This is how Russia is punished if you stop eating Daim

 

Wolfgang Hansson  

 

This is how Russia will be affected if you stop eating Daim 

  

Published: Today 18.40  

Updated: Today 19.04  

 

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.  

 

COLUMNISTS 

 

Many ordinary people want to feel they can do something to punish Russia for its war of aggression against Ukraine.  

 

Then it is easy for the focus to end up on the wrong things.  

 

Even if all Swedes immediately stop eating Daim, Vladimir Putin continues his brutal assault on the Ukrainian people.  

 

We have seen it before with regard to the climate threat. People naturally ask themselves what they can do to stop the emissions. 

 

Flight shame became a concept when it became ugly to go on a charter vacation. But the pandemic did far more to reduce emissions.  

 

Now the same question is asked regarding the war. Maybe time for Daimskam?  

 

Some travel down to

Ukraine

and enlist to fight the Russians or organize aid shipments. Others demonstrate on Sergel's square or in front of the Russian embassy. The alternatives are many, but it is difficult to really influence. 

 

On a higher level, ever since day one of the invasion, harsh international sanctions have been directed at

Russia

. More extensive than against any other large country. 

 

But despite 15 months of sanctions and boycotts, Putin continues his war to wipe out Ukraine as a nation. 

 

It depends on several things.  

 

*Only the West and a few other countries have imposed sanctions. Major countries like

India,

South Africa,

China

, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and many others continue to trade with Russia. Many have even expanded their trade. India and China support Russia by buying parts of the oil and gas that the West is now boycotting. Albeit at a bargain price. 

 

*Turkey, Kazakhstan and other countries in Russia's neighborhood help the Kremlin to circumvent the sanctions. Many goods that the West has stopped exporting still reach Russia. 

 

Stores protest  

 

*There are very few cases in history where sanctions and boycotts have succeeded in making a country change its stance.  

 

This does not mean that the sanctions against Russia are ineffective. They weaken the Russian economy and will eventually lead to a lower standard of living in Russia. But as long as someone buys Russian oil and gas, Putin can keep the war going. 

 

As soon as Russia invaded, many Western companies decided to hastily shut down their operations in Russia. If nothing else, to protect their brands. But many, for various reasons, still have parts of their business.  

 

Morally, one can have views on it, but there is no general order that all Western-owned companies must leave Russia. All exports to Russia are not prohibited.  

 

American Mondelez is one of the companies that has chosen to partially stay. They also own the Swedish chocolate manufacturer

Marabou.

 

Which led to some Swedish stores removing Marabou's products from their shelves in protest. If enough people do, it could at best lead to Mondelez leaving Russia.  

 

Which could further increase the Russians' sense of isolation from the outside world.  

 

But anyone who believes that it is possible to stop the war by stopping eating Daim or other Marabou products is more than legitimately naive. 

 

Maximum destruction  

 

It is extremely frustrating for anyone on the sidelines watching the Russians' brutal advance in Ukraine. There seems to be no limit to the war crimes Putin is prepared to commit to create maximum destruction, suffering and death in Ukraine. If he cannot force the country into submission, he can at least make it difficult for them to rise up and rebuild their country after the war. 

 

I understand if many people feel they want to do something to stop the war.  

 

But it can easily go wrong if the focus ends up on symbolic actions such as stopping eating a certain brand of chocolate. Unfortunately, the reality is not that simple.  

 

Boycotting chocolate is easy and costs nothing for the individual. It's more about doing something that makes ourselves feel good than about helping Ukraine.  

 

Reasonably, we should otherwise also boycott goods from India that buy the oil that the West has imposed sanctions on. The only problem is that India is a major manufacturer of medicines that we consume in the West. So what do we do then? 

 

Not to mention China supporting Putin's war. Shouldn't we boycott all things Chinese?  

 

Then the Western world's economies would collapse and the shelves would be empty. And what will happen to the rare earth metals that the EU needs to succeed in climate change and which are imported almost exclusively from China?  

 

If you want to boycott Marabou, do so. But don't then sit back and think you've done your bit to punish Putin.