back to article Huawei reportedly furloughs Russian staff and stops taking orders

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has issued a mandatory month-long furlough to some of its Russia-based staff and suspended new orders, according to Russian media. "There are no orders, so why should people go to the office – in a month the vacation will either be extended, or employees will be returned from it," an anonymous …

  1. Dinanziame Silver badge
    Devil

    I understand the sentiment, but "illegal invasion" has always struck me as a sort of oxymoron... As of there were laws regulating such things.

    1. steelpillow Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Tautology is a more accurate description than oxymoron, which is the exact opposite.

    2. sreynolds

      I thought the 'moron contained a contradiction, like cheerful pessimism (or so google tells me) whereas a tautology means redundancy.

      I am no the grammar police, but as Dave Barry said, "I could easily overemphasize the importance of good grammar. For example, I could say: "Bad grammar is the leading cause of slow, painful death in North America," or "Without good grammar, the United States would have lost World War II."

      Word can KILL.

      1. First Light
        Joke

        I know Word is bad, but I didn't realize it's THAT bad . . .

        1. MyffyW Silver badge
          Paris Hilton

          I broke a nail on a badly formatted WordPerfect file back in '98 - still have flashbacks

      2. A.P. Veening Silver badge

        I am no the grammar police, but as Dave Barry said, "I could easily overemphasize the importance of good grammar. For example, I could say: "Bad grammar is the leading cause of slow, painful death in North America," or "Without good grammar, the United States would have lost World War II."

        Word can KILL.

        For that there is only one appropriate answer.

      3. David 132 Silver badge

        Specifically, an oxymoron is "a contradiction in terms" - think "Military Intelligence" or "Safe Danger" as examples.

        A tautology is a statement or expression that confirms itself, as best illustrated (in both senses of the word) by XKCD: "The first rule of Tautology Club is... the first rule of Tautology Club."

    3. First Light

      Illegal as in without UN Security Council approval.

      https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1115592

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_the_Iraq_War

      Here's a 2015 piece discussing some conflicts and UN approval or lack thereof.

      https://theweek.com/articles/460549/does-un-ever-actually-war

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Holmes

        It's millennia older than that dating back to philosophical discussions of a 'just war' in Greece and Rome. The Catholic Church's concept of a 'just war' dates back to early church teachings and was the first AFAIK to apply it to more than one country.

    4. Peter2 Silver badge

      I understand the sentiment, but "illegal invasion" has always struck me as a sort of oxymoron... As of there were laws regulating such things.

      There are, actually. Created by international treaties and governed by international courts set up specifically to deal with the issues thus arising. (is the International Court of Justice)

      For instance, the Hague convention of 1907 says that you shouldn't invade a country without warning; that a declaration of war should be made prior to the use of armed force, and preferably with an ultimatum prior to the use of force stating the reasons for considering the use of armed force to provide a reasonable chance of dealing with issues peacefully via diplomacy <a href="https://pca-cpa.org/en/home/#:~:text=The%20Permanent%20Court%20of%20Arbitration,services%20to%20the%20international%20community>or arbitration</a> rather than resolving issues through bloodshed.

      Of course, it only applies to the countries that signed up to it. Russia in fact <b>is</b> one of those countries.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        >you shouldn't invade a country without warning; that a declaration of war should be made prior to the use of armed force

        And you should take flowers or some nice baked goods when delivering the declaration - good manners costs nothing

        1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

          I'd not eat any baked goods supplied by Putin. To be fair, I'd be deeply suspicious of the flowers as well, knowing his predilection for using exotic poisons.

        2. Peter2 Silver badge

          Churchill observed that good manners and civility cost nothing in one of his books when he included the text of the declaration of war on Japan.

          Sir,

          On the evening of December 7th His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom learned that Japanese forces without previous warning either in the form of a declaration of war or of an ultimatum with a conditional declaration of war had attempted a landing on the coast of Malaya and bombed Singapore and Hong Kong.

          In view of these wanton acts of unprovoked aggression committed in flagrant violation of International Law and particularly of Article I of the Third Hague Convention relative to the opening of hostilities, to which both Japan and the United Kingdom are parties, His Majesty's Ambassador at Tokyo has been instructed to inform the Imperial Japanese Government in the name of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom that a state of war exists between our two countries.

          I have the honour to be, with high consideration,

          Sir,

          Your obedient servant,

          Winston S. Churchill

      2. Youngone Silver badge

        Cyrus of Persia does not care at all about those rules, and will declare a surprise war just for shits and giggles. In fact if you invade your neighbours without warning he will offer you his friendship.

        He does not care who he annoys.

        No, I am not confusing Civilisation VI with real life, you are.

    5. HandleAlreadyTaken

      In this case, "illegal" could be interpreted as "contrary to international law" - though I'm not a lawyer and couldn't quote the relevant law chapter and verse.

      I personally think a moral difference exists between say the Allied invasion of Sicily in '43 and the Putin invasions of Ukraine - so we do need some word to highlight this difference. I believe "illegal" works well enough for this purpose.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        > a moral difference exists between say the Allied invasion of Sicily in '43

        I'm still sore about a French adventure in 1066

      2. Peter2 Silver badge

        I personally think a moral difference exists between say the Allied invasion of Sicily in '43 and the Putin invasions of Ukraine - so we do need some word to highlight this difference.

        Sicily was part of the Italian Empire at the time, and was part of the Axis powers allied to and fighting with Nazi Germany, and a declared state of war already existed between Italy and Britain, America et al.

    6. martinusher Silver badge

      An invasion is only illegal if we (or one of our proxies) are not doing it.

  2. lglethal Silver badge
    Trollface

    The Register contacted Huawei for comment, but had not received a reply at the time of publication.

    I guesss the PR staff are also on furlough at the moment...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No, but the company still has aspirations to be like Apple.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Of course it does. And maybe it could have been. Hence the sanctions

  3. Len
    Headmaster

    Russia is a small market, probably not worth the risk

    I've said it before, let's not forget that Russia is a small market. It might have an enormous land mass (the largest country in the world, covering over 17,125,192 km2, and encompassing more than one-eighth of Earth's inhabited land area, according to Wikipedia), it has only 145 million inhabitants.

    Its economy is slightly larger than that of Spain but the Russian people are 70% poorer than the Spanish people. There is only one EU country with a poorer population than Russia and that is Bulgaria. Moreover, these economic figures are from before some of the harshest economic sanctions the world has ever seen. The Russian economy never really recovered from the sanctions post the annexation of Crimea and those were peanuts compared with the current sanctions. The ruble currency is being propped up artificially but they can't keep that up for much longer and every time the capital controls are eased slightly we see signs of capital flight. Russia is suffering a big brain drain at the moment as educated people are leaving the country to Turkey, Armenia and Georgia.

    Regardless of how much the Chinese government wants to maintain a relationship with Russia on a political level, as a Chinese company it is playing with fire to keep doing business with such a small, and submerging, market if the risk is losing custom in the richest parts of the world, Europe and North America.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Russia is a small market, probably not worth the risk

      But this is a company that is America-banned anyway, to the extent that the Americans ordered the Canadians to keep the boss's daughter under house arrest for a year

      1. julian.smith
        FAIL

        Re: Russia is a small market, probably not worth the risk

        Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, spent nearly three years in house arrest in Canada

        Ask the Canadian poodles how that worked out

  4. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    Today furloughed, tomorrow conscripted.

  5. phuzz Silver badge
    Pint

    We've noticed that some countries and regions have issued some policies

    That's one way of phrasing "most of the world has sanctioned Russia"!

    I suppose you have to be very careful about your words when you have to keep both the Russian and Chinese governments happy.

    >>> A pint for that PR person and their most weaselly of words!

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      >We've noticed that some countries and regions have issued some policies

      The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan'sRussia's advantage

    2. martinusher Silver badge

      >A pint for that PR person and their most weaselly of words!

      Au contraire -- its diplomatic speak at its finest.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like