True Left

Russian Official Blames Ukraine Invasion Sanctions on Cancel Culture

Russia’s foreign intelligence director alluded to cancel culture and claimed that Russia is suffering “a cancellation” as the world slaps sanctions on the nation for invading Ukraine.

This is likely to sow confusion over what is meant by "Cancel Culture". I suspect it is a rightist meme. We ourselves should always use the term "Cancel Culture" accurately, to refer only to business decisions made by private entities.

Russian classical music is so glorious even the Communists couldn’t stamp it out. However, the Metropolitan Opera said it would cut ties with Russian artists or institutions “allied” (to use state-funded NPR’s word) with President Vladimir Putin. One casualty was soprano Anna Netrebko.
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Another victim was conductor Valery Gergiev, whose who lost his job with the Munich Philharmonic. “I would have expected him to reconsider and revise his very positive assessment of the Russian ruler,” said the mayor of Munich. “He didn’t.” Even in an article supposedly against the “hazardous path” of imposing “a moral test on musicians,” the conductor must pay for his “close ties to the Russian regime.” Unless a Russian is willing to denounce his president and country in wartime at the behest of foreigners, he can lose his job.

In Wales, an orchestra removed Tchaikovsky.
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A Japanese orchestra is also dropping the “1812 Overture.”
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In Germany, some stores will not sell Russian-made products. However, one restaurant went further and said it wouldn’t serve people with Russian passports, though I have never heard of a restaurant that checks your passport before it lets you order. A Russian restaurant owner in Germany has also faced cancellations, despite putting up a sign that says “war has no place in our communities” (in English).
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Alcohol is political. Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire signed an executive order directing state-run liquor stores to stop selling Russian products. Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah have done the same. Vodka brands that are not Russian are loudly advertising that fact. There have been many news stories instructing readers which brands are Russian and which are not.

What prides itself as the “United Nations of cat federations” (FIFe) has banned Russian-owned and Russian-bred cats from all competitions because it “cannot just witness these atrocities and do nothing.”

The Donskoy cat, also known as Don Sphynx or Russian Hairless, is a hairless cat breed of Russian origin.[1]

The dominant genetic mutation causing hairlessness in Peterbalds[7][8] and Donskoys[9] could cause feline ectodermal dysplasia in its homozygous form, causing problems including poor dentition and compromised ability to lactate or sweat.[10]

"Today they are trying to cancel a whole thousand-year-old country, our people,” said the Russian president, going on to compare the West’s purported banning of Russian books to events in Nazi Germany. In a surprising digression, he also mentioned J.K. Rowling and her controversial gender identity opinions.

Moscow bans books with 'incorrect' history
A law has come into force forbidding comparisons between the actions of the USSR and Nazi Germany. Texts showing Nazi symbols on the cover will be banned. The measure could affect texts on the August 1939 agreement between Stalin and Hitler. 

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Russian booksellers are in a state of panic. On July 12 a new law came into force in the country forbidding the "comparison of the actions of the USSR and Germany during the Second World War". It is one of the provisions that follow the constitutional amendments approved last year, which also include the 'correct reading of patriotic history'.

In recent days, Vladimir Putin has published a controversial article on his presidential website about relations between Russians and Ukrainians, whom he describes as 'common heirs of the ancient Rus'.  He points out that it was the Soviet Union that saved the 'unity of the Eastern Slavs' during the Nazi invasion. The piece is only the latest in a series of Kremlin interventions on the importance of a correct historical reading on the period of what Russians call the 'Great Patriotic War'.

JK Rowling has rubbished Putin's deranged rants that Russia is being 'cancelled' by the West 
Putin launched an extraordinary rant, accusing the west of trying to cancel Russia like Rowling
Speaking to cultural figures, Putin said West trying to erase Russian authors and composers over Ukraine war
He likened Russia to the Harry Potter author, complaining of 'discrimination of everything to do with Russia'
Russia has been hammered by Western sanctions and dumped by brands over its war in Ukraine

The blocking of reserves, the risk of losing income from the energy sales, and the withdrawal of large companies from the market. The country is suffering huge losses on the economic front.
“The payments are going on now, accordingly, some debt repayments in foreign currency are being made, but this will last only until May”, - Ilya Neskhodovsky, Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Transformation said. 
Starting that time, investors will not be able to receive interest, dividends or repayments on the debt and assets of the Central Bank, the National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance of Russia. Devaluation, inflation, unemployment - these and other consequences of the default are already visible in the economy of Russia.

Reuters spoke with more than two dozen scientists about the impact of the Ukraine conflict on Russian science. Many expressed concern about its future after tens of millions of dollars in Western funding for Russian science has been suspended in the wake of European sanctions on Moscow.

Hundreds of partnerships between Russian and Western institutions have been paused if not canceled altogether, the scientists said, as the invasion has unraveled years spent building international cooperation following the Soviet Union's 1991 collapse.

Many communication channels are closed and research trips have been postponed indefinitely.

The projects affected by the suspension of Western assistance include the construction of high-tech research facilities in Russia, such as an ion collider and a neutron reactor for which Europe had pledged 25 million euros ($27.4 million).

Such technology would unlock a generation of research that could contribute to everything from fundamental physics to the development of new materials, fuels and pharmaceuticals, scientists said.
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The head of Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, said this month it would suspend its participation in the space station until sanctions tied to the Ukraine invasion are lifted.

Russian scientists also helped build the Large Hadron Collider, the world's most powerful particle accelerator, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Switzerland, known as CERN. In 2012, the collider made the breakthrough discovery of the elusive Higgs boson, which until then had only been theorized.
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European scientists had been helping to build Russian research sites including the neutron reactor and the ion collider near St. Petersburg, said Martin Sandhop, a coordinator on this EU-funded effort called CremlinPlus.

The facilities would help to drive research in fields like high-energy physics, biochemistry and materials science.

But plans for a 25-million-euro project extension are now suspended and Sandhop's team is redirecting experts and equipment toward European institutions.

Cremlin's neutron detectors needed for the planned reactor, for example, are now going to a facility in Lund, Sweden.

We will no longer allow any Native American on property