A Question for Apple

As Ben noted last Friday, it seems clear to me that Apple (and the rest of industry) has won the encryption debate. That postion, which I cautiously support, reflects the strong impulse of Apple (and most notably its CEO) to oppose steps that might foster governement scrutiny of their customers.

So here's the question: Why is it that, at the same time Apple is so vigorously and effectively opposing the American goverment, it has drunk the Putin Kool-Aid? As of earlier this month, Apple has agreed to store data about Russian citizens using Apple in Russia where, of course, it will be accessible to the Russian government under Russian legal processess -- processes that I am confident lack many of the due process protections we have come to consider essential to good governance. In short, is Apple really more concerned about US government access than it is about Russian access? Or is it just a case of geographically-situational ethics?