Episode 6: End the war by crowdsourcing evidence to prove who blew up the dam

Hashtags presented in this episode:

#DamProof

Crowdsourcing a reward for a whistleblower to produce hard evidence proving which side is being played the fool in the dam attack.

Tweet your own bid Twitter thread

Transcript

Ukraine and Russia are both blaming the other for the catastrophic environmental and human toll from the dam's destruction near the autonomous Republic of Crimea, formerly part of Ukraine and now annexed by Russia. The problem is, as always, everybody, on both sides, rolls over like sheep, blindly trusting the narrative from their leaders and media that it’s the other side that’s being deceived, accepting this act of terrorism justifies waging war against an evil adversary.

But, obviously, one side is being played the fool. Consider how we’d change the course of history, if, for the first time, we agree to keep an open mind and simply incentivize irrefutable hard evidence.

For example, popular commentators could set up a fund to compensate a whistleblower, or even easier, we simply tweet direct pledges, like: “To compensate a whistleblower’s sacrifice, I will donate $30 for irrefutable evidence. Tweet your own pledge with #DamProof until there’s sufficient incentive. #factbid” Undeniably there must be a point at which the collective incentive would be sufficient for someone to produce hard evidence. And that would change not just this war, but thwart future acts of organized evil.

First, one side would be forced to swallow the bitter pill of recognizing it’s their leaders that are deceiving them and have wanton disregard for human and environmental cost. Whenever one side in a conflict comes to that realization, the conflict ends as war requires both sides to believe they’re on the right side.

Second, armed with indisputable evidence, the victims could present a case to an international war crimes tribunal, potentially securing reparations, and sending a message to future would-be war criminals that their ability to commit such acts with impunity is over, since we will now unite to hold them accountable.

Third, this evidence would resolve the key obstacle to end the war. Recall that prior to Russia's invasion, Ukraine was already grappling with a bitter civil war, spurred by pro-Russian breakaway regions in Crimea and Donbass seeking independence - a demand Russia backed, but Ukraine and the West resisted. Today the West calls for Ukraine's victory, but what does that mean? Russia is expelled from Crimea and Donbass, then what? They’re forced back to Ukrainian rule, and what …. continue fighting for independence, so we’re right back where we started? Or do we let Crimea and Donbass vote democratically, in which case why are we even fighting this war since that was the demand in the first place? Solving this dam mystery would reveal the war’s exit. If Russia indeed ravaged the Crimean region, laying waste to their cities, infrastructure, farmland and destroying their future, they should welcome ousting Russia, accepting they are a tyrant, not a liberator. On the other hand, with proof Ukraine laid waste to those it claims to be defending, it would be unthinkable to force those in the Crimean region to be ruled by their destroyer. We’d have to grant them a democratic referendum. Either way, this would clear that key obstacle to ending the war.

So reach out to your favorite commentator and ask them to do more than talk about this. To be blunt, we need influential figures to take action to get answers, not just cash in on the dialogue. And let’s ask Twitter to re-open their API for non-commercial applications like FactBid so we can again let potential whistleblowers track tweets with pledges to have their back.