From music to vodka, Russian war on Ukraine disrupting norms

(WND) The infrastructure damage from Russia’s war on Ukraine already includes vast numbers of buildings, bridges, roads, hospitals, schools and more. It also is costing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives. But the clash also is disrupting life around the globe, and even above it.

Some of the developments are relatively light-hearted, such as the obvious truth that soon Russian vodka no longer will be available in the United States.

Others are deadly, such as rumors that Russians might abandon non-Russian astronauts at the International Space Station.

One thing for certain, the fight is involving those who had no involvement in the agenda being implemented by Russian President Vladimir Putin to take over Ukraine.

Take Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, for example. He’s long dead, but ClassicFM is reporting that his immensely popular 1812 Overture is being dropped from a concert scheduled this month by the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra.

It’s because he is, or rather, was, Russian.

It was to be an all-Tchaikovsky concert, but now works from Dvorak, Elgar and John Williams are being substituted.

It was creating questions, however, as, “Matt Duss, foreign policy adviser to former U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders,” noted “Tchaikovsky ‘spent a lot of time in Ukraine, and incorporated a lot of Ukrainian folk music and stories into his work.’”

ABC7 was the outlet that was reporting that the future of the ISS was in question.

“When you’re in space and you’re flying around the Earth at 17,500 miles an hour and in a very hazardous environment, cooperation is the most important thing,” ex-astronaut Scott Kelly explained.

The project has been run jointly by America and Russia since 1998, and American astronaut Mark Vande Hei is set to end his 355 days in space in just three weeks. The plan is for him to land in Kazakhstan with two Russian cosmonauts on a Russian spacecraft.

But that could end up going another direction, because of sanctions against Russia.

While NASA claimed “no changes are planned” in its ongoing work, “Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s Space Agency and a close ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded to Biden in a series of hostile tweets. On Feb. 26, he posted a video in Russian that threatened to leave Vande Hei behind in space and detach Russia’s segment of the space station altogether.”

Fox News documented a grassroots effort to make telephone calls – cold-calls – to some 40 million Russians encouraging them to change their opinions about the war.

“What we try to do through these phone calls is to ask them, how much do they know about what is going on in Ukraine,” explained Paulius Senuta, a co-founder of CallRussia.org. “If we can swing the sentiment of ‘this is a war, people are dying’ … we can stop [the] population [from] basically taking protection of” Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

The obvious actions already are in place. American businesses have pulled out of Russia, and Russia has ejected some American operations. One report on Friday suggested, however, that Russia was considering tinkering with the various laws affecting trade secrets so that others could take over McDonald’s restaurants across Russia and continue serving up Bic Macs.

School and other social exchange programs were halted, and The Gateway Pundit noted a clinic in Germany has announced it no longer with treat Russians, or Belarusians.

Economic pressure has been applied both ways. International financial institutions are snubbing their Russian customers, refusing to buy Russia’s oil, and abiding by a long list of trade sanctions.

Russia is complaining about alleged bioweapons at the United Nations and has called for an investigation of Facebook for the alleged death threats that have appeared there.

In Russia, there are protests against the war, and some prominent individuals have abandoned their claim to Russian citizenship.

American aid organizations like Samaritan’s Purse are actively working to respond to the survival-level needs that Russia’s warfare is creating for Ukrainian residents. Various governments have confiscated hundred-million dollar yachts that apparently belonged to Russia’s wealthy class, and some Russian oligarchs were complaining their villas around the world were being put under lock and key.

And don’t forget the wheat Russia cannot export now.

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