Note: This is just a copy of my LinkedIn post of today. I thought it would be interesting to share it here, too.
A few years ago, my amateur publications on ResearchGate led to an invitation to an online conference on low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR). LENR research was formerly known as cold fusion research but this term is out of fashion because the experiments have not (yet) led to getting more energy out than what is being put in (and, yes, some scandals around fake research too). I still regularly receive newsletters from the organizer: the Société Française de la Science Nucléaire dans la Matière Condensée (SFSNMC). I understand little of the nitty-gritty of these experiments but I find them fascinating. Let me come to the point I want to make here.
I just received the proceedings of the 16th international workshop, which was co-organized just two weeks ago with the International Society for Condensed Matter Nuclear Science (ISCMNS). Because of the political situation, Russian scientists could, apparently, not participate this time. In the newsletter I got, the organizers deplore that. For example, an eminent cold fusion expert like Anatoly Klimov was not there this year. However, he did share a rather wonderful letter to his European colleagues which I also got as part of the proceedings and which, as far as I can see (again, I do not understand all that much of it), is full of practical recommendations to move forward in this field. Indeed, Anatoly Klimov is not just anyone: he was one of the more prominent presenters at the much more high-profile ICCF-23 conference, which was held in Fujian, China. [Talking about China: China’s large (hot) fusion project seems to be moving (much) faster than ITER….]
The point is this: the exclusion of Russian scientists in events like this is like cutting ourselves off from cheap Russian natural gas or other inputs, or like stopping to export German cars and other industrial products to Russia. We do not hurt Russia with that: we only hurt ourselves – Europe. The situation resembles that of the 1924 Solvay Conference, which was a subdued affair because of the boycott of German scientists (even Albert Einstein, despite considering himself to be Jewish, also did not participate out of solidarity with his German scientific colleagues). When and how will this international nonsense stop? Russia was part of Europe in the 19th century. Why can’t we live with Russia now?
A small piece of good news is, perhaps, this: the small Russian team at ITER apparently has not been sent back home yet (see this Polico article on that). It suggests we simply cannot move ahead without the Russian engineers and scientists: they are, quite simply, ahead of us in this field and, therefore, their knowledge and skills are apparently too valuable to get rid of. Double standards once again, apparently… 
Reading Feynman 