Bloomberg Businessweek March 14, 2022

● Worldwide coronavirus cases have passed 450 million, more than 6m people have died, and almost 11 billion vaccine doses have been given. Puerto Rico is dropping most of its Covid-19 rules, which are among the strictest in the U.S. The territory has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country. ● The price of nickel briefly topped $100,000 a ton on March 7. The spike may have resulted from a “short squeeze” as investors betting against the metal sought to close their positions. Xiang Guangda, whose Tsingshan Holding had amassed a short position of 100,000 tons, may be facing steep losses. Nickel traded at $25,000 a ton as recently as February. ● Guy Reffitt, the first person to go on trial for his participation in the Jan. 6 insurrection, was convicted…

President Joe Biden’s announcement on March 8 that the U.S. will ban imports of Russian fossil fuels significantly escalates the response to Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war on Ukraine. The move is warranted. The U.S. and its allies should do all they can to pile on the economic pressure—and the biggest weakness in their sanctions policy so far has been the failure to stop the flow of hard currency in payment for Russian energy. Acting by itself, though, the U.S. can do only so much. Unlike many of its European allies, it doesn’t buy a lot of energy from Russia. Throttling Russian fossil fuel exports means Europe must curb demand and find alternative supplies—a difficult step, but a necessary one if the new restrictions are going to have their intended effect. The current…

▶ The Bank of England releases its interest rate decision on March 17. When it raised rates in February, the central bank signaled further tightening could be appropriate. ▶ The Bank of Japan meets to decide its position on interest rates on March 17. Forecasters expect it to leave rates unchanged at –0.1%. ▶ France reports its latest inflation numbers on March 15. Analysts anticipate it will ease somewhat from February’s rate of 3.6%, the highest it’s been since 2008. ▶ The 66th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, focused on achieving gender equality through empowerment, takes place March 14-25 in a hybrid format at the UN. ▶ Christie’s Asian Art Week returns to New York on March 15, with a series of auctions, online sales, and special events dedicated to…

Watching Russia’s military machine grind a gruesome path through Ukraine, it’s impossible not to feel you’ve seen this tragedy before. The artillery volleys slamming into apartment blocks, the firing on evacuation corridors, and even the disorganization and hubris of the attack are all familiar scenes from Chechnya, Georgia, or Syria. Whatever the location, the ending has been the same: cities reduced to rubble. President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is barely two weeks old, but this time it’s starting to look like an act of retribution that has no obviously achievable endgame. As Russia’s generals shift to ever-more-brutal tactics, it isn’t clear how Putin can marry Ukraine’s devastation with the goals he’s set out: namely, to create a neighbor that’s no longer “anti-Russian” and, in the process, to change Europe’s post-Cold…

● Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has suddenly created a tense superpower conflict—something that seemed to be part of the past. When President Joe Biden entered office last year, his main strategic focus was China, which is second only to the U.S. in military spending but is also a rival for economic influence and soft power. The escalating war in Ukraine has brought the world’s focus back to the size of nations’ arsenals. The circles on this chart represent each country’s military spending over five years; the color indicates its level of political rights and civil liberties according to the nonprofit research group Freedom House. Spending measured in U.S. dollars doesn’t perfectly capture the resources a country can bring to war—for example, it might be able to manufacture arms more cheaply…

On Feb. 8, after delivering the highest quarterly profit in a decade, BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney offered a strong defense of the company’s deep ties with Russia’s largest oil producer. Russian tanks had not yet crossed into Ukraine, but with 130,000 troops at the country’s borders, tensions were quickly rising, and BP’s 20% stake in Kremlin-backed Rosneft PJSC meant the London-based oil giant had a lot at stake. Wearing a V-neck sweater, plain white shirt, and no tie, Looney in a television interview offered a simple rationale for continuing operations in Russia: “Our job is to focus on the business of business. We avoid the politics.” A little more than two weeks later, the politics became unavoidable. And as the reality of Russia’s unprovoked invasion in the early hours…