force than money or weapons in the long term.
What idea do you have to end this conflict as quickly and peacefully as possible?