[doe_eyes]

I think Linus has short temper and there are examples of his remarks that are borderline toxic (or cross the line), but this really isn't one of them.

The situation is pretty clear and calmly explained by Linus in the quoted messages. They removed contributors from Russia. The main reason is that they were told by a lawyer that they need to do this due to international sanctions. The secondary reason appears to be that Linus is not a fan of what Russia is doing, and is OK with sending a message.

They made a call and were immediately swarmed by people trying to argue geopolitics, law, personal responsibility, transparency, and so on - many of whom aren't regular kernel contributors. Linus responded that he's not going to argue, and I can't blame him: it's a software project, not a discussion club. Sometimes, maintainers make the call and you suck it up, leave, or fork it. This is just that.

[cr125rider]

Linus is a Finn. They have their own bloody history with Russian occupation. I can see how that would run deep. It certainly does, and rightfully so, in Finnish culture as a whole.

[me_me_me]

The baltic states learned their lessons about russia enough times to know how they behave. And russia never changes the way they behave.

[d_milivojevic]

So it's fine to be a racist if you hold historical grievances? Let me give you a clue: a Fin has no high moral ground when it comes to WWII, they were Nazi allies that had "work camps" where the death toll was on par with some Nazi death camps.

[htk]

Absolutely. And regarding Linus' skepticism towards russian emails, my tiny hobby projects get tons of russian spam (and others), I can't imagine what Linux boards get. It must be really hard to trust new or infrequent users.

[platinumrad]

"Calmly explained"? Linus is equating having maintainers from Russia with "supporting Russian aggression".

[thoroughburro]

Yes, that is what sanctions are.

[IntelMiner]

The point is to put soft pressure on a nation across a wide series of avenues to (ideally) enact the desired change

Would you rather we went and ripped the fiber cables out and completely disconnected Russia from the rest of the global internet?

[gtsop]

I guess all the people who downvoted have a based analysis on how removing russians from contribution lists damages the war capacity of Russia and is not categorised under the notion of "propaganda".

[grepz]

That could be said about just any nation with history. Poland included. Trying to simplify everything based on current historic moment(Russia's agression towards Ukraine) maybe the one thing that makes possible for wars to start in the first place. I am happen to have both polish and russian roots and know quite well how both sides can describe the very same historic event diametrically opposed.

Russia may be unique in the sense that its a large country with lots of resources to inflict damage on its neighbours. And maybe one of few big powers that are still more or less left intact after the WWI/II.