Companies still doing business in 'inhumane' Russia blasted in scathing editorial

In a scorching piece on Monday, the editorial board of the St. Louis Dispatch slammed U.S. companies that are still doing business with and in Russia as Vladimir Putin continues his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, destroying cities and slaughtering civilians.

According to the editors, if companies refuse to take a stand against the war, they should be called out and punished by American consumers with economic boycotts.

Starting out, "The military options for the U.S. and NATO in Ukraine are complicated. But the economic options aren’t: All global companies should pull out of Russia until it ends its unprovoked and inhumane invasion — and American consumers should actively boycott those that refuse," the paper provided readers with a link to a list of companies who have refused to take a stand compiled by Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld.

Calling the boycott a "concrete way to help bring pressure to bear on Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin," the editorial board stated that it should be impossible to see images of the devastation that the Russian army has inflicted in Ukraine and remain neutral.

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"Seeing those images, it may be difficult to accept that the U.S. and its allies have the firepower to halt the invasion, yet won’t because it could spark an all-out nuclear war," they wrote before adding, "Hundreds of global companies have heeded the call to pull out of Russia, but too many still have not," the editorial continued. "The running list compiled by Yale’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld has been remarkably effective at shaming some of the holdouts. In fact, this Editorial Board was in the process of spotlighting the initial failure of McDonald’s, Starbucks and Coca-Cola to leave when the companies suddenly announced they were pulling out, apparently in response to national criticism brought on by Sonnenfeld’s list."

Singling out companies owned by the conservative Koch family, the board suggested the public keep tabs on the list to see who has bowed to pressure, with the editorial urging, "Making these companies feel the sting of rejection among U.S. consumers might well be the only message they understand."

You can read the whole editorial here.